How does Mark 14:39 connect with Jesus' earlier teachings on prayer? Setting the Scene • In Gethsemane, Jesus has already urged the disciples, “Keep watching and praying, so that you will not enter into temptation” (Mark 14:38). • Mark 14:39 follows immediately: “Again He went away and prayed, saying the same thing.” • This single verse pulls together several strands from Jesus’ earlier teachings on prayer. Echoes of the Lord’s Prayer • Matthew 6:9-10 records Jesus teaching, “Our Father in heaven… Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” • In Gethsemane Jesus embodies that petition. Mark 14:36 tells us He prayed, “Abba, Father… yet not what I will, but what You will.” • Mark 14:39 shows Him repeating the same words, underscoring that submission to the Father’s will is not merely taught—it is lived out under crushing pressure. Persistence and Repetition in Prayer • Earlier Jesus had urged persistence: – Luke 11:9 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Luke 18:1 “Jesus told them a parable to show that they should always pray and not lose heart.” • Mark 14:39 models that very persistence. Jesus returns to prayer a second time, using the same words. Repetition here is not empty babble (Matthew 6:7); it is heartfelt perseverance. Submission to the Father’s Will • Jesus once said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34). • Mark 14:39 displays ultimate submission: the Son re-affirms the Father’s plan even while dreading the cup of wrath. • For believers, the example clarifies that persistence and submission are not opposites; we keep asking, yet we yield to God’s wisdom. Alertness and Spiritual Warfare • Jesus’ warning in Mark 14:38—“Watch and pray”—echoes His earlier exhortation in Luke 21:36, “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may have strength.” • Mark 14:39 shows Jesus practicing what He preached: instead of slumbering, He presses deeper into prayer, battling temptation through communion with the Father. Practicing This Today • Pray the way Jesus taught—begin with the Father’s glory, conclude with the Father’s will. • Persist when heaven seems silent; repetition that springs from faith is welcomed by God. • Stay spiritually alert; turn moments of weariness into renewed prayer rather than surrender to sleep. • Measure every request by the pattern Jesus set: “Not what I will, but what You will.” |
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