Parallels between 3 Nephi 19 and the Gospels -- Part 1

3 Nephi 19 is a fascinating chapter. I have previously posted about events in that chapter resembling the day of Pentecost in Acts in the New Testament. What I noticed this time was the striking resemblance between the latter half of the chapter and what happened right before and in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In the latter half of 3 Nephi 19, Jesus asks his disciples to pray. He goes "a little way off from them" and prays to the Father. Then he goes back to the disciples, has some interaction with them before he goes to pray to the Father again. This repeats three times. This exact sequence of events repeated three times happens in Gethsemane too. 

Before we get into the details of that, there is another prallell worth noting. In John 17, as the last thing that happens before Jesus and his disciples go to Gethsemane, Jesus offers his intercessory prayer. Part of that prayer is almost verbatim the same as his prayer(s) to the Father in 3 Nephi 19. With that backdrop, let's go into the details.

The admonition to pray

The passage in 3 Nephi 19 that we will have a closer look at, starts with verse 17

17 And it came to pass that when they had all knelt down upon the earth, he commanded his disciples that they should pray.

18 And behold, they began to pray; and they did pray unto Jesus, calling him their Lord and their God.

Praying directly to Jesus, as the disciples do here, is quite unusual. Later in the chapter, Jesus says that they do so because he is there with them (see verse 22). I will not comment further on that as it is besides the topic of this post. But we can compare this with what happens in the gospels. There are differences between the various accounts. For instance, not all start out with Jesus asking his disciples to pray in Gethsemane. But we read it in Luke 22:39-40

39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

In Matthew and Mark, the admonition to pray is only given after Jesus comes back.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)

Interestingly, in 3 Nephi 18, the day before the events recorded in 3 Nephi 19, Jesus tells his disciples

Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always lest ye enter into temptation (3 Nephi 18:18)

Jesus withdrawing from the disciples to pray

After asking the disciples to pray, Jesus withdraws himself to pray unto the Father. In 3 Nephi, we continue with verse 19 where we left off

And it came to pass that Jesus departed out of the midst of them, and went a little way off from them and bowed himself to the earth, and he said:

In Gethsemane, we find something similar. In Matthew 26:39 

he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed

In Mark 14:35

he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed

In Luke 22:41

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed

Jesus' intercessory prayer in 3 Nephi 

Then Jesus starts praying. But the prayers in 3 Nephi 19 and in Gethsemane are very different. Obviously it would make no sense for the resurrected Jesus to ask his Father to remove this cup from him in 3 Nephi. Instead, part of his prayer sounds very similar to the intercessory prayer in John 17 that he said right before they went to Gethsemane. Starting off in 3 Nephi 19, Jesus thanks the Father for giving his disciples the Holy Ghost (the pentecostal event mentioned earlier). This is not found in John 17. But then Jesus says

And now Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words, that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one. (3 Nephi 19:23)

Compare with John 17:20-21

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us

Another shared phrase is found the second time Jesus prays in 3 Nephi 19

Father, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world, because of their faith

Compare with John 17:9

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

The different responses from the disciples

As mentioned in other previous posts, when we find parallels like these in the scriptures, the learning points are often found in the differences. In this case the response from the disciples are vastly different between these two accounts. In both accounts, Jesus asks his disciples to (watch and) pray. When Jesus has finished praying the first time in 3 Nephi 19, he goes back to his disciples.

24 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire.

25 And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof.

26 And Jesus said unto them: Pray on; nevertheless they did not cease to pray.

Contrast that with Matthew 26:40

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Jesus had specifically asked them to "watch". The Greek word is gregoreo and literally means to stay awake. The disciples in the Old World failed to follow his admonition. The disciples in the New World prayed, as he instructed, "without ceasing" and were immediately blessed as a consequence. 

There is much more to say about this, so I will split this post and save the rest for part 2. This post only presents an overview of the parallels. The next post will discuss what we can learn after having identified them. As a final indicator, however, that these parallels between 3 Nephi 19 and the New Testament are not just coincidental, I quote the last two verses of 3 Nephi 19 with an explicit reference to the Jews.

35 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying he came again to the disciples, and said unto them: So great faith have I never seen among all the Jews; wherefore I could not show unto them so great miracles, because of their unbelief.
36 Verily I say unto you, there are none of them that have seen so great things as ye have seen; neither have they heard so great things as ye have heard.

These verses indicates that faith made the difference discussed in this last section, but we will get more into that in part 2.