SCRIPTURE

Mark 14:32-42

OVERVIEW

Have you ever tried to stay up all night? Was it easy? Many people find that there is a time in the wee hours of the morning that are the make-or-break point. Often, if one can stay up past that point the rest is easy. Imagine what it must have been like for the disciples. It had been a long day of travel followed by an emotionally draining agape supper when Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to stay up and pray with Him. It’s easy to look at this situation and be critical, but before you do, ask yourself how many times you have fallen asleep during prayer at bedtime or been too tired to pray.

OPENING ACTIVITY:
IDENTIFYING CLOUD FORMATIONS

Nature is very interesting. Have you ever looked out the window of a plane and noticed the different kind of clouds? Google “cloud formations” or use the following link to see the different kinds of cloud formations and what they represent.  https://www.zmescience.com/science/types-of-clouds/

QUESTIONS

• What did you learn that was new?
• How many levels of clouds are there?
• What purposes do clouds serve?
• If people’s moods could be categorized by clouds, what mood would you assign to each type?

TRANSITION

How does it feel to be alone? Sarah Bauer Anderson in her book The Space Between Us points out, “The absence of friends is as powerful as the presence of enemies” (p. 34). If you were Jesus, then this would have been a doubly difficult situation because His friends were absent and the enemies were closing in. What lessons can be learned from this passage about how important it is to surround ourselves with other followers of Christ and the importance of our relationship with Jesus?

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

Read Mark 14:32-36.

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Where is Gethsemane? It is a small olive orchard on the mount of olives.  https://www.britannica.com/place/Gethsemane

Jesus would often go off by Himself with His disciples to pray. It was His way of finding time and space to connect with His Father.

QUESTIONS

• Where is your favorite place to pray?
• Why do you think the disciples fell asleep? Was it truly out of exhaustion or was more going on there?
• What was Jesus really say with His statement in verse 36?

Read Mark 14:37-42.

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

QUESTIONS

• When Jesus addressed Peter about staying awake, what principle was He trying to teach?
• How well do you think people follow this principle today?
• What did Jesus mean when He said, “the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak?”
• How would you have felt if you had asked your best friends to do something three times and they weren’t able to do it?
• Which do you think hurt Jesus more—the physical pain or the mental anguish, and why?

APPLICATION

Does reading this passage change how you view your relationship with Jesus? Does this passage help you to understand the importance of being present for your friends during difficult times? One of the things to notice is that Jesus didn’t get really upset and yell at the disciples. He didn’t try and guilt them; He accepted them the way they were. Learning the spiritual gift of being present, being able to give grace to people who fail, and having a deep relationship with Jesus are three very important lessons that Jesus is wanting us to learn from this passage.

FOLLOW-UP

• Make a list of your friends.
• When was the last time you texted, called, or visited them?
• Take time this week to reconnect with a friend or two that you haven’t communicated with in a while.
• Let them know that they are important and that you care.

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Mark 14:32-42

LEADER’S NOTE

For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.

You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.

Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.

Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.

DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT

OVERVIEW

As we draw toward the end of our Youth Sabbath School lessons about Christ’s ministry on this earth, we know that He is going to die on the cross and then be resurrected. But the disciples didn’t know that. Just a few days earlier Jesus had come into Jerusalem with a crowd shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and then Jesus cleansed the temple again. It seemed like their long-awaited time for Jesus to become king had finally arrived. And they would be Christ’s key players in this new kingdom, “Hallelujah!”

But with the Passover meal in the upper room, Christ put them into complete confusion. Jesus did the lowly task of washing the disciples’ feet. During the meal He announced that one of the 12 would betray Him. It seemed things were unraveling even faster than they had come together.

Even though night had begun, Jesus took His disciples to one of His favorite places for prayer outside of Jerusalem—the Garden of Gethsemane. Our few short verses in this Mark 14 study may be familiar to you, but take some time to enter into Christ’s agony about whether or not to go through with the next step. We think of it as “the crucifixion.” But for Jesus, it was carrying the weight of all the sins of the world, resulting in separation from God and heaven. We call it “the second death,” which means complete separation from God.

No wonder Jesus asked His disciples to pray for Him. But alas, it was night time, so they fell asleep rather than joining Jesus in prayer. Christ’s prayer might have seemed overwhelmed with pathos (emotion). His prayer might have sounded “pathetic” to us, according to one definition of that word— “arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness.” However, the disciples’ prayer, or lack of it, fits more into the usage we think of with the word “pathetic”—“miserably inadequate; of very low standard.” Both usages of the word fit into our Scripture passage for today.

Pathetic Prayer

Who taught you to pray? What’s changed as you’ve gotten older, and what’s stayed the same?

Read Mark 14:32-42.

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

1.  Why did Jesus leave His disciples in Gethsemane while He went to pray?

1. His disciples were pathetic at praying.
2. He didn’t leave all of them there; He took three with Him.
3. The disciples were still arguing about who was the greatest.
4. Jesus had a secret hideout He didn’t want to share with them.
5. What Jesus was about to go through would be too much for them.
6. Jesus expected them to pray where they were.
7. They would serve as a decoy when the night time mob came for Him.
8. They couldn’t keep up with Jesus.
9. Other.

