March 24, 2024

Sermon Title: The Prayer of Gethsemane

Scripture Passages: Luke 22:39~46

According to Matthew, Jesus was tested and was in the wilderness. After that, he started preaching about the Reign of God and called his disciples including Peter, Andrew, John, and James. One day, he had a very special teaching and it was captured in the so-called Beatitude, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5: 5-6). Then, Jesus also taught them how to pray. Our prayer of Jesus came from Matthew “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 6-11) and then In Matthew 7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7: 7-8) Jesus assured his disciples then and we his disciples now that our prayers will be answered, “9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7: 9-11)

Today’s text follows last week’s teaching about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. He loved his disciples to the end. Jesus was ready to carry his cross. That is the key to our text is about his power to overcome temptations, “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22: 39-44).

First, we need to die to testify the truth of God. When Pilate asked him, Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18: 37)

Paul knew why he died. He said in Romans, ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (5: 6-8)

The letter to the Hebrews captured in this way: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9: 27-28) The world in Jesus lived was tough. They were under the Roman Empire’s occupation. They did not have their decision making power and many were very hungry yet many religious leaders did not serve people or confronted the imperial power. Rather they made their lives miserable. John captured this reality this way: “49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11: 49-50). Religious leaders did not think of the truth which was Jesus. They were only thinking about themselves and their power. But his truth, the truth of God was a threat to them. The prophet Isaiah knew this and that is why he captured it so well, pointing about Jesus’ destiny: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

Jesus took upon the cross to carry the darkness of the world. Thanks to him, our load is light and we became the children of light. “31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8: 31-32)

Secondly, in order to reconcile, and make peace, we want to pray on the Gethsemane. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve committed sin. And our relationship with God was broken. But through Jesus peace was made and the reconciliation was possible. We as followers of Jesus should be also peace makers. That is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5: 9) We are the peace workers for him. We know that our mission is peace making. To do that job, we must pray and rely on the power of prayer. “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 17-19)

Thirdly, the prayer of Gethsemane is the one that gives us hope. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22: 42) The prayer that Jesus offer was the prayer for hope. He knew that he had to die to provide hope for the world. “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Matthew 16:21)

Not only he knew that he would die, he also knew that he will be risen. The Revelation chapter 11 captures that. The prayer at the Gethsemane sounds like that truth is dead, light is turned off, the evil force is strong, and that there seems to be no peace, but truth of God’s providence will prevail. Thus, we know that peace will come and death has no final word. The new life will be ultimate.

Dear beloved Holy people of Hanshin Church,

The prayer at the Gethsemane is to know that truth will prevail, light will overcame darkness, peace will come, and eternal life will win over death. Prayer makes all these possible.

As we will have the upcoming week as a special prayer week, l want to invite all of you to join me. Let us work for peace through our prayer.

Amen and Thanks be to God.

Translated by the Rev. Dr. Prof. HyeRan Kim-Cragg