‘And he came out, and went, as his custom was, to the mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.” '
Luke has learned from his sources that it was Jesus' custom regularly to go to the Mount of Olives (compare also Luke 21:37). This was why Judas was confident that he knew where He would be (compare John 18:2). And yet Jesus, knowing this, and knowing Judas' intention, went there without a moment's hesitation. He was no longer trying to prevent Judas knowing of His whereabouts. He knew that it was His hour.
And ‘the disciples also followed Him'. There is a poignancy to this last phrase, for, although they did not realise it at the time, it was the last time that they would be able to walk with Him and follow Him. For in what now lay ahead they would be unable to follow Him. He would have to walk the coming path alone. And after tonight He would no longer be present with them in the flesh. The days of daily fellowship with Him were over.
‘The place.' This might indicate their encampment, but we could equally argue that it means ‘the place' fixed in all Christian minds, the place of His final testing before the end, the place where His mind and heart were steeled as He went forward to face His destiny. The place is not named by Luke. He does not want to divert attention from what will happen there, and from the fact that this was the Mount of Destiny (Zechariah 14:4-5; Mark 13:3).
“Pray that you enter not into temptation.” Once they were at ‘the place' Jesus once more warned the disciples against the inevitable temptation and testing that was coming, and exhorted them to pray so that they would not find themselves enmeshed in it. His words should have been a danger signal to them, for He had never addressed them in quite this way previously. His unusual warning should therefore have brought home to them that they must pray as they had never prayed before.
For He was aware, as they should have been had they heeded His earlier warnings, that He and they were now involved on a spiritual battlefield such as they had never previously experienced. He knew that His trials and temptations, in which they had shared (Luke 22:28), were not only continuing but expanding. This was why He was exhorting them to pray. And His very exhortation, for He had never spoken in quite this way before, should have warned them that the matter was serious.
However, had all depended on their prayer alone the battle would have been totally lost, for after a while they could not keep awake, and slept. It is salutary to consider the possibility that had Peter not slept instead of praying, he might perhaps not have denied Jesus, and had the disciples not slept perhaps they might not have fled so precipitously. But all did sleep, and therefore they were of no help in what was to come, either to Jesus or to themselves.
Matthew and Mark have Jesus giving a similar exhortation to the three. In fact we can hardly doubt that He urged it on both the twelve and the three. It was that kind of situation.
The inference of His words here is that He too was facing up to severe temptation. And when they saw Him go on ahead and sink to His knees in prayer they could hardly have been in any doubt on the matter. Furthermore what they heard of His prayer would have confirmed it. For it made clear that He was facing the ‘temptation', if only another way could be found that could conform with the Father's will, not to walk the road that appeared to have been appointed by His Father. In His humanity what lay ahead appeared so awful that He questioned whether there might be another way. And yet in the face of the awfulness of what lay before Him there was not a moments hesitation about doing His Father's will (see Hebrews 10:7; Hebrews 10:9-10). His only query was as to whether there might be another way.