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TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February, 1940
using the “ same words.” Paul also once prayed, thrice for one thing (2 Oqr. 12 : 8 ). There is a vast* difference between real prayer and the mere “repetition” of words. Golden Text Illustration M atthew 26:39 “Where are. we, Captain?” asked a passenger on an Australian steamer several days out from the California coast. “ Come with me to the chart and I will show you," came the courteous re ply. “You see,” said the captain as the two bent over a well-worn map, “there are three routes to Australia from the port we just left. That one there is the one usually taken; there, designated as Number 2, is the route I preferred to take; and this one here, Number 3, is the one the company ordered me to take, and that is the one we have taken. We are right here just now.” The world’s way, my way, and Christ’s way! Which way am I sail ing?—Sunday School Times. When Jesus Prayed in a Garden M atthew 26 :30-56 MEMORY VERSE: “Thou are near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth” (Fsa. 119:151). APPROACH: Immediately after the Lord Jesus had sat and had eaten the Lord’s Supper with His disciples, He went out to pray. He knew that that ! very night one of His own disciples was i knew that the eleven disciples left, His dearest friends, would be afraid and would forsake Him. To whom should He go for strength to go through all of this alone? Yes, He would pray to God for strength. LESSON STORY: So Jesus took His disciples, and He went into this garden of olive trees where He had so often prayed before to the Father. He took Peter and James and John close to where He went to pray, and He told them to wait and watch. Then He fell on His face and prayed for the strength that only God could give. We,are told that sweat stood on His forehead as drops of blood. After a while He came to the three disciples and found them, not watching or praying, but sleeping. How lonely He must have felt! Three times He prayed, and three times He found them sleeping. He couldn’t count upon*, their help in His hour of sorrow. But there was One whose help He knew He
proaching betrayal into the hands of sinners; He was unswayed by the fact that one of His own disciples had yield ed to Satan and vfras even then on his way to commit the blackest deed the world has ever knOtvn. Thus He came, from His Gtethsemane experience with His body ready for the cross, His soul calmed and soothed, and His spirit assured that the Father’s will would be done and that the fruits of His sacrifice one day would be brought in for His eternal satisfaction and de light. Points and Problems 1. “Unto a place called Gethsemane” (Matt. 26:36). The name is probably derived from an Aramaic term meaning “ oil press.” The Greek word translated "place” means literally “an inclosed piece of ground.” John speaks of the place as a “ garden” (18:1). It was not a garden in the more modem sense, that is, a place where: vegetables were cultivated; but rather a place planted with olive and perhaps other kinds of trees. John also tells us that Judas knew of the place, for our Lord went’ there often (18:2). It'w as doubtless a piece of private property, owned by some disciple. The traditional site seen by the modem tourist may or may not be the original spot. Certainly the present olive trees, old as they are, can not be the original trees, for Josephus declares that Titus cut down all the trees in the vicinity of the city during his terrible seige. 2. “And he went a little further” (v. 39). The scene may be reconstructed somewhat as follows: The eight dis ciples had been left near the entrance of the garden; the other three were taken with Him further into the gar den; and then He Himself went “a little further.” And this is always true of Him in spiritual matters; He goes far ther than we do, even the best in our number. We sleep and fail, but He never fails. 3. “If it be possible” (v. 39). This is the perfect Servant praying a perfect prayer. We say that God/can do all things, so far as. the mere exercise of omnipotence is concerned. But there are some things which it is morally im possible for God to do. For example, God cannot lie. He can do nothing which would be inconsistent with His own nature. Therefore we should be careful to qualify our petitions, as our perfect Lord did, especially when we are asking for ourselves. * 4. “ Frayed the third time, saying the same words” (v. 44). The action of the Lord in this solemn hour should be a great encouragement to us. Once He had warned His disciples against the use of “vain repetitions,” but quite evi- •dently He did not at all mean that we should never ask more than once for sòme one thing. Here He Himself prays three times for the same thing, even
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