PRAYING THROUGH THE PAIN

By Mark E. Hardgrove, Ph.D.
Text: Luke 22:39-45

39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 

41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."  43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  

45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." 

INTRODUCTION

          Have you ever been in a situation where the prospects ahead of you—the decisions that had to be made, and the choices that necessity laid upon your shoulders—were so difficult and so painful that not even those closest to you, your friends and family, no one, could really comprehend what you were going through?   Most of us have been there at some point in our life. 

          I’ve stood with families who were trying to decide whether to continue extreme measures to keep a loved one alive, or let the natural processes of the body take its course.  I’ve held that hand of a woman who found out that her husband was unfaithful and she wrestled with the question of whether to forgive or to end the marriage, and while I’ve stood with and prayed with people in the valley of decision, only those who have gone through those times really know what it’s like.  In those time one tends to feel alone and somewhat isolated from even their closest friends.  [Illustrate: Jean.  When someone at her son’s funeral said, “I know how you feel.”  She said, “You have no idea.”] 

          In our text, we see that it was crunch time for Jesus, and not even though closest to Him could comprehend what it meant.  What do you do in those times?  Well Jesus prayed.  You’ll notice in our text that the key word in verses 39 through 46 is the word “pray.”  Prayer is referred to five times in this short section.  Jesus twice tells the disciples to pray and we are told that Jesus prayed and that He prayed more earnestly.  So in this critical hour in the life and ministry of Jesus, He prayed and He prayed with passion.  This response to the trials and struggles of life is seen also in the life of other great men and woman of faith in the Bible.  In times of trial or temptation, or times when difficult decisions had to be made, the great ones turned to God the Father.  Lesser men, like King Saul, turned to a medium and to ghosts, or to false prophets.

          Some folk, when faced with life’s difficult decisions will fall apart.  They turn to the bottle or to drugs.  Some will fall away, give up, or give in.  Others will simply end their life and leave others behind to deal with the pain.  I’ve known desperate men and women who began searching their horoscope or go to palm readers and the like, but the great ones turned to God in prayer. 

          I believe that this text shows us that when you don’t know where to turn, turn to God the Father in the name of His Son Jesus.  Look at verses 39 and 40

I)   THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER

39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 

          Notice the words in verse 39, “. . . as He was accustomed.”  This wasn’t the first time Jesus had been here to pray.  Some folk will only pray during a time of crisis.  You know they are in trouble when you see them coming to the altar or to the prayer chapel because that’s the only time they pray.  But not Jesus, this was His habit; He was accustomed to coming to this place for prayer, to commune with His Heavenly Father. 

The importance of prayer is a common theme in Luke’s Gospel.  Luke shows us that at many key moments in Jesus’ life He prayed: His baptism (3:21), early in His ministry (5:16), before appointing the disciples (6:12), before Peter’s confession (9:18), on the mount of transfiguration (9:28-29), before teaching His disciples about prayer (11:1-2), and while teaching the disciples (18:1).  Jesus also declared that the Temple should be “a house of prayer” (19:46).  In the end, Jesus dies praying (23:34, 46), and as the risen Lord, He is recognized when He prays (24:30-31).  It is entirely appropriate in Luke, then, that Jesus took time away from His disciples to pray before facing the events that would lead to His torture and crucifixion. (R. Allen Culpeper, NIB, p. 432)

          Surely we should, and can, and must turn to the Lord in the crises of life, but before the crises come (and they will come) we need to be accustomed to prayer, we need to have a habit of prayer, we need to know how to get a hold of the horns of the altar and get a prayer through heaven.  We should pray without ceasing.  We should pray at all time.  We should be instant in season and out of season.  Prayer should not be reserved for the crises of life, but prayer should be the practice of every believer.  We cannot be true disciples unless we are truly people of prayer.  Jesus was accustomed to prayer.

          Not only does Jesus go to the garden to pray, but He instructs His disciples, and by extension, He instructs us to pray so that we do not enter into temptation.  There is no promise that we will not be tempted, but the prayer is that we do not enter into that temptation, that we do not give in or give up, but that we remain faithful in the face of the trials, trouble, tribulation and temptations that life will inevitably throw at us.

II)  THE PERSONAL NATURE OF PRAYER

41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."   

          Look at verses 41 and 42.  Notice how personal this prayer is.  Jesus separates Himself from His disciples.  They don’t understand.  He’s tried to tell them.  He said that the things concerning Him are about to come to fulfillment, about to come to an end, as He is numbered among the transgressors.  They don’t get it. 

          That’s the way it is sometimes.  We find ourselves in situations that are so difficult that no one around us, not even our own flesh and blood, understand the nature of the struggle we are facing.  Jesus withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and He went to His knees and prayed.

          Look at that prayer in verse 42.  This was not something Jesus was looking forward to.  I know that the writer of Hebrews talks about the joy that was set before Him, but that joy is the redemption of believers.  The cross and all that the Passion of Christ entailed held nothing but pain and suffering, and shame.  Notice the personal address of Jesus to the Father.  He begins with one word, “Father.” 

