Mark 14:32-34

‘And they come to an enclosed place which was named Gethsemane, and he says to his disciples, “You sit here, while I pray.” And he takes with him Peter, and James and John and began to be filled with great awe and to be in anguish. And he says to them, “My soul is filled with deep sorrow even to death. You remain here and watch.” '

Arriving at Gethsemane Jesus tells His disciples to remain where they were while He will go some way off in order to pray. ‘Gethsemane' probably means ‘press of oils'. It was obviously a place frequented often by Jesus and therefore well known to Judas who would guess where He was, or might even have been told (John 18:2). The impression is clear that Jesus was in charge of events and moving them towards their inevitable conclusion. If He had to die, and He had known that that was inevitable almost from the beginning, it would be at a time of His own choosing. The name may have been seen by Mark as significant. Jesus was to be trodden under in the oil press of God.

‘You sit here while I pray.' He left the group of disciples, possibly by the entrance of the enclosed place, while He went on with the Inner Three. In what He had to face He wanted to be alone with His Father, for none of them could appreciate what He was facing. But the three were privileged to be witnesses of His travail and He wanted their company. He did not want at this time to be totally alone.

‘He takes with Him Peter, James and John.' They were closest to Him and He wanted them with Him. They were to be observers from a short distance of His travail and were to pray for strength in what lay ahead for them.

The words that follow, ‘filled with great awe -- in anguish -- sorrowful to the point of death' stress the awfulness of the experience He was going through. This was something inexplicable. What Jesus was experiencing we can never know for He was drinking of the cup of the wrath of God against sin. He was facing His destiny as the Suffering Servant, enduring the pain and anguish deserved by our sin. And the three disciples, who the last time they had gone alone with Jesus had seen His glorious transfiguration, now saw the awful darkness and the battle of the soul that He was facing. There are deliberate indications in both passages in the tradition that the two experiences are at the same time two sides of the same coin. (For Mark 14:40, ‘they did not know what to answer --- heavy with sleep', compare Mark 9:6, ‘he did not know what to answer, for they were sore afraid', and Luke 9:32, ‘now Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep').

‘You remain here and watch.' It is interesting that Jesus has not urged prayer on His disciples, either at the entrance or here. Perhaps He could see that they were emotionally drained. Or perhaps He simply expected them to pray. But He never told anyone to pray simply for form's sake. Prayer is too deep a thing for that. He always saw it as an awesome experience. In contrast how glibly we exhort to pray, perhaps because our prayers carry so little significance.