loudandclear

Mark 14:27-42
(notes by Niko Gruber)

 27 On the way, Jesus told them, “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,
   ‘God will strike the Shepherd,
      and the sheep will be scattered.’

 28 But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”

 29 Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.”

 30 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

 31 “No!” Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

 32 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
 35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36 “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

 37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

 39 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 40 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say.

 41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

(((As the crucifixion of Jesus gets closer He predicts that all of His disciples will leave Him and Peter will even deny Him three times.  Despite all the time the disciples have spent with Jesus the past 3 years, they are still going to leave Him during the hardest part of His life.  Jesus’ closest friends abandon Him during His death.  Because Jesus is fully man He can understand the same pain of abandonment that we feel in life.  He can relate to our pain.)))

(((Jesus brings His disciples to Gethsemane.  Knowing that people would be there soon to come take Him away Jesus asks His 3 closest friends and disciples to be look-outs for Him so that He can pray.  Before Jesus is taken away to suffer for the world He goes to His Father.  He doesn’t wait until after it has started to start praying, He prays before so that He can make sure God the Father can’t do this another way and because He wanted to align Himself with the Father’s will.  Jesus prays to the Father before and during all the hardest moments of His life.  This is completely backwards compared to most people who run from God during hard times.)))

(((After Jesus prays for an hour He comes back to find Peter, James, and John all asleep.  I can’t imagine the pain that this caused Jesus.  He is about to sacrifice everything and go through incredible amounts of pain and the disciples can’t even stay awake long enough to be look-outs.  This happens 3 times before Jesus tells them that the time has come.  Even though they haven’t shown that they deserve to be trusted with this responsibility Jesus is faithful to them anyways and continues to give them more chances.  Jesus stays faithful to the disciples even when they don’t show any faithfulness in Him.  Even through His suffering Jesus is still faithful to His disciples.  We can’t do anything to deserve God’s faithfulness.)))