“And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 22:39 Mean?
"And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him." Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives — his regular prayer location ("as he was wont" — his custom, his habit). The night of his arrest, the night of his greatest agony, he goes to the place he always goes. He doesn't find a new location for the crisis. He goes to the familiar place. The mount of Olives is where the habit of prayer has been established over weeks and months. And on the worst night of his life, the habit carries him there.
The phrase "as he was wont" reveals that Gethsemane wasn't chosen for the crisis. It was the place of the habit. Jesus prayed there regularly. The worst night just happened to occur at the same time as the regular practice.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where is your 'Mount of Olives' — the place you go to pray habitually?
- 2.What spiritual habit, established in ordinary times, has carried you through a crisis?
- 3.How does Jesus' refusal to change his habit (even knowing Judas would find him there) model faithfulness over strategy?
- 4.What would your worst night look like if you had no established prayer habit to carry you?
Devotional
As he was wont. His custom. His habit. The place he always goes to pray. And on the night everything falls apart — the night of betrayal, arrest, and the beginning of the end — he goes to the same place. Because the habit carries you when the crisis can't.
Jesus doesn't scout a new prayer location for the most important prayer of his life. He goes where he always goes. The Mount of Olives. Gethsemane. The garden he's visited so many times that even Judas knows where to find him (John 18:2). The consistency of the habit becomes the vulnerability of the arrest — and that's exactly the point. Jesus doesn't hide. He goes to his usual place because the discipline of regular prayer matters more than the strategy of avoiding capture.
As he was wont. The phrase covers weeks, possibly months, of regular visits. Night after night, Jesus climbed the Mount of Olives while Jerusalem slept. Night after night, he knelt in the garden and prayed. The practice was so established that it was identified with him — his wont, his custom, his recognizable pattern.
And on the night when the prayer is the most desperate — when the cup of suffering is real and the sweat becomes blood and the agony produces an angel's intervention — the habit is what gets him there. He doesn't have to decide where to pray. He doesn't have to overcome the paralysis of crisis by figuring out logistics. The habit carries him to the garden the way a current carries a boat to shore. The discipline established in the easy nights serves him on the impossible night.
Your worst night will come. The crisis you didn't plan for. The prayer you didn't rehearse. And the question won't be: where should I pray? The question will be: where do I always pray? Because the habit you build in ordinary times is the infrastructure that holds in extraordinary times. Jesus went to Gethsemane as he was wont. The custom was his strength.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And when he was at the place,.... In the garden, at Gethsemane, which was at the foot of the Mount of Olives;
he said…
See the Mat. 26:30-46 notes; Mark 14:26-42 notes. Luk 22:43 Strengthening him - His human nature, to sustain the great…
We have here the awful story of Christ's agony in the garden, just before he was betrayed, which was largely related by…
39-48. The Agony in the Garden.
39. And he came out St Luke here omits all the touching incidents which St John alone…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture