April 3rd, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Alone on the Winepress

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Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for being faithful to me in Gethsemane. I give You all my praise and worship today.

Read LUKE 22:39-62

[39] 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. [45] When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. [46] “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” [47] While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, [48] but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” [49] When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” [50] And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. [51] But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him. [52] Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? [53] Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour-when darkness reigns.” [54] Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. [55] But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. [56] A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” [57] But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. [58] A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. [59] About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” [60] Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. [61] The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” [62] And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“If we decide to be serious with God about prayer, we can be sure Satan will be serious with us about temptation” (Larry Lea). 

Think Further

Temptation carries the basic meaning of testing. Only in a secondary sense can it mean seduction; however, since the seventeenth century common English usage restricts the word to “testing with evil intent.” The NIV rendering of Jesus’ words in vs. 40 and 46 as “Pray that you will not fall into temptation” reminds us that God is the primary agent in helping the disciples resist the testing and temptation in Gethsemane.

Jesus warns the disciples (40) that they are about to face the trauma he had predicted his impending trial would bring (John 16:2,6, 20-22), but rather than confront the crisis with prayer, the disciples resort to other means. First, they escape into sleep, hoping the crisis will be gone when they awake. Then, on wakening, they confront the crisis with armed force. In contrast, Jesus faces his much greater test by using the weapon of prayer. The “cup” he shrinks from is the cup of judgment (Psa. 75:8; Isa. 51:17-23). A deep depression almost overwhelms him as he contemplates the awful, imminent prospect of bearing God’s wrath. An acute conflict of emotions plunges him into intense mental agony. Although he winces, he does not waver. He puts the will of the Father and the needs of others before his own preference (42b).

Jesus held his nerve because he prayed. The disciples lost theirs because they did not. Prayer is still a key weapon in confronting disturbed emotions. A friend of mine who suffers from deep depression prays for 200 people every day. He finds strength to persevere through the darkness knowing that the Lord in whose name he prays and who has promised never to leave him has, himself, passed through the most intense form of depression.

Apply

“The devil tempts that he may ruin; God tests that he may crown” (Ambrose, Bishop of Milan). If you or someone you know faces any testing or temptation today, pray about it now.

Closing prayer

Father, when I think about Gethsemane, I see such amazing love that it demands my love and devotion; it will have my all.

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