The Agony in the Garden

Around two thousand years ago, a man was alone in a Garden.  His friends were asleep as He wrestled with the darkest of thoughts.  He was going to be betrayed by one of His close friends who had followed Him for years.  He was going to face torture and death.  He didn't want to die.

That man was Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, called the Christ.  He had preached a message of love, humility, and service to all who would listen.  He healed the sick and cast out demons.  Never did His humility or desire to serve God waver; not in public as He drew crowds of thousands, nor in private when He deigned to wash the dusty feet of His followers.  He seemed, in a way, almost too pure and without doubt to be true.

Then this night came, a terrible night where He showed the same doubts as every other man and woman.  He wanted to know if He had to follow through with the destiny that has been prepared for Him.  He was afraid...He knew He was soon to die.  The Savior was scared. 

This singular part of the Passion narrative, more than any other makes me choke up with emotion.  Jesus is so perfect, but even He felt doubt and fear.  Even He was scared of what death would bring, and He knew not to be afraid of it.  He begged and pleaded with His Father in Heaven, but when Judas came to betray Him with a kiss, He dried His tears.  He embraced the one whose betrayal would sentence Him until death, and in so doing, He placed the will of His Father before His own.  He went to end His life upon this Earth in a noble manner, giving up His life for His friends, and for we who did not even exist yet.

His death would become a timeless event.  One prefigured by the prophecies of Pagan priests and priestesses.  Cicero, the great philosopher and orator quoted a Sybil, a prophetess of ancient Greece, in saying that there would be a King one day who would need to be recognized to be saved.  It is said that he asked of the seeress, "In quem hominem?" He wanted to know about this man, and later Pontius Pilate would pronounce before the gathered crowds in the hours after the Agony in Garden, "Ecce Homo", or "behold the Man."

Hermes would, in Greek myths, say to the bound Prometheus, "Look not for any end, moreover, to this curse, until some God appears to accept upon his head the pangs of thy own sins vicarious".  Prometheus had given mankind the knowledge of fire.  We can relate, as a people we fell in a garden and found ourselves stained with the curse of sin; but in another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, we saw a hero rise to take that stain away and upon Himself.  We saw a Savior Who was mighty and meek, a Messiah who submitted Himself to a traitor, a King of Kings Who would not plead for His life before the Roman officials, a Prince of Peace Who would not speak out against the false testimony leveled against Him, a God who became a man, who would lay down His life for the forgiveness of us all.

In the Garden, Christ's Agony lead Him to fully embracing His death upon the cross.  Without my Lord facing His fears, we would all be damned.  Thank you Jesus, for facing Your fears, and giving us all a reason to have hope.  With Your agony complete and going freely to Your death, we know one thing for certain; Joy is coming.  Soon.