LENTEN BIBLE STUDY - #28

THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN

5^TH Friday of Lent

Read Matthew 26:36-46.

Jesus’ suffering begins in the garden of Gethsemane.  Why is this time of prayer the beginning of his passion?

What is the cup Jesus wishes would pass from him?  How have you shared in Jesus’ agony in the garden?

Notes on the text:

“Gethsemane” means “oil press” and was the name for an olive orchard on the western side of the Mount of Olives, just outside the walls of Jerusalem.

Verse 37: The two sons of Zebedee were John and James.  These three disciples were also taken up on the mountain with Jesus at the Transfiguration.  See Matthew 17:1-8.

Verse 38: “My soul is sorrowful even to death” means “I am sad enough to die.”

The Greek word used in verse 41 meaning “undergo the test” is the same word used in Matthew’s account of the Our Father (6:13), translated “the final test.”  In both places, the word means “yield to the temptation to fall away from Jesus.”