Amy C Walters

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives | Luke 22:39-51

After the Last Supper, Jesus has just a few hours left before his crucifixion. How does he spend that time? In prayer. He also repeatedly urges his disciples to pray so that they do not fall into temptation. Jesus demonstrates that prayer is our greatest weapon.

Jesus has just finished the Last Supper with his disciples. He had earnestly desired to eat that Passover with them and reveal himself as their Passover Lamb, the sacrifice that would set them free. But it was not an easy meal. 

The disciples had been distracted, they’d doubted the things that Jesus said, and they misunderstood what they should do as a result of it. During the meal:

• Jesus told the disciples that someone in that room would betray him
• The disciples argued over which one of them was the greatest
• Jesus revealed to Peter that he would deny him 
• Peter claimed that he would go to prison and even death for Jesus
• Jesus said that he’s going to be treated as a criminal
• The disciples take this to mean they should arm themselves

This meal has been a bit of a mess! 

And when it was over, Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, where he had been staying, and his disciples went with him. There were now just a few short hours left before Jesus was arrested. How is he going to use that last bit of time?

In prayer. And Jesus tells his disciples to do the same. When they reach their camping spot, he tells them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

Then Jesus goes about a stone’s throw away from where they are, and he himself prays. He’s demonstrating what they should be doing–Jesus himself also needs prayer to help face temptation. 

We’re given a glimpse into just how agonizing this prayer is. It says that Jesus is in anguish. He’s praying earnestly and his sweat is falling to the ground like drops of blood. 

But look at the help that God sends to Jesus. “An angel from heaven appeared to strengthen him.” Now, I don’t know what exactly that means or what it looks like. But this is supernatural help from God the Father to his son Jesus as he struggles in prayer. 

We’re going to talk more about what Jesus prays in the next post, but today we’re focused more on the disciples. Because when Jesus rises from prayer and goes back to them, what does he see?

They’re asleep. Luke tells us that they were “exhausted from sorrow.” So something of what Jesus has been saying must have sunk in for them to be sad. But sleep is not going to help them in that moment, prayer is. So Jesus repeats his command to pray. 

Essentially, we’ve seen this command three times. Jesus tells them to pray at the beginning. He himself then goes to pray, modeling what they should do. And then, when he comes back, he tells them again. This repetition is intentional to highlight the vital importance of prayer. 

While Jesus is saying this, a crowd comes up, and it’s led by Judas. Luke seems reluctant to even write his name. He says “the man who was called Judas.” And he mentions that Judas was one of the twelve disciples, and yet here he was leading a mob to arrest Jesus.

It takes a moment for Jesus’ followers to realize what is happening. But when they do, they spring into action. They ask if they should strike the mob with their swords. But they don’t even wait for an answer before one of them strikes the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 

John 18 actually tells us that it was Peter who was the lousy swordsman. Peter, whose words to Jesus are still hanging in the air, that “I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” 

I wonder if Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial has an impact on these actions. Maybe Peter thinks that he needs to prove himself to Jesus, and that’s part of why he strikes out this way.

But Peter seems to think that the solution to this problem is force. As Kent Hughes points out, the disciples are fighting with worldly weapons, not heavenly ones. 

What is the heavenly weapon that they should have been using, that Jesus has already talked about repeatedly? Prayer. 

Notice that even though Jesus has just come from this anguish-filled, earnest prayer time, now he is resolute. After this time in prayer with God, God has strengthened him for what he’s about to face.

Our key truth for today is that prayer is our greatest weapon. 

This is something that we claim to know, but so often it’s the furthest thing from our minds. Even when Jesus directly tells his disciples to pray, they fall asleep. Even when he tells them that prayer can give them victory over temptation, they resort to violence. And even when they do ask him if they should fight back, they don’t wait for an answer. 

They show a natural response to danger; fight, flight or freeze. But Jesus is telling his disciples that there’s another option, a supernatural response that can give us victory even over the strongest temptation. 

We are just like the disciples. We resort to other solutions when prayer is what we need. So often it’s the last thing that we come to when it should be the first. 

So let’s use prayer. Let’s train our minds to choose that instead. 

That’s why regularly scheduled times of prayer can be so helpful. It puts you in a habit of going to God in your need. It takes it out of a natural response and puts it into a supernatural response. 

I pray that God uses this as a reminder to you today, to pray regularly, and use it to fight temptation.