First Baptist Church Ottawa

Our Online Church School Lesson - March 10, 2024

The Darkest Hour - Mark 14:32-42

Today’s Scripture: Mark 14:32-42

Today’s Theme: The Darkest Hour

Opening Prayer: Dear God, thank you for allowing us to gather here today to learn more about Jesus. Please help our ears to listen, our minds to learn, and our hearts to love as we hear the stories of His work. Amen.

Today’s Lesson: Last week, we talked about the final meal that Jesus shared with his disciples on the eve of his trial and crucifixion on Good Friday. This last supper was the re-inventing of the Passover meal by Jesus, who showed his disciples that he was taking the place of the sacrificial lamb in order to take on the sins of humankind and ensure God’s grace for all of us.

After the dinner, Jesus goes out to Gethsemane, a small garden outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, to pray. We see Jesus praying a lot at critical points in His life and, throughout the book of Mark, Jesus is again presented as a man of prayer. Jesus’s dependence on prayer reminds us of the importance of prayer, especially before or during significant events. In this prayer, we see that Jesus is in deep anguish. Even though Jesus is God, He is struggling with the enormity of the task ahead. He does not want to have to suffer. Gethsemane is a rehearsal for Golgotha, where, wretched and isolated, Jesus cries out to an intimate yet distant “Abba, Father”, “My God, my God”.

Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane is a significant prayer. Jesus prays for there to be another way for Him to fulfill God’s plan without the pain of the cross. In the end, though, He submits to God’s will. He knows that this is the necessary path He must take, and He accepts it despite the agony He knows will come. The disciples, though, fall asleep. They are unable to make good on their intention to stay with Jesus and keep watch or come to His aid; in His darkest hour, Christ felt completely alone. Let’s read through this scripture now:

Mark 14:32-42:

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”

33 He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated.

34 And he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.”

35 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

36 He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”

37 He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour?

38 Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

40 And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him.

41 He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42 Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.”

The story of Jesus’ doubt and anguish at Gethsemane has long been thought one of the more provocative passages in the gospels. This passage launches the “passion” of Jesus: the period of his suffering up to and including the crucifixion.

The Jesus described here is much more human than the Jesus seen throughout most of the gospels. Jesus is usually shown as being confident and in command of the events around him. He is not troubled by challenges from his enemies. As we touched on last week as well, he has sovereignty over his own life, meaning that he has detailed knowledge about coming events -- including his own death. Now that the time of his arrest is nearly at hand, however, Jesus’ character changes dramatically. Jesus acts like almost any other human who knows that their life grows short: he experiences grief, sorrow, and a desire that the future does not play out as he expects it will.

Earlier, Jesus advised his disciples that with sufficient faith and prayer, all things are possible -- including moving mountains and causing fig trees to die. Here Jesus prays and his faith is undoubtedly strong. It is Jesus’s faith that makes him willing to allow God to continue with the plan that he dies. In fact, the contrast between Jesus’ faith in God and the lack of faith exhibited by his disciples is one of the points of the story: despite asking them just to stay awake and “watch”, they keep falling asleep. The disciples’ failure to stay awake is another premonition of Golgotha: in the persons of Peter, James, and John, the Twelve have begun falling away from their teacher, just as Jesus foretold.

This story would have been felt strongly by Mark’s audience, who would have been continuing the early Christian church in a hostile environment. They, too, suffered persecution, arrest, and were threatened with execution. It is unlikely that they would have been spared any of this, no matter how hard they tried. In the end, they probably felt abandoned by friends, family, and even God. The message is clear: if Jesus could manage to remain strong in such trials and continue to call God “Abba” despite what is to come, then the new Christian converts should try to do so as well. The story almost cries out for the reader to imagine how they might react in a similar situation, an appropriate response for Christians who might indeed find themselves doing just sometime in their near future.

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus proved himself to be the faithful disciple that none of his own disciples could be. At supper he made good on his repeated promises to be the cross-bearing Son of Man by offering his body and blood as a sacrifice for humankind. At Gethsemane he demonstrated intense faith, expressed through prayer, which broke through his suffering and anguish and gave him a sense of peace and acceptance. Obedient and beloved, Jesus was the complete servant of God’s will, which all his disciples proved themselves incapable of obeying. Jesus became the little child able to enter the kingdom, and in doing so, his life was made whole, as were ours. In the end, the cup could not pass from Jesus and in the end, he wanted it no other way.

Closing Prayer: Dear God, thank you for the remarkable sacrifice of Jesus. Help us to stay mindful of the seriousness of this gift. Help us also to find ways to serve others, just as Jesus served us throughout his life and through his incredible sacrifice.