Through Gethsemane’s Storm
There’s a popular children’s book called Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen It's possible that I’ve read it close to 300 times – my daughter was quite fond of it when she was a toddler. The story is about a family that sets off on an imaginary quest to find a bear during which they encounter various obstacles: tall wavy grass, a deep cold river, a big dark forest. And the book’s repeated refrain in the face of these hurdles is: “we can't go over it / we can't go under it / oh, no! / we've got to go through it” [1].
Sometimes the only way out of certain dangers is to go through them. Think about when you’re driving home and you’ re approaching a really bad rainstorm or blizzard. You’d consider taking another route but you realize there’s no avoiding it. You can’t go over it. You can’t go under it. The only way to reach home is to go through it.
Jesus must have felt something like that in Gethsemane. It seems as if he would’ve preferred to take any other path, any other route to complete his task, than the one facing him. But Jesus must endure death and hell in order to accomplish the work of our redemption. The only way for Jesus – and us – to reach home is for him to go through Gethsemane’s storm.
As a way to prepare our hearts for Good Friday, let’s reflect on five things we’re told about the suffering of our Savior in Gethsemane [2].
GETHSEMANE’S SUPPLICATING VOICE
First, listen to Gethsemane’s supplicating voice. On the eve before his death, Jesus freely enters a familiar garden [3], but he will not leave as a free man. He will be bound by civil authorities and then be condemned to die on a Roman cross. According to Matthew 26:37-38, the prospect of this causes him to be “sorrowful and troubled,” and he explains to his disciples: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” [4].
What does Jesus do in his sorrow? He prays. And what is his prayer of supplication? According to Matthew 26:39, he asks the Father to let “this cup” pass from him. We aren’t told explicitly what this cup is, but the cup was used as a symbol of divine wrath by Old Testament prophets. For example, we read in Isaiah 51:17: “stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath.” Jeremiah 25:15 says: “Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it’” [5]. This symbolism also appears in Revelation 14:9-10: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger.”
It’s possible that what Jesus means by “the cup” is the entirety of the sufferings that lie ahead, but the heart of those sufferings is bearing his Father’s wrath and displeasure. This cup is being held to the lips of Jesus not because he has merited it but because we have. As the Redeemer, he must drink the cup of divine wrath that sinners deserve.
Matthew records that Jesus prayed this prayer three times [6]. On a very real level, these prayers reflect the deep desire of Jesus' heart for this cup to pass from him. But it will not. So to Gethsemane’s supplicating voice is sent the aid of a heavenly visitor.
GETHSEMANE’S STRENGTHENING ANGEL
Luke alone records the appearance of an angel in Gethsemane in Luke 23:43: “And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.” Note the irony: the One through whom all things were made receives help from a creature in his suffering. Note also that the appearance of the angel does not alleviate Jesus’ suffering – not even for a moment. The angel isn’t sent to provide relief for Jesus but to strengthen him [7]. How should we understand this strengthening?
Consider that in order to suffer – and to endure extreme suffering – one must have a certain measure of strength. The angel is sent so Jesus can continue suffering – indeed, sink into even deeper suffering. He must not fail or fold at this stage of his passion. He must not break before all is accomplished. Gethsemane is dark but it’s going to get darker. The disciples are sleeping now, but they will all soon completely desert him. Peter will outright deny him. At this point, heaven is still attentive to his suffering – evidenced by the angel’s presence – but it will soon be crushingly silent. Jesus will face an hour when he will be utterly isolated and wholly forsaken. And he must endure this hour in Gethsemane in order to get to that hour and secure the redemption of his people.
The angel sees to it that the Lion of the tribe of Judah has sufficient strength to sacrifice himself as the Lamb of God.
The coming of the angel doesn’t represent an interlude or escape from Jesus' passion. On the contrary, the angel’s appearance signals the impossibility of any such escape. Think of offering a cup of water to a marathon runner who is at the nineteenth mile and hitting the wall. It’s offered so that the runner might endure, keep going, and complete the race. Jesus must go on. He must go all the way through Gethsemane’s storm to death and hell. For this the angel strengthens him. The angel sees to it that the Lion of the tribe of Judah has sufficient strength to sacrifice himself as the Lamb of God. Understanding the angel's role in this way helps explain the sweating of blood that follows.
GETHSEMANE’S SWEATING OF BLOOD
As with the angel’s appearance, only from Luke’s pen do we read of this rare physiological event in the garden. We’re told in Luke 22:44: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Confirming what’s already been said, it’s after the angel arrives that Jesus experiences so much tension that the inward turmoil and wrestling spills out in blood.
“We learn from Gethsemane’s sweating of blood that Jesus’ offering of himself as an atoning sacrifice for sin is entirely voluntary. His life was not taken from him; it was offered by him – freely.”
It has been documented that under times of extreme stress sweating blood can occur, a condition called “hematidrosis” [8]. But scientific verification isn't necessary to validate the Bible here. Even if other people have sweated blood at times of severe distress, other people aren't Jesus. Jesus is the Redeemer. And we learn from Gethsemane’s sweating of blood that Jesus’ offering of himself as an atoning sacrifice for sin is entirely voluntary. His life was not taken from him; it was offered by him – freely. Gethsemane reveals that the blood of Jesus was drawn out not ultimately by the thorns and nails that pierced him, nor was it merely a result of natural arterial pressure. Jesus spilled his blood without a single weapon being raised against him. Atonement is his voluntary work undertaken in love.