2. Why did Jesus take Peter, James, and John with Him?

1. They had well-developed prayer lives.
2. These three were part of His inner circle.
3. They had been misbehaving, so this was their punishment.
4. Jesus yearned for their support.
5. This would move them from “pathetic prayers” to “perfect prayers.”
6. They had been with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
7. To expose them to greater intimacy with God the Father.
8. To narrow down who would sit on the right and left of His throne.
9. Other.

3. Why did Jesus pray for God to remove the cup of suffering (vs. 35-36)?

1. It was too much.
2. Christ’s humanity couldn’t handle the weight of all the world’s sins.
3. No one has ever done anything this extreme.
4. It’s a natural human reaction to tough times.
5. Taking all the sins of the world on Himself was opposite His divinity.
6. Why not? Aren’t we supposed to be able to pray about anything?
7. Jesus didn’t think He would survive.
8. Christ feared He would be forever separated from His Father.
9. Other.

4.  Rank the following super-difficult experiences Christ suffered.

(1–most difficult to 8–least difficult)

____    The Garden of Gethsemane

____    The crucifixion

____    40 days of wilderness temptation by Satan

____    The beheading of His cousin, John the Baptist

____    Peter betraying Him 3 times in one night

____    Attempts to make Him king

____    Oppression from the religious leaders

____    Other: __________________________

5.  Why didn’t God the Father remove this bitter cup from Jesus?

1. He knew Jesus could handle it.
2. They had agreed on this together before Christ came to earth.
3. It wasn’t the Father’s will, and Jesus prayed, “Thy will be done.”
4. Christ’s prayer simply expressed His pathos—His intense feelings.
5. Humans couldn’t be saved without God suffering this bitter anguish.
6. Consider what God the Father was going through at this time!
7. This was the key reason Jesus came to earth (Matthew 1:21).
8. Other.

6. What’s your response to, “Could you stay awake and pray with me?”

1. Sure.
2. I’ll try.
3. No.
4. I’m good for 5-10 minutes.
5. I wouldn’t know what to say.
6. You have no idea how tired I am.
7. When have you prayed for me?
8. Other.

7.  What suffering would you ask God to take from you?

8.  Who do you ask to pray for you? Who asks you to pray for them?

SUMMARY

We might find it impossible to comprehend what Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane that night before His crucifixion. He wrestled with the separation from His Father as the sins of all human history came upon Him. Try to imagine that. It might be easier to identify with the disciples who fell asleep when Jesus asked them to pray. Because of what Christ went through for us, we don’t have to experience eternal separation from God. But He still invites us to pray. It would be pathetic for us if we don’t.

APPLICATION

Most people, including those who pray, feel like they could pray more or pray better. Like improving our communication with people around us, prayer taps into our communication with God. Here are three ideas for you to apply this week’s lesson to your life, especially the prayer aspect. Use these, adapt them, or have them spark other applications in your life.

1. PRAY FOR ME.

A few years ago, the movie “Black Panther” garnered attention for being a great story. It included multiple levels of meaning and included action, drama, and spiritual themes as well. One of the songs, “Pray for Me,” asks who will pray for the main character who is always ready for war. The chorus includes the lyrics, “Who gon’ pray for me? Take my pain for me? Save my soul for me? ‘Cause I’m alone, you see.”

• Review this popular song and view it from the story of Christ’s time in Gethsemane.

  Check it out on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR7Ev14vUh8
• If you want to go retro, Christian recording artist Al Denson previously wrote his own song with a very similar title, “Who’ll Pray for Me?” It’s about people who minister to others, and then asks who will pray for those who serve?

  Check out Denson’s song at www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNz3G26NoI

2. I’LL PRAY FOR YOU.

When people say, “I’ll pray for you,” what does that mean? Maybe they will. Maybe they will forget. Or maybe they just want to wrap up their conversation with you and this is their way of saying, “Goodbye.” Some people include spiritual conversations with their friends, and they will actually ask, “Will you pray for me?” (see option #1 above).

• Instead of saying you will pray for the person, and then maybe you will or maybe you won’t, try something else.
• Pray right then and there for the person, out loud. You can still pray for them later as well, but instead of saying, “I’ll pray for you,” just pray for the person. You might be surprised at the responses!
• Look for someone this week and pray for them on the spot, especially when the conversation calls for it.

3. PATHETIC PRAYER.

• If “pathos” is all about emotion, and “pathetic” has to do with the compassionate, sympathetic, and even pitiful types of emotion, take a few moments this week to pray a “pathetic prayer.”
• You may choose to do this by yourself or with other(s). The point is to pray your emotions, especially your deep ones. You might find it more helpful to write them down—on paper or input them on your device.
• Make this your conversation with Jesus. For example, you might take yourself to the Garden of Gethsemane story and pray, “Why did you do it, Jesus? Why did you take every single one of my sins on yourself?”
• Let that sink in, and listen, then follow up with your next rush of feelings.
• Another topic to approach is praying about your prayer life. Start with something like, “Jesus, I’m just like the disciples—sleeping instead of praying. My prayer life is more like prayer coma or prayer death. Help!”
• Doing something like this makes prayer more real rather than formal. It turns out that “pathetic prayer” is one good way to pray.