Our text depicts a weighty time. Jesus knew what he would face in the next few days. He tells the disciples what is about to happen, which must have sounded unbelievable to them. Jesus returns to a place where he had prayed many times in this heaviest time. He takes three of his closest disciples a little further into the garden to pray. It is essential to have close friends during times of trial, but this time, Jesus had to go even further by himself because he needed to distance himself from the distractions. Jesus asked them to pray with him, but these men who pledged to defend him to the death not long ago could not even stay awake for an hour of prayer.

The garden is usually thought of as a place of life and growth, but Jesus went to the garden to die. The garden is not a place where we try to change God’s mind; A garden is a place where we go to change. The garden is about us.