PRAYER AND TEMPTATION 2

In my last post I was reflecting on Gethsemane.  Jesus told the disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation.  Then he went off by himself to pray, seeking the Father’s face and wrestling with the temptation to avoid the cross.  He prayed and the Father sent an angel to him to strengthen him.  But the temptation was not finished.  He continued to pray even more earnestly until his sweat was like drops of blood.  Jesus rose from prayer without falling into temptation.

But his temptation did not stop there.  The crowd had come to arrest him and he could have walked through them and disappeared.  He was led to the house of Caiaphas and mocked and mistreated.  Jesus could have incinerated them with a breath.  Taken before Herod he was treated contemptibly.  He could have stopped their hearts with a word.  But Jesus did not fall into temptation.  He had prayed.  He had been strengthened by an angel.  He walked the path laid out for him.

So what is the connection between prayer and falling into temptation?  First off, we need to consider what Jesus meant by prayer.  If we want to understand this we must look at his prayer in the garden.  Do I pray like Jesus prayed?  American evangelicalism has compartmentalized prayer.  When asked how we are to grow in our faith the pat answer comes forth, “Pray and read my Bible.”  We “say our prayers.”  We pray at dinner and bedtime. 

But do we pray like Jesus prayed?  Do we stay in the presence of God when it is difficult to do so?  Do we practice coram deo, waiting before the face of God?  Do we listen for God’s voice?  Or do we just do all the talking, go through our shopping list of prayer requests, and then get on with our day?

Prayer is being in God’s presence.  The more we are in God’s presence the more we know God.  The more we know God (not about God) the better we know ourselves.  The more we know God the more we love God.  The more we love God the more we leave the world behind.  I remember the words of that old gospel song we used to sing, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”  The more we know God the more we want God.  The more we want God the less attractive are the things of this world.  It is by investing time in the presence of God that makes us want him more!  Satan can dangle all the pretty things of this world in our faces and we cry, “I want God!  Get behind me Satan!  Your things cannot draw me away from the face of my beloved!  Give me God lest I die!”

This is so much more than “saying our prayers.”  It is so much more than keeping a prayer journal!  It is embracing the God who made us to love him!  It is seizing his robes and hanging on while the world tears at our feet.  And the more we pray, the more often we will sense the help of God the Holy Spirit, strengthening us and encouraging us in prayer!  Our hearts will be lightened and our desires for this world will weaken and die away.

   

PRAYER AND TEMPTATION

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”   (Luke 22:39-46)

 

When I was in seminary I was taught the principles of hermeneutics which is a fancy phrase for “rules of interpreting” the scriptures.  One of those rules has to do with repetition.  When something is stated more than once then it is something that deserves special attention.  That rule applies to this passage from Luke 22.  Twice Jesus says to the disciples, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  The phrase appears at the beginning of the account and at the end so that which is between the statements explains the meaning.

After telling the disciples to pray Jesus goes off by himself to pray.  It is clear from his prayer that he himself is struggling with temptation in a way I can never comprehend.  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  He is wrestling with the cross!  The temptation is to avoid it.  His prayer is that the Father’s will be done, not his own.  His conflict with temptation is so severe that God sends an angel to minister to him and strengthen him in his spirit.  And the battle with temptation still goes on!  He prays even more earnestly to the point that his sweat was like drops of blood.  Jesus won the battle!  He prayed and he did not fall into temptation!

 

When he returns to his disciples he finds them sleeping, “exhausted from sorrow.”  The sorrow and the exhaustion is completely understandable.  No problem with those things.  But the sleeping was not prayer!  The sleeping was not the thing that was going to keep them from falling into temptation.  So Jesus warns them again that they must pray so they won’t fall.  But for now it is too late.  Look at what happens next…

The crowd came to arrest Jesus and Judas approached him to betray him.  The disciples did not know what to do.  They called to Jesus, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” (v. 49).  See the confusion?  See the lack of understanding of what was happening?  Some refrained from striking but we know Peter impetuously struck the servant of the high priest and Jesus rebuked him.  They had not prayed.  They fell into temptation.

 

Then what happens?  Luke does not record it but Matthew does.  “All the disciples deserted him and fled” (Matthew26:56).  Fear overcame them and the fell into temptation.

And then?  Peter follows Jesus at a distance and enters into the courtyard of the high priest.  There he is recognized by a little girl who was a servant in the household.  She announced that Peter was one of those who were with Jesus.  Peter denied Jesus, not once, but three times.  He fell into temptation.

 

Obviously there is a connection between prayer and victory over temptation as well as the lack of prayer and falling into temptation.  It is worthy of careful consideration.  That is what I am going to do…think, pray, and consider.  More to come….