|
The Postures of The Lord In
Gethsemane
The Holy Spirit tells of two, and
possibly three, postures of the Lord
in Gethsemane. They are postures
which there is no reference to Him
taking anywhere else. He kneeled
down (Lk. 22:41); He “fell” (Mk.
14:35) (Lit. “was falling on the
ground”, Robertson’s N T Word
Studies and Linguistic key to the
Greek New Testament by F. Rienecker
and C. Rogers); and He fell on His
face (Matt. 26:39). Whither these
latter two references are the same
or Matthew 26:39 is an extension of
Mark 14:35, I cannot tell. The man
with the lunatic son knelt before
the Lord (Matt. 17:14) as did the
leper (Mk. 1:40). To see the Lord
kneeling is astounding because there
had been times when people knelt
before Him as they beseeched Him in
their distress. They were aware
that He was the only one who could
help (Matt. 17:14; Mk. 1:40). In
Gethsemane, the Lord in His distress
kneels to the only one who could
help Him, yet God is silent. The
Holy Spirit draws aside the curtain
and presents an awe-inspiring sight,
the Lord of glory lying prostrate on
the ground. In John 11:41 the Lord
lifted His eyes to God, now His face
is on the earth. This is utter
prostration and heart breaking
imploring. No other can ever know
anything of the unspeakable agony of
this experience. We are entering a
sphere of incomprehension when
pondering the completeness of the
humanity of the Lord.
Being deity, He never used His deity
in any circumstance but lived life
as an ordinary human being. What an
amazing sight that must have been to
the angelic hosts, to behold the
mighty, the Lord who is God,
lying in unutterable grief on the
ground His hands had made.
Another realization is that the
Lord’s posture of lying on the
ground indicates weakness, and to
help meet his need the angel was
sent. This might sound wrong but
the inspired writer tells why the
angel was sent and that the Lord was
crucified in weakness (2 Cor.
13:4). God only sends His angels on
solemn responsibilities and we can
be assured it was with a profound
sense of responsibility the angel
came to strengthen the Lord. What
precious lessons we learn here. For
our Lord to be fully qualified as a
High Priest, He must learn the need
of strengthening from on high, not
using His deity to strengthen
Himself, but be in a state of
complete dependence on God. One
wonders which is the greater wonder,
the One who is the
Lord
God needing strengthening or
the not using of His divine power to
strengthen Himself. How infinite is
this Gethsemane marvel, the weakness
and the weeping of the Lord, yet the
Lord is
mighty in battle (Psa. 24:8). Human
or angelic minds can never fathom
the depths of such truths. The One
who is, Jehovah of Hosts, the
Almighty, is lying on the ground and
tears are coursing down the face of
deity!
In the Psalms we are prophetically
given the attitude of the Lord to
his adversaries, “For the mouth of
the wicked and the mouth of the
deceitful are opened against me:
they have spoken against me with a
lying tongue. They compassed me
about also with words of hatred; and
fought against me without a cause.
For my love they are my adversaries:
but I give myself unto prayer. And
they have rewarded me evil for good,
and hatred for my love” (Psa.
109:2-5). How beautifully it says,
“I gave myself to prayer”.
|
The scriptures are emphatic about the times the Lord prayed in
Gethsemane and despite the multiplicity of the pleadings, the
earnestness did not decrease as the hour progressed. It is an
interesting pondering to consider, “Why did the Lord pray three
times?” In the passion narrative there are multiple triplets
such as: |
|
|
a) |
There are three disciples who are brought deeper into Gethsemane
with the Lord (Mk. 14:33) |
|
|
b) |
Peter denied the Lord three times (Matt. 26:34) |
|
|
c) |
Pilate says that he finds no fault in the Lord three times (Jn.
18:38; 19:4, 6) |
|
|
d) |
The Lord prays three times (Matt. 26:44) |
|
|
e) |
The Lord gave three prophecies: |
|
|
|
|
i) |
The disciples would forsake Him
(Matt. 26:31) |
|
|
|
|
ii) |
Peter would deny Him (Matt. 26:34) |
|
|
|
|
iii) |
They would see Him again in Galilee (Matt. 26:30-36) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. |
Taking the scripture, “A threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecc.
