Sermon Mark 14:32-41 Prayer in the Garden

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
Sermon Mark 14:32-41 Prayer in the Garden
March 15, 2009

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Today we have reached the third Sunday of Lent. Our guide through this period has been the Gospel of Mark. We have watched with Judas as the Jesus was anointed for death. And we have sat with the disciples and Jesus around a Passover meal. Today we will accompany Jesus, Peter, James and John to a garden on the Mount of Olives for prayer.

This morning I will be talking about prayer. Prayer is something that we do all the time. We pray every Sunday in worship. We pray every day at 6AM. We pray to bless meals. My mother taught me to pray before going to sleep at night. I can remember my grandmother kneeling beside the bed every evening. So we are very familiar with prayer. But what is prayer exactly?

Prayer has something to do with communicating with God. The Bible is filled with stories of people talking with God, seeing visions, wrestling with God, hearing from God’s messengers, the angels, and so forth. But prayer is something more that just being with God. So let’s look at people praying in the Bible.

The first time prayer occurs in the Bible comes when Abimelech, the king of Gerar, took Abraham’s wife Sarah supposing her to be Abraham’s sister. That night, in a dream, God came to Abimelech telling him he was about to die. But Abimelech had done nothing wrong, had not slept with Sarah because God did not permit in. So God told Abimelech to ask Abraham to pray for him, to pray for forgiveness so that the death sentence would be pardoned. A prayer therefore is a form of pleading, asking God for something or asking God to intervene in some way.

Moses established prayer as an important role for the prophets. When fire threatened the whole camp, or when poisonous snakes appeared, or when the priests made a golden calf, Moses prayed to God for forgiveness and deliverance for all the people. And God listened to Moses’ petitions.

The first person in scripture to pray for herself was Hannah. Hannah desperately wanted children. She wept bitterly. And we are told she prayed, pleaded with God to give her a child. The priest saw Hannah’s mouth moving but heard no words coming out of her it. She was praying silently for a son. Hannah was the first prayer woman of the Bible.

Hannah conceived and bore a son named Samuel who established that prophets should pray for nation at important occasions. So Samuel prayed for success as the Israelites prepared for battle with the Philistines. And when the people asked for a king, Samuel prayed to God asking if this should happen.

David was the first king to pray. His prayer came after God’s promise of an everlasting dynasty. David said prayers of joy and thanksgiving for all the blessings God had done for him. And David continued praying his joy throughout the book of Psalms.

The temple that Solomon built for God was to be a house of prayer. It was a place where people could come to offer their petitions to God for forgiveness and intercession. Prayers were to be offered there for rain, end to famine, and success in battle.

It was the prophet Elijah who first showed the healing power of prayer when he and a grieving mother prayed that her son would come back to life. God heard this prayer and gave her son new life.

King Hezekiah established that prayer could be used to protect his nation from calamity. He prayed that God would intercede on Judah’s behalf as the army of the Assyrians approached Jerusalem. And it was none other than the prophet Isaiah who assured Hezekiah that his prayers had been heard by God and Jerusalem was safe.

Later when the Babylonians came, God told the prophet Jeremiah not to bother praying because Jerusalem, this time, would not be spared destruction. But after the people were exiled to Babylon God told Jeremiah to have the people pray for the welfare of the city they were living in.

When the exiles were returning from Babylon to Jerusalem the prophet Ezra led the people in prayers of confession. The prophet Nehemiah prayed for his people day and night. And, of course, the prophet Jonah prayed from the belly of a fish.

And that brings us to a very important prayer, the prayer between the Son and the Father as Jesus was on the way to the cross.

Mark 14:32-42 32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. 34 And he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake." 35 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want." 37 He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? 38 Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. 41 He came a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand."

According to the Gospel of Mark Jesus liked to pray alone in the early morning hours. He would go to the top of a small mountain where he could be alone with God. Jesus taught that we should pray believing that God not only hears what we ask for but also responds. And he cautioned us against saying long prayers trying to impress other people.

While praying in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus gave us a model for our own prayers to God. First he addressed God as abba, daddy. In prayer we develop a personal relationship with God. God is a loving parent who longs to hear from us through prayer. I call my dad once a week just to chat. Prayer is the same thing. It is a time to chat with our creator.

Prayer is also a time for us to acknowledge who God is and who we are. Through prayer we realize that we are finite and God is infinite. This creates in us a sense of humility and prepares us for confession. We realize that by chatting with the creator of the universe anything is possible. Of course not everything is beneficial to us. So we ask for what we want and need and God gives us what God wants us to have. We can set our expectations very high, but we must also realize that God loves us and wants the best for us. So as we pray we bring our petitions to God and trust that God will respond in the appropriate way.

Jesus wanted to be spared the agony of crucifixion. So he asked his father if it was possible for this upcoming misery to go away. Certainly he knew that with God everything is possible. But not everything is according to God’s plan. And it was God’s plan that Jesus would go all the way to the cross in payment for the sin of the world. So Jesus realized that what were important were not his own earthly desires but the Father’s desires for reconciliation with us. So Jesus used prayer to mold his own will around the Father’s will. That is the way prayer works: In prayer our desires our shaped around what God wants.

Although Jesus usually prayed alone in this instance he wanted his disciples around him and was annoyed when they kept falling asleep. This is really good news for us. It means that Jesus wants to pray with us too. And this is what happens here in worship. Jesus is praying and we, through our prayers, get to listen in and participate. Every time we gather in prayer here in this sanctuary Jesus is with us, praying with us and for us. So we need to stay awake and keep praying with him every Sunday.

Have you ever wondered how the author of the Gospel of Mark knew what Jesus was praying when everyone around Jesus had fallen asleep? The author must have heard this from Jesus somehow. I think that the author must have heard from Jesus while praying. If that happens to the author of Mark, then it can happen to us too. In prayer, if we just remain silent for a while, Jesus can speak to us. In this way we can develop a relationship with him and come to know God’s plan for our lives.

So I urge you to pray with ceasing. Pray in the morning and in the evening. Pray whenever you go out and whenever you come in. Always maintain an open line of communication with Jesus. Chat with Jesus about every little thing in your life. Confess to Jesus anything you have done wrong. Ask Jesus for whatever you need. And pray that your desires will be molded around God’s desires and that you will be an instrument of God’s plan for our world.

Will you pray with me? Abba, Father we join with Jesus and other disciples around the world to pray to you this day. Hear our prayers. We pray that you will heal our loved ones. We pray that you will grow the church. We pray that the economy will improve and that people will find homes and jobs. We pray with those grieve losses. We pray prayers of joy and thanksgiving for our blessings. We ask that you mold us, shape us, into your image so that what we want is what you want for us. We pray all of this with Jesus who prays for us. Amen.