Praying Jesus Style

Luke 22:41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed.

Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane on the eve of His arrest and trial. He leaves the rest of the disciples behind for prayer, as is His custom, but this time takes Peter, James and John with Him to keep Him company while He prays to the Father. The three of them are about a stone's throw away from where Jesus is, which would be close enough to watch Jesus pray. We are given the detail that He knelt down while praying. I believe this detail indicates that someone was an eye witness to Jesus' prayer. It was customary for Jews to pray standing up, so I gather that whoever was watching Jesus pointed this out, due to its unfamiliarity to the Jewish eye. There are two possible reasons I can think of for this new act of worship.
First, it shows that Jesus humbled Himself before the Father. Philippians 2:8 states that He "... humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death." He was fully God, but submitted completely to the authority of the Father. He had every right to consider Himself equal with God, but took on the form of a man. We learn from other passages that three times He asks God to let this cup (the cross) pass from Him. But every time He adds that He wants His Father's will to be done, not His own. What a picture of total submission to God's will. To be willing to obey God's commands, even unto death.
Second, it is a picture of the agony He must have felt that night as the weight of being fully aware of what was to come pushed Him to His knees. Many times the burdens of our lives can be so heavy that they just immobilize us. They bring us to our knees, they break us. What a great place to be, for it is there that Jesus tells us to "come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Mat 11:28). We can cast our cares upon Jesus when they get too overwhelming and He will give us rest. But in the garden there was no one for Him to share His burden. He was the one that had to carry all the sins of the world to the cross and deal with them there. It must have been an impossible weight, yet He endured and gained victory in the end. I cannot imagine what spiritual, emotional and mental agony He must have felt, not to speak of the physical torture, but I am sure glad He did, for in this act of love He tore the veil of separation between God and man. His sacrifice allowed us access to the Father here in this life and in eternity. No greater expression of love has ever been seen in the history of the world.

Application
In all I do I must humbly submit to the will of God and recognize His authority over my life. I need to realize that I have lost the right to carry my own burdens when Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross in my stead. I need to cast them upon Him and receive His rest. I do not live for myself anymore, but for Him.
Today I will make a list of all the worries that I carry around with me and ask the Lord to take them off my back and receive His rest.