CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 22:39. As He was wont.—This accounts for Judas being able to lead those who apprehended Jesus to the place where He was to be found.
Luke 22:40. At the place.—A garden or farm called Gethsemane (i.e., “the oil-press”), perhaps belonging to a friend or disciple. He said to them.—He left eight of the apostles, and took Peter, James, and John further into the recesses of the garden, and to them gave this exhortation.
Luke 22:41. Withdrawn.—R.V. “parted from them”; lit. “torn away” (cf. Acts 21:1). The word implies reluctance to leave; but no great stress need be laid on it, as the special meaning may have been dropped in colloquial use.
Luke 22:42. Father, etc.—The sentence should be translated, “Father, if Thou be willing to remove this cup from Me [well]; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.” The word translated “remove” is in the infinitive, and not in the imperative.
Luke 22:43. There appeared an angel, etc.—This and the following verse are omitted in some very ancient MSS., perhaps from the mistaken idea that they derogate from the Saviour’s majesty. It is possible, however, that they did not appear in the first edition of the Gospel, but were added later. There is strong evidence in their favour from patristic writers: Justin Martyr, Irenæus, and Hippolytus refer to them. The appearance of the angel was evidently after the first prayer Christ offered in the garden—that quoted here. St. Luke summarises the other two prayers in the phrase (Luke 22:44), “He prayed more earnestly.” Strengthening Him.—The word implies imparting physical strength. We are not to think of spiritual strength or consolation being given.
Luke 22:44. Great drops of blood.—The words might be understood either of copious streams of sweat pouring like blood from a wound or of sweat actually tinged with blood. It is, however, probable that the latter is meant. If the former had been meant, it is difficult to see why the words “of blood” should have been used. Cases are on record of such. “bloody sweat” occurring in certain morbid states of body, or under the pressure of intense emotion.
Luke 22:45. Sleeping for sorrow.—As is well known, extreme grief has a stupifying effect, and often induces heavy, though unrefreshing, sleep.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 22:39-46
The Strife and the Victory.—At first sight there is something very surprising in this scene in the garden of Gethsemane. Without anything to prepare us for its occurrence it suddenly breaks in upon the gospel narrative, like a storm coming one knows not whence. After the peaceful celebration of the Passover, after the institution of the Supper in which His sacrificial death is so plainly indicated, after the long conversations which, for pathos and depth of significance, have no parallel in history, and after the quiet walk through the sleeping city, there comes in an instant this profound outburst of anguish. Certainly Jesus knew beforehand, and for a long time past, that His work of salvation would be concluded by His death. When He entered Jerusalem He knew that He would not depart alive from the city that slew the prophets. He clearly saw events hurrying on to this close, and knew that but a brief interval divided the fleeting popularity that attended His triumphal entry into the city from His condemnation and death. Yet it was only in the course of this evening that He knew that the hour—His hour—was at hand. He had seen Judas leave the room, and had perceived that this night was to be His last. Then once more the enemy whom He had defeated in the wilderness made a final assault upon Him, and the last temptation possible beset Christ in the garden of Gethsemane: it arose from the fear of death.
I. First of all there were the dreadful circumstances of the form of death He was to meet.—Doubtless this constituted part, though perhaps but a subordinate part, of the temptation now presented to Him. Must He not have shuddered as He thought of the sufferings involved in a death by crucifixion. He was clothed with our flesh and was as sensitive as we are to bodily pain. The first of His temptations in the wilderness had been to put an end to the bodily pains excited by hunger by acting independently of the Divine will, and we can easily believe that the tempter now again appealed to the natural instinct of self-preservation by suggesting that He should not submit to the tortures of crucifixion.
II. Then, too, there was the moral infamy connected with His execution as a malefactor.—He knew that crucifixion would expose Him to the abhorrence of the whole Jewish people, for it was written in their law, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” It was a lingering form of death, which subjected those who underwent it sometimes to days of helpless misery, and left them at the mercy of all who chose to mock and insult them. It was a death which would proclaim Him as a false pretender to the rank and dignity of the Messiah, and brand Him as a malefactor. What wonder if the thought of dying such a death filled Him with agony!
III. Death itself, apart from the pains and ignominy of crucifixion, was full of horror for Him.—He was partaker of our nature, and for every man death, though inevitable, has something terrible in it, which can never fail to strike dread into the spirit. It was a man of God who gave to it the name of “the king of terrors.” There is in all of us a natural instinct which recoils from it, and Christ, who was in all points like us, doubtless partook of this. But if there is in our case an instinct which leads us to recoil from death, there is, doubtless, another which accepts it as natural and sees in it a punishment for sin. We feel that we have not, or have no longer, an inalienable right to life. But He who suffered agony in Gethsemane had that right, and it is a feeling of this which rises up in revolt in Him at the very moment when He sees death to be imminent. Death is the wages of sin, and sin never had any hold upon Him. Now all at once He realises that He must pass through that dark portal through which all sinners are doomed to pass. He who was without sin must accept the wages of sin. Yet, did Jesus Christ hesitate as to accomplishing His work? In this hour of anguish, does He consider whether He will carry it through to the end or give it up? No, not for a moment. He is determined to accomplish His work, but the question rises in His mind, Are death, and the death of the cross, the necessary means for that end? His work He does not even name. That which He asks His Father to spare Him, if possible, is the act which appears to Him as the consummation of His work—the “cup,” which represents His death. It was necessary, not only that Jesus should die, but that He die of His own free-will—that He should wish to die. And when once His will had been brought into conformity with the will of His Father His agony was past. He has won the victory by complete renunciation of Himself. The sacrifice He offers is accepted, though not yet consummated, and in Gethsemane the fundamental act of our salvation is accomplished. There are in the history of the plan of God two gardens—the garden of Eden and the garden of Gethsemane. The one is exactly the counterpart of the other. In the one the first son of God asserted himself against his Father, and sought, by disobedience, to add some Divine element to his humanity. The consequence was that he died and entailed death upon the whole of his race. In the other the second Son of God subjected His own will to that of His Father, and, in perfect obedience, offered Himself unto God. The consequence, in His case also, was that He died; but, since He gave up His life freely, He took it again, and became the Author of life to all His brethren, who, for His sake, receive the pardon of their sins. (See Berguer’s Sermons: “Gethsémané”).
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 22:39-46
Luke 22:39-46. Gethsemane.—One of the most prominent and mysterious passages in our Lord’s life.
I. Suffering of peculiar intensity.
II. A conflict between inclination and duty.
III. Explainable only on the ground that He died to bear the great burden of sin.
IV. Duty overmasters inclination.—He offers Himself willingly for the cross and the grave.—Nicoll.
Luke 22:39. “As He was wont.”—Retirement for
(1) converse with God, and
(2) with our own hearts, is salutary for us, especially after celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The fact that Christ Himself found solace and strength in this way is highly significant.
The Calmness of Jesus.
I. Note the spirit in which the great agony was approached.—How we go into a trial is often of as much importance as how we behave ourselves in it. In entrance into trial, in continuance in it, in egress from it, Jesus was perfect. What He had dreaded all His life long was just at hand. The cross, in clear-cut sharpness, was just in view. But He went in calmness to the accustomed place, and for the accustomed purpose.
II. There is but little of this calmness manifested in even the great saints of God.—Abraham, Job, Moses, Elijah, all were greatly troubled in trying crises of their lives. Not so Jesus. See His calmness in the midst of provoking and angry men; before Pilate, how unlike the excitement that goes on in the world!
III. How suggestive is the phrase as to the habits of Christ’s life!—His great trial was to find Him in the midst of prayer. His enemies knew where to look for Him. Judas knew His place and occupation. And as with His habits of devotion, so with His thoughtfulness and generosity, tenderness and pity. Is He not still the same? He is unchanged. The habits of His earthly life have left their impress on Him for ever.—Power.
Luke 22:40-46. Lessons from Gethsemane.
I. About Christ.—
1. His true humanity.
2. His wonderful love.
3. His touching forbearance with His disciples.
II. About sin.—
1. Its exceeding sinfulness.
2. Its terrible power.
3. Its awful curse.
III. About temptation.—
1. To expect it.
2. How to conquer it by watchfulness and prayer.—W. Taylor.
Luke 22:40. “Enter not into temptation.”—
1. They were to be exposed to trial.
2. There was danger of the circumstances in which they were to be placed serving as a temptation to forsake Him or to deny their faith in Him.
3. The great means for their preservation was prayer.
Luke 22:41-44. The Prayers in the Garden.—What is the subject of Christ’s repeated prayer? He does not seek deliverance from the cross. It was from a thing worse than death to the holy soul of the God-Man. It was from the hour of conscious sin-bearing and sin-becoming; from this awful horror He shrank back.
I. The angel strengthening was the first answer to His prayer.
II. The redoubled fervour of the prayer was the second answer—There was a growth of submissiveness between the two prayers. The first prayer was submissive, asking the boon; the second accepts the refusal, asking only that the Divine will be done.—Vaughan.
Luke 22:41-42. The Great Example of Prayer.—
1. The soul separated from all others and in communion with God.
2. Reverence of manner and attitude before God.
3. The expression of sincere desire.
4. Resignation to the will of God, whether He grant or deny the request.
Luke 22:41. “Was withdrawn.”—The word, the reluctance, as it were, with which one tears himself away from friends. Of course, we are not to understand the word as if our Lord, almost against His will, separated Himself from the circle of His disciples, but simply thus, that He, following the constraint of His agitation of soul, with visible intensity of feeling and rapid steps, sought the still solitude.—Van Oosterzee.
Luke 22:42. The Cup of Suffering.
I. Christ’s sufferings were not purely, nor even principally, physical.
II. Nor could His sufferings have risen merely through His foreknowledge of death.
III. Nor were His sufferings endured as an equivalent for a certain amount of sin.
IV. His sufferings arose from His profound sympathy with humanity, and intense perception of man’s sin.—Hull.
“Nevertheless.”
I. The response which may be given to the unthwarted love of God by the heart that is perfect towards Him is heralded by this word.—Here, really for Himself, and ideally for all those who partake in Him through faith, Christ determinedly set His will in harmony with God’s. He made the supreme sacrifice of self which God accepted as the sufficient sacrifice for us all. His will, as man, was that the cup should pass; God’s will was that He should drink it.
II. This word, again, represented a defiance of circumstances, an appeal from the compulsion and the pressure of the world and the flesh to the right of self-determination.—The weakness of His human flesh, the shrinking from the hatred and cruelty of man, the fear lest, as His life, so His death might be a failure,—all these made up the strong stream of temptation against which Christ set the whole force of His being, when He cried, “Nevertheless.” It was not merely surrender. It was victory.—Nicoll.
Luke 22:43-44. Three Signs of the Deep Agony of Christ.
I. A weakness, calling for immediate and heavenly succour.
II. More earnest prayer.
III. Sweat, “as it were great drops of blood.”
Luke 22:43. “There appeared an angel.”—In the temptation in the wilderness the angels ministered to Christ after the conflict. Here He is sustained by heavenly aid during the conflict—thus showing us how much more trying was the second experience.
“Strengthening Him.”—God may help us either
(1) by removing the cause of sorrow, or
(2) by imparting to us fresh strength.
Luke 22:44. “Being in an agony.”—His delicately sensitive humanity shrinks from death; His holy humanity from the night of darkness; His loving humanity from the hatred that is now about to reach its most fearful culmination. Nay, if His humanity was of a finite nature, He might, standing over against the burden of the sin of millions, conceive, as we believe, even the possibility of sinking under His fearful burden. Sin and death show themselves now to His eye in an entirely different light than before His incarnation, when death stood already, it is true, before Him, without, however, having dared to essay any direct assault upon Himself.—Van Oosterzee.
I. A mysterious agony.—
1. His dread of coming into contact with the world’s evil.
2. His task of learning obedience by the things that He suffered.
II. A mighty prayer in the agony.
III. The gracious answer.—Davies.
Terror of Death.—We men, conceived and born in sin, have an impure, hard flesh, that is not quick to feel. The fresher, the sounder the man, the more he feels what is contrary to him. Because Christ’s body was pure and without sin, and our body is impure, therefore we scarcely feel the terrors of death in two degrees where Christ felt them in ten, since He is to be the greatest martyr and to feel the utmost terror of death.—Luther.
Luke 22:45. “Sleeping for sorrow.”—
1. The weakness of the disciples—failing to watch with their Master.
2. The kindly construction put upon it.
Luke 22:46. “Lest ye enter into temptation.”—The temptation was now past for Jesus; by watching and prayer He had overcome it. The disciples, by neglecting His warning, were unprepared for the trial to which they were to be exposed.