The Anguish of Jesus

The other day I listened to a podcast while I was driving. It was the interview of a former radical violent Islamic extremist. He had changed and no longer hated Christians nor did he now want to destroy the institutions of the West. When asked why he had changed, he said it had started when he was in an Egyptian prison. He was tortured there beyond description. He said that often men from his cell never returned from their torture sessions. It was a dark place.

One day as he sat in his cell, his heart full of hatred and vitriol, he overheard a conversation. A man from Amnesty International had come into the prison to inquire about him. He listened as this man, whom he never met, asked why he was being unfairly imprisoned. The man worked to get him out.

And that got him thinking. Why would a man from the West, a place he wanted to destroy, come willingly into this dark place? He did not even know this man. He was his enemy. Why would he go to the trouble to come to the prison and ask by name about him? Why did this man care about him when he hated everything this man stood for? He could not fathom this. He could not stop thinking about this man. Why was he worthy of this man’s efforts? The presence of that man and his mission in that prison began to melt his stone-cold heart. I have been thinking about that man in the prison this week.

As we examine Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his execution, there are so many things we can focus upon in Gethsemane:
his humanity on display as he suffered.
the way he submitted to his father’s will even when he clearly wished for another way.
the importance of prayer —the means through which the victory of the cross was won.
the importance of the support of friends, Jesus asked his friends to pray for him.
the fact that it wasn’t easy for Jesus to endure the cross even though he was God Himself.

So much is packed into the agonizing tableau in the Garden of Gethsemane. I want to highlight a few words and phrases to tightly focus our attention on the anguish Jesus endured in Gethsemane.

“…He began to be grieved and distressed.” Matthew 26:37.
Some translations say, “sorrowful and troubled, anguished, heavy, disheartened.

“My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death…” Matthew 26:38. Other words used are, “overwhelmed with sorrow, crushed with grief, consumed with sorrow, exceedingly sorrowful.”

“And being in agony he was praying fervently; and his sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.”Luke 22:44. Other translations say, “being in anguish, in agony of spirit, in great pain.”

“In the days of His flesh He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety, reverence, fear.” Hebrews 5:7.

There is no way to minimize the anguish the Lord felt in Gethsemane as he anticipated the cross. His suffering was part of His sacrifice. It was so real that he literally almost died, so real that he cried out like a wounded animal. He didn’t blithely go through the motions of obeying the Father’s will, he bore the full weight of the horror of the cross. Nothing about this was easy for him. He felt fully the anguish of the cross as he willingly took on this task.

But why? Why did he undergo suffering? Why was Jesus willing to rescue us out of a dark place? Why would he take the form of man to live and die among us? Why would he humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross? He didn’t do it for himself, to save his own skin. He didn’t have to drink the cup of God’s wrath down to the dregs. He did it because he loves you and me.

Romans 5:10 sums it up this way, “while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” May the image of Jesus as he suffered in the garden melt your heart.

Dear Lord,
You didn’t have to tell us these details but I thank you for drawing back the curtain and letting us see the anguish of Jesus in Gethsemane. Help us to grasp the significance of his suffering. Help us to see he went through the agony and horrors as he anticipated the cross because of his love for mankind. Thank you that his love was on display through his suffering. Melt our hearts with his love.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen