Almost eight years ago, a doctor told my wife and me something no parent should ever have to hear: “I think your daughter has leukemia.” She was one at the time. To answer the question many of you may be asking, she turns nine this December. It is no exaggeration to say God worked a miracle in my family in the weeks after our conversation with the doctor.
But I still remember the fear, wondering how much longer I was going to get to hold her. I remember changing her diapers and thinking about how sick she looked. I remember how powerless I felt. All I wanted was to make it better, but I couldn’t. The only thing I knew to do was pray.
If my story is different from yours, I can’t say I fully understand the pain you’ve experienced. Jesus does. While Jesus wasn’t facing the loss of a child, He was looking down a path that led to physical torture, utter humiliation, rejection, and spiritual separation from God. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus showed us how to respond when we feel like the difficulties we’re facing are too much to handle.
Where Is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in the Bible?
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane appears in all four Gospels in the New Testament. You’ll find it specifically in Matthew 26:31-75, Mark 14:27-72, Luke 22:24-62, and John 18:1-27.
Story Summary of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
- After eating the Passover meal (the Last Supper), Jesus and His disciples go out to the Mount of Olives.
- At the Mount of Olives, Jesus predicts His disciples will abandon Him and Peter will deny Him.
- Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John further into the garden with Him.
- Jesus confides in Peter, James, and John about the pain He is feeling and asks them to keep watch while He prays.
- Jesus goes off to pray and asks God if there is another way to accomplish the Father’s will, but submits Himself to God’s will.
- Judas leads soldiers to arrest Jesus in the Garden. The soldiers lead Jesus away to be brought before the religious leaders.
- Peter follows to where Jesus is taken. People recognize him and he denies Jesus three times.
The Main Point of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shows us that we can trust God and still feel overwhelmed. He tells God what He’s feeling, asks to be spared the suffering ahead, and chooses to follow Him. When life feels like more than we can handle, we can bring God our fears, ask Him to change our circumstances, and ask for help facing whatever comes next.
3 Lessons From the Garden of Gethsemane
1. Pain is an opportunity to draw closer to God.
Jesus experienced the range of human emotions, including ones we sometimes mislabel as signs of weakness. It feels a little weird to say this, but signs point to Jesus experiencing true fear—fear of what He knows is coming.
You don’t have to get your emotions under control before you talk to God.
He says to His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38) Jesus knows what’s coming, and it overwhelms Him. So, what does He do? He seeks the Father.
What overwhelms you? Maybe you’re facing something scary, or a problem you can’t seem to solve. Maybe it’s trying to put your life back together after a tragedy. Or maybe it’s just the persistent pressure of bills.
Prayer was Jesus’ instinctual response in His hardest moment. He prayed to ask for a different outcome, but He also prayed to spend time with His Father. No matter what you’re overwhelmed by today, look to Jesus. Prayer can be our first response, not our last resort.
2. When things don’t go the way we think they should, God is still in control.
Even though Jesus told the disciples He was going to die, they hadn’t really understood that yet. So, when Jesus was arrested, it upended everything they thought they knew from the past three years. The prevalent Jewish belief about the Messiah at the time was that He would kick the Romans out of Israel and set up God’s kingdom in Jerusalem. When Jesus was arrested without a fight, those assumptions went out the window, but that didn’t mean God wasn’t in control.
We get to see how their stories play out. We already know Jesus’ death was part of God’s plan. The disciples didn’t. They fled from Jesus when things didn’t go as expected. In our own lives, how often do we metaphorically flee from Jesus the moment things don’t go the way we want? If I’m honest with myself, it’s more than I care to admit.
But do our expectations of events determine whether God is in control? Of course not. However, this can be tough to remember when walking through tragedy or hardship. So, the question becomes “How do I remind myself that, no matter what, God is in control?”
3. We have to submit our wants and desires to God’s will.
In the garden, Jesus makes a surprising request: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me …” (Luke 22:42). Essentially, Jesus, aware of the approaching suffering, asks God if there can be another way. This moment does not mean Jesus didn’t want to reconcile humanity to God—He simply knew what He was being asked to endure. This is a very human moment for Jesus. Pain on a profound physical, spiritual, and emotional level is impending, and He asks to be spared the experience of it.
You can ask for a different outcome and still trust God.
But then Jesus says eight words that should shape the way we approach our own lives: “... yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) Jesus wants to avoid the pain ahead, but He also wants to follow His Father’s direction. He tells God what He wants and trusts Him with what comes next.
For Christians, following Jesus means learning to do the same. We can ask God to heal someone we love, restore a relationship, or change a painful situation. We can also ask, “Help me follow You, even if this doesn’t go the way I hope.”
That doesn’t mean every painful thing is something God wants for us, or that we should stay in a harmful situation. It means trusting that God can help us take our next step and bring good even from circumstances we’d much rather avoid.
Common Questions About Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Why did Judas betray Jesus?
There isn’t a firm answer. Theories range from Judas’ own greed (the Book of John mentions him stealing from the funds given to Jesus’ ministry) to his disillusionment that Jesus didn’t fit the image he had for the Messiah. What we do know from Luke and John is that Satan prompted his betrayal.
What’s the deal with the random guy in the linen garment?
Another question without an absolute answer. Multiple theories surround this seemingly weird addition at the end of Mark’s account of the event in Gethsemane. One prevalent theory is that Mark was telling the reader he was present during what transpired in the garden.
This tidbit serves a different function. It’s the only mention we have of anyone other than Jesus being seized by the soldiers in Gethsemane. It alludes to the chaos and panic surrounding what was happening. Jesus may have been composed, but His followers were not. In all likelihood, the disciples were going to be seized as well, which would have contributed to their fear and desire to flee. The young man, formerly in a linen garment, fleeing naked from the scene only adds to this. Nakedness was seen in first-century Israel as incredibly shameful. For the young man, fear outweighed shame in that moment, driving him to flee regardless of his state of dress.
What does it mean that Jesus’ sweat was like drops of blood?
Again, theories surround this question. The simplest theory is that the language is figurative. Jesus was sweating so intensely that His sweat was flowing like drops of blood.
Another theory is a little more medically involved. A rare medical condition called hematidrosis causes blood to come out of a person’s pores. This happens when tiny blood vessels (capillaries) near the sweat glands rupture, mixing blood with sweat. Intense fear, panic, or other emotional distress can cause this. With what we know about Jesus’ emotions in the garden, it is possible He was literally sweating blood.
Reflect or Discuss
Reflect: Would you say prayer is your first response, last resort, or something in between? Why?
Pray: Talk to God about whatever hardships you are experiencing. Ask Him to help you remember that regardless of the outcome, He is in control.
Try: Figure out a way to intentionally prioritize prayer when something doesn’t go according to plan. What can you do to help make prayer your first response?