June 28 2025

Saturday June 28

Luke 22:40-46

Preparing For Trials and Temptations

40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will,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

Today, we're continuing to meditate and look at Luke chapter 22:40-46, which gives us the scene of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. Remember, He left eight of them somewhere—we're not sure where—but took three of them, Peter, James, and John, a little further. Then immediately He told them in verse 40, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.” Now Matthew’s Gospel tells us that He also said to them at that time, “Stay here and watch with Me.” And then He went a little further and fell on His face and prayed.

We know that Jesus, when He prayed the first time, said, “Not My will, but Thy will be done,” to the Father, He came back and found the disciples sleeping. Jesus is praying and He asked them to pray. He needs the comfort and assurance that the disciples are there with Him during His time of trial—His time of laying down His life, of accepting the cup of sins of the entire humanity. He needs that support in prayer. If Jesus needed support in prayer, how much more do we need support in prayer?

Now, these three disciples, instead of praying, all fall asleep. Luke also tells us in verse 45, that He came after He prayed the last time and found them sleeping from sorrow. They’re overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus, as He shared the cup of the Lord’s Supper with them had been telling them, “I'm going to die. This is My flesh, this is My blood,” and reminded them that the Lamb had to die, and that He was the Lamb who was going to die. They’re overwhelmed with sorrow. They expected Him to set up His Kingdom, and He’s talking about dying. That’s why Jesus told them in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus saw the trouble in their hearts, the sorrow that’s overwhelming them. But now, instead of praying, they’re sleeping because of sorrow.

Two of the Gospels tells us that their eyes were heavy with sleep (Matthew 26:43; Mark 14:40). They were also overwhelmed with just physical tiredness. And that’s a bad place for us to get into—where we’re emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually worn out to the point that we cannot pray. The second time when He came and found them sleeping, He said to them, “Watch and pray.” In Matthew 26:41, we read that Jesus also said, “that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Remember Peter’s declaration just minutes earlier? “If I have to die with You, I will not deny You.” (Matthew 26:35). Okay—the spirit is willing. Especially when we go to church on Sunday morning and hear the message or the Sunday school lesson, and we get around God’s people, we feel strengthened. We feel strong. And we leave saying, “Man, I’m going to serve Jesus this week. I’m going to live for Him. I’m not going to go back to those old habits and sins that take me away from Him, keep me from praying, and keep me from getting up and spending time in the Word with the Lord in the morning.”

And yet, as willing as the spirit is on Sunday, Monday morning comes, and the flesh is weak. Or when the trial and the time of temptation comes—my friend, the flesh is weak. It’s weaker than we ever imagined. Peter didn’t know himself as well as he thought he did. And neither do we. “Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know them? We learn a great lesson here. Jesus said, “Watch.”  Be alert for what?

From this experience, Peter later writes in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion.” I’m convinced the devil was out to kill Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane—to keep Him from the cross. I mean, the bastions of hell surrounded Jesus as He goes to the cross (Psalm 22:12-13). But Jesus is prepared, He prays three times. He prays and yields in obedience to the will of the Father. The disciples? What are they doing? Sleeping.

So, when the moment of temptation comes, what happens with Peter and the disciples? They all forsake Him and flee. Jesus stands strong, yields Himself as a Lamb going to the slaughter, and goes with the soldiers to be crucified. If you remember John’s Gospel, when He said, “I am He. I am who you’re looking for,” they fell back to the ground. For a moment, He displayed His glory, and they fell back. Jesus could have had twelve legions of angels come and protect Him (Matthew 26:53). But, my friend, He was willing to be obedient—even to the death of the cross.

If we’re going to stand strong and victorious in the hour of trial and temptation, we need to make sure that we are praying.

God bless!