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His final prayer
As Jesus stepped into the garden, you were in his
prayers. As Jesus
looked into heaven, you were in his vision. As
Jesus dreamed of the
day when we will be where he is, he saw you
there.
His final prayer was about you. His final pain
was for you. His final
passion was you.
He steps into the garden, and invites Peter,
James, and John to come.
He tells them his soul is “overwhelmed with
sorrow to the point of
death,” and begins to pray.
Never has he felt so alone. What must be done,
only he can do. An
angel can’t do it. No angel has the power to
break open hell’s gates.
A man can’t do it. No man has the purity to
destroy sin’s claim. No
force on earth can face the force of evil and
win—except God.
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,”
Jesus confesses.
His humanity begged to be delivered from what his
divinity could see.
Jesus, the carpenter, implores. Jesus, the man,
peers into the dark
pit and begs, “Can’t there be another way?”
Did he know the answer before he asked the
question? Did his human
heart hope his heavenly father had found another
way? We don’t know.
But we do know he asked to get out. We do know he
begged for an exit.
We do know there was a time when if he could
have, he would have
turned his back on the whole mess and gone away.
But he couldn’t.
He couldn’t because he saw you. Right there in
the middle of a world
which isn’t fair. He saw you cast into a river of
life you didn’t
request. He saw you betrayed by those you love.
He saw you with a
body which gets sick and a heart which grows
weak.
He saw you in your own garden of gnarled trees
and sleeping friends.
He saw you staring into the pit of your own
failures and the mouth of
your own grave.
He saw you in your Garden of Gethsemane—and he
didn’t want you to be
alone.
He wanted you to know that he has been there,
too. He knows what it’s
like to be plotted against. He knows what it’s
like to be confused.
He knows what it’s like to be torn between two
desires. He knows what
it’s like to smell the stench of Satan. And,
perhaps most of all, he
knows what it’s like to beg God to change his
mind and to hear God
say so gently, but firmly, “No.”
For that is what God says to Jesus. And Jesus
accepts the answer. At
some moment during that midnight hour an angel of
mercy comes over
the weary body of the man in the garden. As he
stands, the anguish is
gone from his eyes. His fist will clench no more.
His heart will
fight no more.
The battle is won. You may have thought it was
won on Golgotha. It
wasn’t. You may have thought the sign of victory
is the empty tomb.
It isn’t. The final battle was won in Gethsemane.
And the sign of
conquest is Jesus at peace in the olive trees.
For it was in the garden that he made his
decision. He would rather
go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.
prayers. As Jesus
looked into heaven, you were in his vision. As
Jesus dreamed of the
day when we will be where he is, he saw you
there.
His final prayer was about you. His final pain
was for you. His final
passion was you.
He steps into the garden, and invites Peter,
James, and John to come.
He tells them his soul is “overwhelmed with
sorrow to the point of
death,” and begins to pray.
Never has he felt so alone. What must be done,
only he can do. An
angel can’t do it. No angel has the power to
break open hell’s gates.
A man can’t do it. No man has the purity to
destroy sin’s claim. No
force on earth can face the force of evil and
win—except God.
“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,”
Jesus confesses.
His humanity begged to be delivered from what his
divinity could see.
Jesus, the carpenter, implores. Jesus, the man,
peers into the dark
pit and begs, “Can’t there be another way?”
Did he know the answer before he asked the
question? Did his human
heart hope his heavenly father had found another
way? We don’t know.
But we do know he asked to get out. We do know he
begged for an exit.
We do know there was a time when if he could
have, he would have
turned his back on the whole mess and gone away.
But he couldn’t.
He couldn’t because he saw you. Right there in
the middle of a world
which isn’t fair. He saw you cast into a river of
life you didn’t
request. He saw you betrayed by those you love.
He saw you with a
body which gets sick and a heart which grows
weak.
He saw you in your own garden of gnarled trees
and sleeping friends.
He saw you staring into the pit of your own
failures and the mouth of
your own grave.
He saw you in your Garden of Gethsemane—and he
didn’t want you to be
alone.
He wanted you to know that he has been there,
too. He knows what it’s
like to be plotted against. He knows what it’s
like to be confused.
He knows what it’s like to be torn between two
desires. He knows what
it’s like to smell the stench of Satan. And,
perhaps most of all, he
knows what it’s like to beg God to change his
mind and to hear God
say so gently, but firmly, “No.”
For that is what God says to Jesus. And Jesus
accepts the answer. At
some moment during that midnight hour an angel of
mercy comes over
the weary body of the man in the garden. As he
stands, the anguish is
gone from his eyes. His fist will clench no more.
His heart will
fight no more.
The battle is won. You may have thought it was
won on Golgotha. It
wasn’t. You may have thought the sign of victory
is the empty tomb.
It isn’t. The final battle was won in Gethsemane.
And the sign of
conquest is Jesus at peace in the olive trees.
For it was in the garden that he made his
decision. He would rather
go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.
Comments
God Bless and Pray for me.