It was ironic earlier in the ministry of Jesus the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. In response, he provided them with what we call the Lord prayer. Prior to going to the garden, they observed the Passover after which Jesus established the Lord’s Supper that believers today included as part of their worship. Surely, Jesus prayed with his disciples throughout his ministry. Our text reports a crucial time.
As they approached the garden, Jesus separated three of his disciples from the rest. He took those three further into the garden asking them to pray. Then he went even further to pray. It became so intense an angel strengthened him as he sweat drops of blood. The question before us asks why did Jesus tell the disciples to pray? When they fell asleep, he repeatedly was disappointed in them. He told them to pray and they did not.
Humanly speaking, it is understandable once they fell asleep. It had been a long hard day. They stayed up late to observe the Passover meal. They needed rest. There was no opportunity in between the various events of the day to rest. They also did not comprehend the seriousness of the moment. Often Jesus took his disciples to fellowship and pray. To them that night was no different. They did not understand why he separated the three of them from the rest of the group. These three disciples did not comprehend how much the circumstances relied on their praying. Their failure to duty was not something they realized.
Jesus told them the reason he wanted them to pray. Twice in this text he said, “that you enter not into temptation.” Though we have that written in the Bible, what kind of temptation did he have in mind? What did he want them to avoid? We aren’t sure about the temptation for two of them. However, we know what lay ahead for Peter was he would deny the Lord against his own assurances of faithfulness. It must be true that when we pray, it empowers us to resist temptation. That should be a matter of our life anyway. It is one thing to be tempted. It is another thing to fall to temptation which is a sin.
No sooner had Jesus made the last observation of their sleepiness that Temple guards came to arrest Jesus. They wanted to take Jesus away from the disciples! That’s what the world wants today that we are powerless without a pure relationship and dedication to Jesus. Jesus is not only our God he is also our protector. Every ounce of energy that we possess must be dedicated to remaining faithful to him. We may not know all the reasons which Jesus was mentioning about avoiding temptation. We do know that it is highly important for us to pray that we might avoid temptation.
Christian Writer 