4:12), I perceive these being used in the sense of public verbal
confirmation of affirmation in absoluteness. |
The Prayers of
Gethsemane
|
The example of the Lord |
|
|
a) |
One of the glorious truths to be learnt from the example of our
Lord is, when He was facing the overwhelming experiences of
being forsaken by God, He flew to, “The Rock that is higher than
I” (Psa. 61:2). |
|
|
|
|
i) |
At times in life we face the possibility of impending storms.
It may be the imminent death of a beloved child, the major
surgery of ones beloved, the loss of a business, a job, a home,
or personal health. Then we, like Christ, must go to God and
find the strength to honestly say, “Not my will, but thine, be
done” (Lk. 22:42). With the Lord it was not just a possibility,
but an assured reality. |
|
|
|
The prayers of the Lord in general |
|
|
a) |
It is a matter to be wondered at when we read of the Lord
praying in Gethsemane for He, being God, was the one who heard
prayers (Psa. 65:2). As a man on earth, so complete
and perfect was His humanity
that prayer was an integral
part of His life.
Thank God for the precious distinction between the prayers of
the Lord and ours in that He never presented Himself to God by
the acceptability of another, a matter we must do. The people
and priests of the Old Testament could only approach God by way
of a sacrifice, we by the acceptability and approachability
secured on the sacrifice of the Lord, but Christ never did.
Blessed thought, there was never anything in Christ that
necessitated a mediating sacrifice, never anything which caused
a disturbance in the fellowship between He and the Father, and
never the grieving or quenching of the Holy Spirit. Many
denominations have a “prayer book”. The Lord also had one! As
we listen to the prayers of the Lord we discover that the book
of Psalms was His “Prayer Book”. He began each day as a Servant
in communion with His God and Father. |
|
|
|
|
i) |
“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I
should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:
he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to
hear as the learned” (Isa. 50:4). This informs us of the
priority of His life, but now what He prayed the Psalmist was
caused to write, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O
LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and
will look up” (Psa. 5:3). Perfectly, this was the
attitude recorded by Mark, “And in the morning, rising up a
great while before day, he went out, and departed into a
solitary place, and there prayed” (Mk. 1:35). |
|
|
b) |
It was not just in the morning the Lord prayed: |
|
|
|
|
i) |
He prayed at the end of the days, “He went up into a mountain
apart to pray: and when the evening was come” (Matt. 14:23). |
|
|
|
|
ii) |
He knew what it was to spend entire nights in prayer, “And it
came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to
pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Lk. 6:12). |
|
|
|
|
iii) |
Furthermore, His praying did not end on earth, but even now in
the glory of eternal bliss He is caring for His own and praying,
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them” (Heb. 7:25). |
|
|
|
Surely, it is not something to be wondered at that when facing
the darkest hours, He prayed. |
There is beauty in the moral
character of each gospel in that it
is only in the gospels where we read
of the transfiguration, that we read
of Gethsemane. A further
distinction is seen in the contrast
between the prayer of the Lord in
Gethsemane and that in John 17. In
fact, the only point they have in
common is the word, “Father”. In
John the Lord does not say, “Abba
Father or O my Father”, but,
“Holy\Righteous Father”.
Tabulated they are as follows:
|
Gospels |
Reference |
John |
Reference |
|
Gethsemane |
Matt. 26:36 |
No Gethsemane experience
recorded |
|
|
No High Priestly prayer,
Speaking to the
disciples |
Jn. 13:5; 16:33 |
High Priestly prayer,
Speaking to His Father |
Jn. ch. 17 |
|
Father, Abba Father, O
my Father |
Lk. 22:42
Mk. 14:36
Matt. 26:39 |
Father, Holy Father,
Righteous Father |
Jn. 17:1, 11, 25 |
|
Turmoil & agony |
Lk. 22:44 |
Calmness & serenity |
There is no crying but
He was in control
(Jn. 18:4) |
|
Alone |
Matt. 26:36-39 |
With disciples |
Jn. Chs. 13-17 |
|
Prays concerning Himself |
Matt. 26:39 |
Prays on behalf of
others |
Jn. 17:9-24 |
|
Anticipatory of His
earthly ministry on
behalf of all humanity. |
Lk. 23:34 |
Indicative of His
heavenly ministry on
behalf of His own |
Heb. 7:25 |
. . . Rowan Jennings |