          How many of us parents, when our child is facing pain or suffering, has heard our child say, “Daddy” or “Mommy,” and in that moment we would move heaven and earth to stop their pain?   

          Jesus begins with the word “Father,” and then continues.  Notice the first half of this prayer.  We often jump ahead to the end, but before Jesus says, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” Jesus says, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me.”  

          This was an agonizing  time for Jesus, but think about the pain inflicted upon the heart of the Father!  I believe if Jesus had just said the word or given the signal, God would have sent ten thousand angels and ended this thing right here.  But Jesus didn’t stop there; He continued praying, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.”

          How many of you know that when we are in those painful situations, prayer becomes intensely personal.  Sometimes we don’t even want our spouse or our children to hear the conversation we’re going to have with God.  It’s like: “This is just between me and You, God.  I don’t like the choices I’ve been given.  I’m not looking forward to the decision I’m going to have to make.  I take no pleasure in the sacrifice I’m going to have to make, that’s why it’s called a sacrifice, but God, it’s not about my will, but I surrender to You, to Your wisdom, to Your will, to Your way, to Your Word.  I’m not looking forward to it, and I’m not going to like it, people around me won’t understand it, and some will mock me and make fun of me, but not my will, not my will, but Thine be done.”

          It doesn’t get much more personal than that, does it?  This was personal for Jesus.  It was for humanity, but it was between Him and His Father.  Not even His disciples could share in this moment.

III)  THE PAIN OF PRAYER

43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.  44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.  45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." 

          Notice the pain of this prayer.  Sometimes prayer is born out of joy, sometimes it is born out of love and concern for others, but sometimes the most passionate prayers are those that are born out of our own pain.  This was so intense that the Father literally dispatched an angel to come and strengthen Jesus.  We are told that similar angelic presence ministered to Jesus in the wilderness following His temptation.  It suggests here that Jesus was being tempted by Satan to choose and easier route.  But the angel came and strengthened Jesus.   I wish we were given more detail as to what this consisted of, but whatever it was, it enabled Jesus to continue to pray and to pray even more earnestly.

          Verse 44 says that Jesus was in agony, this was a difficult thing that Jesus was being asked to do.  Not just the physical aspects, but the spiritual implications were enormous.  Jesus, who was born sinless and walked in sinless perfection, was being asked to take upon Himself the sins of the world.  He was being asked to take our punishment and to compress into those hours upon the cross, an eternity’s worth of judgment.  Of course, Jesus was in agony, and it took an intense time of prayer to prepare Jesus the man for what He was about to face physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  As God, Jesus in eternity past agreed to this moment.  He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth, but in His humanity, facing the physical, emotional, and spiritual implications, the intensity of what was about to happen weighed heavily upon His human shoulders.

          How intense was it?  The Bible tells us that Jesus prayed so earnestly until it was as though He was sweating blood.  This is a figure of speech called a simile, which is when something is said to be “like” or “as” something else.  It is clear in the Greek and in the English that this is symbolic.  When the Bible says His sweat became “like great drops of blood.”  This is a powerful way to convey intensity of this moment and this prayer. 

          Jesus knows what it’s like to face those difficult decisions and make those difficult choices.  He’s been there, and though He was alone with the Father in His time of painful prayer, He said He would never leave us nor forsake us, so that when we go through our times of painful prayer, He doesn’t have to send an angel, but Jesus Himself will wrap His arms around us and strengthen us.  Also, the Bible tells us that when we don’t know how to pray as we ought, the Holy Spirit will become our intercessor and pray through us.  The Holy Spirit will take our groans and pain and turn it into a prayer that touches the heart of God and opens up the portals of heaven on our behalf.

          After Jesus prayed He came back to His disciples and they were sleeping.  In His most desperate moment in ministry, they were sleeping.  While the fate of humanity hinged upon His obedience, they were sleeping.  It must have stung a little for Him to know that He was about to die for their sins, and after He had asked them to pray, and while He was agonizing alone in prayer, they were sleeping.  God help us to be like Jesus and not like the disciples, but I fear that far too often, while issues of enormous importance are hanging in the spiritual air around us, while the world convulses in advance of a time of great tribulation, the church is still sleeping rather than praying.

CONCLUSION

          Here’s the thing, whatever you’re going through, it may be intensely personal, but Jesus knows where you are, and He’s been where you are in prayer.  He will be with you now.  If you’re here today and you’re in that place, I’d like to invite you to come and let us agree with you in prayer that God is going to strengthen you, He is going to give you wisdom and direction, and though you may have to pass through that valley, on the other side, there’s an anointing awaiting and blessings in abundance.  He will anoint your head with oil, your cup will be running over, and good and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.  You may have to pray through the pain, you may have to pass through the valley, but praise God anyhow, because you’re just passing through.  You’re coming out the other side of this thing stronger than when you went in.