PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE; “Terror in the Garden”.
By: Ron Woodrum
Elisabeth C. Clephane wrote a beautiful song based on Jesus words in Matthew 18:11-14. Jesus described his mission with the metaphor of a shepherd, at the end of the day counting his sheep, finding out one of his 100 sheep was missing, and lost in the wilderness. He emphasized that the shepherd would leave the 99 and go and search diligently for the lost sheep, risking any danger, paying any price to rescue the perishing one! D.L. Moody’s songleader, Ira Sankey loved the song and sang it often during the revival meetings, making a very popular hymn in the late 1800’s. Clephane wrote a very beautiful verse in her hymn. She wrote:
None of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed
Nor how dark was the night passed through
Ere he found his sheep that was lost!
How would we know? Most of the Scripture testifies to Jesus willingness to embrace the cross in all of its suffering. He was the Lamb of God, willing to go to the slaughter. He set his face as a flint to that destiny. Nothing nor no one could ever dissuade him. Peter found that out the hard way! Even a surface reading of the Gospel account of Gethsemane’s prayers indicate a reluctance to “drink the cup” but an eventual “willingness” and “surrender” to the will of the Father. But if we take the time to read between the lines, to plumb below the surface, we might discover quite a different picture and reality. If we look at the details given by the Synoptic Gospels, (syn-same optic-eyes)-(gospels that see Jesus’ life and ministry with the same perspective), we discover a different story. Matthew uses some very descriptive words to describe Jesus’ demeanor in the Garden. He says, “Jesus began to be sorrowful and depressed”. The words he uses are very expressive. The word ‘sorrowful” is the word “lupeo”-(lupus). It means “sadness, sorrow, grief, and pain”. The Present Passive Infinitive should be translated-“Jesus was overtaken with a continual spirit of sadness, sorrow,grief, and felt deep pain within himself”. The second word is even more expressive. The word “depressed” is the word “ademeneo”. The word “demos” means “home”. The “a” prefixed to the front of it is what is called in the Greek language an “alpha privitive of negation”. When it is added to a word it negates the definition of the word it is attached to. Example is “theist” is one who believes in God. And “atheist” is one that does not believe. So the word “ademeneo” means “no longer feeling at home”. It means someone who is not comfortable where he is and longs to go home! Facing the cross, drinking the bitter cup he was peering into in Gethsemane made Jesus long to finish his mission and go home. Then Matthew tells us in the next verse that Jesus reached out to his disciples for some sympathy and empathy by telling them that his “soul was exceeding sorrowful to the point of death”. The word he uses is the word-“perilupeo”. It is the same word Matthew used to describe his “sadness and sorrow”, But Jesus adds the preposition “peri” to it. Peri-(perimeter) means to encircle. That makes his state of sorrow emphatic! It means he is totally “surrounded and overcome by that spirit of sadness, sorrow, and grief-causing him deep spiritual and psychological pain”.
Mark shares alot of the same words describing Jesus’ state of mind in the Garden. He adds the word “ekthambeo”. That word has a very graphic definition of ‘being thrown into a state of horror, and being held in the grip of terror”. Luke then adds another word to Mark’s description saying that Jesus was “troubled”. The word he uses is the word “agonia” (agony). It means to be in a state of “conflict, anguish, agony, striving against circumstances”. The combination of all of these words indicate that Jesus was in such a state that he was crushed by this condition and found it hard to move forward. He sought help from his Father. All three gospels indicate he first sought the removal of the cup. Mark also adds, “being saved from the hour”. But after finding that this is the only way, drinking the full bitter cup, Jesus surrenders to His Father’s will. The Father sends angels, according to Luke to “strengthen him” and tells us that the incident caused him to “seat drops of blood” (Thrombosis-“coagulated droplets of blood”). Then the writer of the Book of Hebrews adds a new perspective by saying that this incident in the Garden is best described as Jesus making supplication to His father about removing this cup, with ‘strong crying and tears to the only one who could save him from death” (Heb. 5:7). What was it that put Jesus in this “troubled state of horror?” What was in that bitter cup facing Jesus that caused him to pray three times for its removal? Are we to conclude that Jesus had changed his mind about Calvary and no longer wanted to face the suffering and torture of crucifixion? Do we conclude that even though this terrified him, that he decided to stoically embrace it because His Father’s will demanded it?
I have a problem with that view. If you read about Plato’s account of the death of Socrates we discover that Socrates faced his death with courage. Plato says that Socrates took his “cup of hemlock without trembling, without changing color, without changing his expression”. He says, “he simply raised it to his lips and cheerfully drained it”. We are told also that he told his disciples to “keep quiet and face his death bravely”. Are we to conclude that Socrates was braver than Jesus! Never! May that thought never cross our mind. We are also told about Christian martyrs who died bravely for the Lord they loved. Ignatius of Antioch, when facing martyrdom, told the Church not to try to dissuade him. He looked forward to suffering and dying for His Lord with great joy and anticipation. Polycarp refused to listen to both Roman officials and Church members who pleaded with him to comply with Caesar’s orders and avoid death. But the aged bishop pointed to a Lord that had faithfully died for him, and that is the least he could do for his Lord. Could he have done that if Jesus faced his death as a coward? Never!
What did Jesus fear in that bitter cup? The physical suffering of crucifixion? He had seen many. He knew only too well all the details included in such a death. He took the scourging, that often killed the victim, without collapsing under the load. He took the crown of thorns, the buffeting, the spitting, the nails in hands and feet, as a lamb silently being led to the slaughter, he uttered not a word, the Scripture clearly states. What was it that was in that cup that caused him to plead with the Father to find another way, to remove the cup from his lips, that caused him to long for home, and be overtaken with sadness, sorrow, grief, agony, and mental anguish? A study of “cup” in both the Old and New Testaments reveal that it is a cup filled with the “wrath of God upon sin” meted out to those who justly deserve the penalty. It did include suffering. But it went well beyond the suffering at the hands of sinful man. It was God’s judgment on sin, and included spiritual, physical, and eternal torment. It was a cup full of sin and shame. He who knew no sin became sin for us, bearing its shame, sorrow, and penalty to the last drop! It was separation from God. The Greek word “death” means separation. Jesus took upon himself physical, spiritual, and eternal seperation from God, in that brief three hours of drinking the bitter cup. He experienced what it was like to fall into the hands of a Holy God, who is a consuming fire, when all he had ever done was to love His father, and always obey Him. He was only familiar with the words, “this is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased”. Now He heard words of condemnation as Isaiah writes, “It pleased God to smite him”. No one could embrace that experience, without feeling terror and horror. Especially when Jesus knew all that such judgment entailed down to the last detail! The poet expressed it well:
We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains he had to bear
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
We will never know how dark the night, or how deep the waters crossed that our Saviour had to experience in rescuing us, his perishing little sheep. But only hearts filled with gratitude for our Good Shepherd is worthy of worship. May we with strong crying and tears let Him know how much we love Him for having first loved us!