“Not my will, but thine”: Jesus prays in Gethsemane

The Gospels show Jesus calm before crowds, storms and accusers. But in one garden on the night before His death, they show Him in anguish, praying so earnestly that Luke says His sweat was like great drops of blood.

The garden and the friends

After the Last Supper, Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem. The name means “oil press”. Jesus took Peter, James and John a little further and told them: “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” He went a little further, fell on His face and prayed: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

The cup and sleep

The “cup” stood for the suffering ahead: betrayal, trial, crucifixion and the weight of the world’s sin. Jesus was not pretending; He truly asked if there was another way. When He returned, the disciples were asleep. He said to Peter: “Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus went away and prayed again, and a third time, saying the same words. Each time He came back, the disciples were sleeping.

The arrest

Luke adds that an angel appeared from heaven, strengthening Him, and that “being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Then Judas arrived with a crowd carrying swords and staves, and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Peter drew a sword and cut off a servant’s ear; Jesus told him to put the sword away and, in Luke’s account, healed the man.

Surrender in the dark

Christians see Gethsemane as a window into the humanity of Jesus. He felt fear and sorrow, yet chose obedience. His prayer became a model for believers facing hard choices. Gethsemane teaches that it is not wrong to ask God to remove suffering. Jesus did. The difference lies in the second half of His prayer, the part many find hardest to say.

The decision that led to the cross was made at night, in a garden, while friends slept. Many believers find comfort in that: their own hardest prayers are often prayed alone, and Jesus prayed that way too.