As Was His Custom.

"And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, 

and the disciples followed him." [Luke 22:39]

As was his custom.  Twas the night of the betrayal, the Son of Man would be arrested, scourged, and slain, yet in the knowing, he was faithful to prayer.  It's interesting that the writer of the passage, Luke, takes the time to note that walking to prayer was Jesus' ritual.  His normal.  That Jesus had developed a routine of connecting to God, a habit of prayer.

It speaks to us today.  That in the midst of all, in the knowing that death was literally before him, Jesus withdrew to pray.  And for the disciples, watching this moment was normal.  They knew their God, their friend, their role model, had the nightly habit of being with God.

Which is also interesting in the context that the arrest was coming, though the disciples did not now.  So to them, staying awake to keep from temptation, may have been a struggle on more than one occasion.  Their humanity made prayer and alertness more difficult, them to aloofness.  And into this temptation they would falter.

But the God-Man, Jesus, had a prayer routine.  Had a ritual.  Had a set-aside time and place.  Had a plan for prayer.  His humanity needed it, his God-self communed it.  His footsteps made, firm and faithful, for the disciples to follow.