12/4 Sermon

Luke 22:39-46

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

 He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’ Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed,‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’ [[ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]] When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’

Following Jesus was not easy for the disciples. They had to make sacrifices to follow Jesus—perhaps these sacrifices were made easier by the miracles that Jesus was performing before their very eyes, but nevertheless, they had to sacrifice to follow Jesus. For three years they followed this incredible man around the region, never certain of what miracle came next, surely always amazed by the words that poured forth from Christ. They left behind family and friends to follow Jesus, and perhaps every now and again they thought they had it rough.

It was about to get a lot rougher. I think, by this point, they're starting to get the picture that everything is not going to turn out well in the end. I think by this point, they're starting to grasp the coming death of Jesus Christ. I have to imagine that they believed that there would still be a way out of it, but it's hard to think that they couldn't see the writing on the wall.

But they're still following Jesus. They're still there, still with him, still at his side, even though threats loom and Pharisees linger, waiting for their chance to bring Jesus down—the disciples are still there.

But Jesus knows it's about to get a whole lot tougher. And so he leads them to the Mount of Olives, where he needs to go and pray. He needs to go and spend some time in conversation with God, for he knows what is about to come and how difficult it will be. Notice, too, how he urges the disciples to be in prayer. “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

Now, we pray this prayer every week. We constantly are praying that the Lord lead us not into temptation. We know that we are weak and struggle with resisting temptation—so we pray for the Lord to keep it at bay.

But we all know that temptation comes, just as surely as we fail to resist it.

So why does the Lord encourage us to pray?

Because prayer shapes us. Prayer shapes the kind of people that we are. Prayer forms us as disciples—the disciples have followed Jesus for years, all the way to the Mount of Olives, and they still need forming, just as surely as you and I do. We need more practice as disciples—and prayer forms us as the kind of people who depend on Jesus Christ for every decision we make. When we are in constant prayer, we are looking to God's wisdom, rather than our own, when temptation does overtake us. Jesus prays the most selfless prayer possible: not my will by yours be done.

When we pray this, over and over again, eventually we begin to believe it, and then we begin to live it. Then, when we are overtaken by temptation, our minds are prepared to follow God's will rather than our own. When we are constantly being formed as disciples, we are more likely to resist temptation.

So live a life rooted in prayer. It's not enough just to come to church, or to mutter a prayer once a day. Let us be in prayer constantly—for in our prayers we are being formed. We are being formed as a people ready to empty ourselves, to set aside our own wants and desires and to pick up God's will for us. In prayer, we are shaped daily, so that when temptation comes, we will be prepared to face it.

Notice how the disciples opted for sleep rather than prayer. When the temptation to flee from Christ comes, they ran. May we be in prayer so that when adversity comes, and as Christians I promise you that it will come, we will be formed as disciples to stand as witnesses to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every part of our lives.

Let us pray.