Even though it’s voluntary, Jesus is truly experiencing agony as he sweats these drops of blood [9]. While thankfully the reasons for his agony and the experience of it remain shrouded in mystery, it can be discerned that in Gethsemane Jesus is faced with something perversely warped. Consider that God so made the moral fabric of the universe in such a way that disobedience results in death and alienation from him while obedience leads to life and blessing, at the heart of which is loving communion and unbroken fellowship with him. But Jesus is faced with the twisted reality that in this instance his obedience will result in death and alienation from God [10]. His moving forward in faithfulness will mean finding himself crushed in the gears of this dysfunction and torn apart physically and spiritually. This is what it will cost to reverse the curse.
But moving ahead in faithfulness is what he does as we witness Gethsemane’s submitting savior.
GETHSEMANE’S SUBMITTING SAVIOR
Jesus has three times presented to the Father in prayer the desires of his heart: “let this cup pass from me.” But Jesus doesn't ask that the cup pass at any cost. There is a greater desire that rules his heart: the will of his Father. His words reflect this: “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” [11]. If there’s no other way to secure the salvation of his people, then he is determined to submit to the Father and drink the cup of wrath to the dregs.
After the third prayer, it seems Jesus has received an answer: there is no other way. If he is to save his people, he must pay the wages of sin announced in the first garden: “in the day that you eat of the fruit you will surely die.” Jesus must pay these wages not for his sins – he is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God without blemish. He must pay for our sins as our Substitute. In the Garden of Gethsemane the last Adam will submit where in the Garden of Eden the first Adam revolted. Adam chose to follow his own will over God’s – no matter the cost. Jesus will choose to submit to the will of God over his own – no matter the cost. Blessed submission!
We need to learn to pray like Jesus: “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Gaze upon Gethsemane’s submitting savior, sweating blood yet resolved to follow the Father’s will, and ask what valid reasons we could ever have for refusing to follow God or submit to his will? When was the last time you struggled in agony to renounce your desires for the sake of following God? When was the last time you willingly paid a cost for your faith? God calls us to submit and bend our wills to his better and wiser purposes like Jesus does in Gethsemane.
Adam chose to follow his own will over God’s – no matter the cost. Jesus will choose to submit to the will of God over his own – no matter the cost. Blessed submission!
But the bitter truth is that we're failures, you and I. We daily follow our own wills and obey our own desires rather than following God's will and obeying his word. So Jesus must succeed not only where the first Adam failed – he must succeed where we fail. And he must not only succeed: he must die. He must die for failures. All doubt about this is removed when Jesus returns and finds his disciples sleeping.
GETHSEMANE’S SLEEPING DISCIPLES
When the world's greatest drama is unfolding a stone's throw away, the disciples sleep. Imagine falling asleep at the birth of your child. Or falling asleep during your wedding the vows. But this worse! The decisive contest between light and dark is being fought and they sleep even though he’s asked them to pray. Before we judge the disciples too harshly, how often are we asleep and unresponsive to the great struggle going on around us as the kingdom of God clashes against the kingdom of darkness? We easily forget that we’re soldiers in a great conflict and we’re often asleep at our post [12].
When people fail us we tend to cast them off quickly. But Jesus doesn't cast off these sleeping soldiers. Jesus rises from his prayer, blood streaming down his face, looks upon his disciples, and commits to dying for people like this: weak, half-hearted, unreliable failures. Knowing full well that they have nothing to give him, he gives himself to them and for them. And he gives himself to us and for us that we might have life. Such is the unmeasurable depth of his love.
CONCLUSION
As the episode in Gethsemane draws to a close, Jesus is resolute and composed once again, expressed in the words: “Rise up; let us be going” [13]. He is fully committed to the Father's will – and fully committed to redeeming his people.
He emerges from Gethsemane to descend deeper into the darkness, and he does so that we might never descend into that darkness but might have the light of our Father's face shining upon us. Forever.
But as the storm clouds break over Gethsemane, they grow thicker in the distance over Golgotha. Jesus emerges from Gethsemane’s storm to experience not lesser agony, but greater, incomprehensible agony. He exits Gethsemane in order to descend deeper into darkness, and he does so that we might never descend into that darkness but might have the light of our Father's face shining upon us. Forever. Jesus will go through Gethsemane’s storm – and through the depths of hell itself – to rescue his bride and bring us safely to our eternal home in glory.
[1] Michael Rosen, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (New York, NY: Little Simon),1997.
[2] We find the accounts of Jesus in Gethsemane recorded in Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46, and John 18:1-2, prior to his betrayal and arrest. The name Gethsemane, used only by Matthew and Mark, means “oil press.” Only John refers to it is as “a garden” (Greek κῆπος).
[3] John 18:2 informs us that Judas knew the place because “Jesus often met there with his disciples.”
[4] That Jesus knew what was going to happen to him is clear from Mark 8:31-32, 9:31, and 10:32-34.
[5] See also Ezekiel 23:31-34.
[6] See Matthew 26:44.
[7] The Greek word in Luke 22:43 for “strengthening” is ἐνισχύω. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament only in Acts 9:19 immediately after Paul’s Damascus road encounter with Jesus: “and taking food, he was strengthened.”
[8] See https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319110
[9] The Greek term is ἀγωνία, used only here by Luke in the New Testament, from which we get our English word agony.
[10] I’m indebted to my friend, Eric Mowery, for this insightful observation.
[11] See Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42.
[12] The Bible often describes believers as soldiers engaged in warfare. See, for example, 2 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 1:18; 6:12; Romans 13:12; Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 6:7; 10:3-5; 1 Peter 4:1.
[13] See Matthew 26:46; cf. Mark 14:42.