7 Portraits in Prayer, Day 7: Morning

Week 1, Power to Pray, Day 7: A Parallel in Presence and Perseverance

(Read Luke 22:39–46)

 

Luke’s account of the prayer in the Mount of Olives is the shortest of the three synoptics (only eight verses to the others' 11 verses), but it contains two verses and two crucial elements not found in the other two gospels.

“Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him,” (Luke 22:43). Both Matthew and Mark state that angels ministered to Jesus during his wilderness temptation (Matthew 4:11, Mark 1:13), but neither record an angel in Gethsemane.

The Pulpit Commentary explains the appearance this way:

The anguish and horror were so great that he himself, according to his humanity, must have before the time become the victim of death had he not been specially strengthened from above. This is the deep significance and necessity of the angel's appearance. So Stier and Godet, the latter of whom writes, "As when in the wilderness under the pressure of famine he felt himself dying, the presence of this heavenly being sends a vivifying breath over him, - a Divine refreshing pervades him, body and soul, and it is thus he receives strength to continue to the last the struggle."

We should never presume that our prayers are unheard, nor unanswered. Just as the portrait of Moses with the rod of God signified the presence of God, so too here in Gethsemane we see a visible depiction of God being with Christ through a ministering angel.

Also only in Luke, the beloved physician, do we read of how intensely Jesus prayed. “Sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” (Luke 22:44).  The Complete Biblical Library says, “His sweat fell in droplets thick as coagulated blood. Frequently used in reference to blood, thrombosis occurs often in the medical language used at the time of the New Testament. Luke the physician used the term to describe the intensity of Christ’s agony when He prayed in the garden.”

Because these two incidents are included in Luke and omitted in Matthew and Mark, the two events are likely related, with the angel strengthening Jesus to continue to pray or strengthening Him after such a trauma, known medically as hematidrosis.

As we gaze into this portrait of prayer, we should remember God’s presence in our prayers should encourage us to persevere intensely in our prayers, which will release in us the power of prayer.

 

Pray this prayer to God: “Lord Jesus, I cannot pray as You did. I cannot imagine how intensely You prayed. I will never arrive to Your passion, so Lord Jesus, intercede for me as I pray with Your power, Your presence, and Your perseverance. Amen.”

 

Click here for Day 7, Evening.