June 26 2025

Thursday June 26

Luke 22:40-42

Are We Praying or Are We Sleeping?

40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will,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."

Welcome to Pastor's Chat. Today, we're continuing in Luke 22:40-42. At this point, Jesus has left the upper room with His disciples to go the Mount of Olives and on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, He sang a hymn with them. Now He is at the garden. When He gets to the garden, He takes three of the inner circle disciples—Peter, James, and John—and goes a little further.

Jesus left eight of the other disciples somewhere else in the garden, and He takes these three a little further. What's interesting is that this is the third time that Jesus has shared a special occasion with these three men. The first was when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead in Luke 8:41-56. The second is when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and was transfigured before them in Luke 9:28-36.

You understand that even on this third occasion in the garden, there's something connected spiritually with all three of these occasions, and that is death. Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead when James, John, and Peter were in the room with Him on that occasion. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a great Bible preacher, a British expositor, pointed out that each of these occasions had something to do with death. In Jairus's house, Jesus proved Himself to be victorious over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was glorified through death. There, He, Moses, and Elijah were talking about His decease, His death in Jerusalem, and, of course, His resurrection. Now here in the garden, Jesus is surrendering His life to death.

You remember also that James was the first apostle to die in Acts 12:1-2. John was the last to die, probably on the Isle of Patmos or maybe after He got out of exile and came back to Ephesus. Peter experienced great persecution and eventually was crucified, they tell us, upside down in Rome. These three lessons were no doubt practical for them as they themselves prepared for death and faced death as they did later.

So we see Jesus is with these three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. I would really encourage you to read Matthew 26:36-46. Matthew's gospel, on this occasion in verse 37, tells us that He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." Then it says He went a little further. Here in chapter 22 of Luke's gospel, in verse 41, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw.

If you think about that, a stone's throw was basically saying as far as it would take to throw a stone. When the Jewish people were about to kill someone, Jewish execution always took place with a stoning. Luke giving us the distance, “a stone's throw”, was his way of telling us that Jesus was preparing for that stone's throw, but it wouldn't be a stone's throw; it would be a crucifixion because Old Testament scripture prophesied that Jesus would be crucified. He would be hung on a cross; He would die in a cruel way; His blood would be shed that way.

So Jesus went about a stone's throw and He knelt down and prayed. Very interesting, Jesus had said to the disciples, "Watch and pray. I need your help; I need your support during this hour. Watch and pray; be alert; be on the watch. Satan is out to destroy you; Satan is out to hinder us and keep us even from going to the cross."

Jesus began to be very sorrowful. So Jesus asked them to watch and pray. In Matthew's gospel, He actually did this two times, came back the third time, and said, "Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand." (Matthew 26:45-46)

So you see this whole picture unfolds, Jesus is in Gethsemane, pouring out His heart in prayer. Tomorrow we'll talk about what He prayed concerning that cup, that cup that He prayed, "Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." 

Today, I trust that instead of being asleep spiritually we are alert, watching and praying during our trial of temptation!

God bless!