In Luke 22:39-46 Jesus goes to the garden of Gethesemane with his disciples. There, he agonizes in prayer over doing God's will. I find two main things going on in this passage: the inability of the disciples to do what Jesus told them and Jesus' absolute focus on God's will.
Jesus told the disciples twice to "pray not to fall into temptation." Yet, the temptation to do their own will, rather than Jesus' will, was too strong. They ended up doing what they wanted to do--go to sleep! While they disregarded Jesus' will, Jesus was deeper in the garden of Gethsemane struggling with his own will, too--but instead of giving in to his will, Jesus offered himself completely to God and came out of his time of prayer resolved to do God's will.
In this sermon, I explore how, like the disciples, we struggle with doing our own will instead of Jesus' and so we need to listen to Jesus when he tells us to pray not to fall into temptation. The temptation we most need to avoid right now is the temptation to give in to fear--fear of a bad economy, of a life spiraling downward, of uncertainty. In those times when we find ourselves being fearful we should remember the teaching of Jesus and pray not to be controlled by fear, but to let our fear go so we can be filled with the love and will of God.
Sermon: Faith and Fear (Luke 22:39-46)
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