The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 22:39-46 comments: prayer on the Mount of Olives

 

Luke 22:39 ¶  And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45  And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, 46  And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

 

From this we see that Jesus regularly went to the mount of Olives as evidenced in Luke 19 and 21 plus the other three gospels. Jesus’ prayer here is an example to us. There are difficult things we must face in this life and we ask for mercy, that we do not suffer, but we should and must always acknowledge that it is God’s will that must be done, not ours. We make it clear that we acknowledge our dependence on God and that all things are by His hand. All we can do is to ask for mercy acknowledging His authority over our lives and giving Him the glory.

 

This is very difficult for modern Christians who have bought into the evil that has divorced the God of the Bible from reality. We have created a caretaker God who stands off but is not active in every moment or function of life and existence. We call on Him for help, assistance, or for a blessing but do not see His hand in every difficulty, every joy, and, indeed, in every cell function, heartbeat, and stirring of a breeze.

 

It was the era of Isaac Newton that began to relegate God to a sort of ‘First Cause’ who set up processes that function normally just fine without Him. You’ll even hear preachers talk about things like childbirth or the death of someone as if, when something goes wrong, God needs a phone call or a text message to know what’s going on. God isn’t an absentee landlord who you call when the plumbing breaks. He either broke the plumbing or allowed it to be broken for a reason you may never know, if you study the book of Job, and you need His mercy, His wisdom on how to fix it or have someone fix it and understanding of what He wants from you as a response to this life challenge, blessing, or sorrow.

 

Here, the visible image of God, the very body of God, the man who is fully God and yet fully man, shows that while He is not looking forward to the suffering He must face in order to die for our sins, the sins of the world, He acknowledges that the will of God, which is also His will as He is God, must be done.

 

Hebrews 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

 

An angel or appearance of someone from heaven ministers to Him.

 

Psalm 104:4  Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

 

Hebrews 1:7  And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

 

This reinforces our understanding of what Christ knew about His upcoming physical death and relates it to our suffering if we are not drugged or unconscious when it happens to us.

 

Indeed, dying and death rank highly among some of mankind’s greatest fears and we go to great lengths to increase our years or try to ameliorate the suffering of death with drugs. God came as a man, in part, for this very reason.

 

Hebrews 2:14 ¶  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16  For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

 

By Christ’s agony in the garden and from other events detailed in the Bible we can relate our own fears, anxieties, and thoughts over the end-of-life suffering and be comforted. You are not sinning or showing faithlessness if you resist the agony you may face because even our Lord did not look forward to it. God comforts us with the Bible when we see that we are not alone and that it is not wrong to not be a Stoic with the proverbial stiff-upper-lip when it comes to life’s pain and grief.

 

2Corinthians 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

 

From the Bible we learn that we are not condemned when we suffer because we respond to it in our humanity. We are also taught how to respond to the suffering of others.

 

Romans 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

 

A temptation is something that can cause you to doubt God or calls into question your faith or makes you deny Christ. Prayer here is one answer to the danger of temptation. Remember the prayer Jesus taught His disciples that mentioned temptation. See the comments on chapter 11:1-13. This is not tempted to do wrong but tempted to doubt God or turn from Him, to not do what Jesus has done, acknowledge that it is God’s will that must be done.

 

The disciples are said to be sleeping for sorrow. Only Luke gives us the cause of their sleepiness. It is the result of emotional exhaustion. The disciples have been experiencing an emotional overload. Different people respond to such things differently. But, here, these frail human beings who follow Christ can bear the extreme stress placed on them as the Lord they love told them that He must die no more. In an ongoing time of grief and sorrow that is unremitting and merciless some people eat a lot, some go about their daily trivialities with an obsessive-compulsive attitude, and others fall down exhausted in their hearts.

 

It is also possible that these exhausted disciples were being oppressed by Satan although it does not say so in the text. Remember;

 

31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

 

Simon Peter’s emotional catharsis, that moment of relief as the floodgate of tears opens and he is enabled to be the Apostle he would become, the one Jesus prayed for, is coming up here in verse 62.

 

Finally, keep in mind that as it were is an idiomatic expression that means “so to speak”. Having bloody sweat is a rare but real condition called hematidrosis and has been recorded at times throughout history even into modern times. I have seen pictures purportedly of the condition.