Title: Prayer of Gethsemane
Text: Mark 14:32-36
Sermon: Sang Sang Ryu (Sunday Sermon at Saegil Church 2006.4.2)
We are in the middle of Lent. It is a time to think about the meaning of the suffering Jesus suffered and to participate. Therefore, through today's text, I would like to engrave the meaning of the cross and suffering while thinking about Jesus' earnest prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Garden of Gethsemane, located at the entrance to Jerusalem, was a secluded garden perfect for communing with God away from the hustle and bustle of the city. There, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed earnestly. He prayed so earnestly that in the Gospel of Luke, which records the same incident, it is recorded that “his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.” What kind of prayer did you pray so earnestly? This is recorded in verse 36.
“Abba, Father, you are able to do all things; take this cup from me.”
This cup that the Lord speaks of is, of course, the cup of suffering and the cup of the cross. As the Lord who came as a human, it is natural to be afraid in the face of the coming pain. So, if possible, we pray that we will be able to avoid the cup of suffering. By the way, are there any church members who are disappointed in Jesus because of this prayer? You may be thinking, “I wish Jesus had shown a more determined image…”.
In fact, there are countless great men in history who showed their detachment in the face of death. Socrates begged his disciples to flee before the death penalty, but he resolutely drank poison, calling it “the law of evil”. However, our Jesus, the Son of God, is showing weakness, asking his disciples to pray, saying, “My heart is troubled to the point of death.” Also, calling God “Daddy” (Abba), he clings to God so that he does not die. You may be disappointed with the infinitely weak appearance of Jesus.
But I really like Jesus who is so weak. Rather than Jesus walking on the water or Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five bottles, Jesus who is praying this prayer right now is so much better. “There was a time when Jesus was so weak. So how well will you understand me when I am weak?” because it feels like that. Jesus did not come in the form of a sage who was only brave and strong, but in the form of an ordinary person who was weak and soft, even weak. So I was able to like Jesus more and more and have a heart to follow Jesus.
I came across this word while meditating on the Bible and praying. The Jesus of Gethsemane who fell down before God and prayed, captivated by despair and fear, how much inspiration and courage that Jesus gave me. “There was a time when Jesus was so weak. Then, even when I'm weak, even if I make a little mistake, you won't be harsh on me. Rather, they will understand you better and help you better.”
In life, there will be times when it is difficult. Then, pray like Jesus. Try complaining to God. The God I met was a person who preferred frank prayers more than fluent prayers, prayers of bold faith, prayers of deep devotion.
Let's go back to Gethsemane. The Jesus we meet in Gethsemane now is the infinitely weak Jesus, the Jesus who cries out for help. However, the Lord did not stop there. It did not end with worries and frustrations. The Lord then prays.
“But not my will, but your will.”
It was a dire situation that had to be crucified and died at dawn, but I wanted to avoid it and I wanted to run away, but it was very painful and frightening, but nevertheless, the Lord entrusted me, saying, “Not my will, but your will...” The Gethsemane prayer engraved deeply into my heart what the prayer of faith really is and what it means to believe in God.
What is faith? Do you believe in God and get rid of suffering, and everything you do will go well, so are you eating well and living well? Is not true faith to be willing to accept suffering in order to live according to God's will, but to overcome suffering and reach the noble life that God desires without falling into it? Jesus obviously struggled between the two choices. It is difficult and difficult, but will you choose God's will or will you go against God's will and avoid suffering? He was conflicted, but in the end he chose God's will and took up the cross.
Now that we are in Lent, how can we spend this Lent meaningfully? In Lent, there are people who nail the hands and feet and reproduce the crucifixion, saying that they will participate in the suffering of the Lord. If we tie ourselves up with chains and lay on a nail bed, we can feel the excruciating pain that Jesus suffered. But does Jesus really want such an eventual experience?
The suffering, cross, and resurrection of the Lord are at the center of the Christian faith. For me too, from the time I met the Lord until now, the cross and resurrection have been at the center of my faith. However, the faith of the cross and resurrection that led me to God started to come to me as a burden. Now, I do not have a ‘doctrinal substitutionary faith’. In addition, if we do not crucify our doctrinal atonement faith, there will be no resurrection of the Lord, no resurrection of ours, and fearful conflicts and violence controlled by ghosts will cover the future of our Christianity and the global village.
In our Korean church, there are many people in our Korean church who, despite living in all kinds of selfishness and greed, taking on all kinds of evil deeds, firmly believe that “as long as you believe that you are saved by the blood of Jesus, you will be saved automatically” There is not. No matter how good and upright you are, no matter how well you live, no matter how well you look to heaven and live without shame, such self-righteous and exclusive atonement faith that believes that if you do not come to church, receive Jesus and receive the forgiveness of sins by the blood of the Lord, you will only go to hell. I think you do. In addition, the doctrinal substitutionary belief not only deprives the ability to live independently, but also attacks and destroys the lives and cultures of neighbors living in various beliefs and cultures by making the believer a slave to the doctrine. I think no.
To me, the reason Jesus suffered and the cross has meaning is not in the suffering and the cross itself, but in the Lord's choice of the path. No matter how hard and painful it is, that ‘choice’ that we cannot forsake our Heavenly Father’s will. In order to live without dying, we had to live in moderation without offending the Jewish religious leaders, but we had to conform to the political system of the conqueror Rome, but the Lord couldn't. Because it was a way to live for a while, but eventually die forever. Jesus chose to live forever by dying for a moment. I believe that choice has saved many followers of the Lord, including me.
Because the Lord's choice opened the eyes of those who were blind in spirit and taught the way to true freedom and life to countless people who lived with mental and spiritual disabilities. In that sense, I believe in the Lord's Atonement. If the Lord had avoided the cross, the world of resurrection, where freedom and life are alive and breathing, would not have been opened to the world, but because he did not hesitate to bear the cross and willingly carried it, the word and life of the Lord did not end with the cross, but broke the authority of death and was resurrected. .
In this way, the beautiful and splendid life and words of the Lord came to life again and became the power to change the world and became life, and has been delivered to us today. Therefore, the Gethsemane event did not end there. The Gethsemane, through which the Lord shed blood and sweat, transcends time and space, comes to us here and now, and asks us who hear these words today. “2000 years ago, your Lord chose Heavenly Father’s will after a desperate battle with himself. What choice are you going to make?”