Jesus in the Garden
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· 21 viewsWe saw Jesus' deepest sorrow, just as he sees ours
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Our Deepest Sorrow
Our Deepest Sorrow
What is your deepest sorrow, what has been the hardest moment in your life thus far? If you would take the paper that was on your chair and write down a word, phrase, or a short description of what happened. It is not to share with anyone else but for you to recall that moment in your life while I talk about Jesus’ footsteps in the Garden of Gethsemane.
One of my toughest moments as a pastor was in Virginia, I was with a young couple who had only been married a few years. The lady had been married once before and had one son from that marriage, the man had no prior marriage, no children and they desperately wanted to have kids together. They tried on their own but she could not get pregnant, after many doctors’ visits and much time and money spent trying to get pregnant they finally had received the news they had been praying for. God had heard their prayers, I am thinking maybe they prayed in triplicate because she was pregnant with triplets. It was a hard pregnancy with many problems, which brought us to one of the hardest moments I had to walk through with anyone. She had been having contractions and her water broke, they babies were not developed enough to survive and the doctors told them when she delivered the babies, if born alive would only survive for minutes. It was with this knowledge the three of us sat in the room waiting, I remember the father and I sitting there together with his tear-filled eyes telling me; “I don’t want to be here and I don’t want to do this.” He would not dare say that to his wife and he stayed all the way through the delivery. The longest any of the babies survived was a minute and a half. I have never lost a child of my own and would never be so insensitive to say I know what that feels like, I only know the look in their faces and the desperation in the voices, and the sorrow in the room. I remember how helpless I felt in that room and the look on their faces as they walked through those moments.
We have all experienced that deep deep sorrow in our lives when we simply have come to the end, we no longer know what to do and our hearts are so heavy that we don’t know if we can take another breath. Jesus knows that heaviness as well, when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane he had the weight of the world upon his shoulders, knowing what the Father’s will was for him and what it entailed.
Listen as Jesus walks into the garden:
Mk
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Imagine
Imagine
Imagine how the heart of the son was breaking because he knew one of those who were closest to him would betray him and turn him over to his persecutors.
Imagine the heaviness of the son knowing everyone, even Peter and John, the disciple whom he loved, would leave him in his time of deepest need.
Imagine the pain of the Father watching his son go through this and knowing that he must allow it to be fulfilled to the end.
An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Lk 22:
It is in this garden we see the God of the universe experiencing the heaviness of heart, the anguish of the soul and prayer so fervent he literally sweats drops of blood. It a twist of irony this will be the same blood that will willingly be shed during his scourging a few hours later and the same blood that would drip from the cross as his very life is taken from him as the price for our sin.
He knows what your going through
He knows what your going through
He knows your pain, he knows your anguish he understands when you cry out in your spirit like David shows that Jesus knows what you are going through because He has been through it himself.
I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
for you saw my affliction
and knew the anguish of my soul.
My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, Lord, how long?
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
You can put your burdens on Him
You can put your burdens on Him
Not only do we get an insight to overwhelming heaviness, desperation that would bring him to his knees, sweating drops of blood. We also get to see what his reaction to the heaviness, he casts it upon his Father, his desire if for this cup to pass him but he knows it cannot. It is there he casts his Father and commits, once again to follow His will. Be assured that Jesus knows what you went through or are going through and then cast your burdens upon Him and allow Him to guide your heart and guide your steps.
You can be assured of the outcome
You can be assured of the outcome
Jesus may have known about the resurrection when he was in the garden but we can be confident in those moments with the Father his focus was on what was coming next. We he utters the words; “not my will, but yours be done.” it is with the full confidence of what God taught us through Paul in
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Whatever your moment is or was take this opportunity to give it to Him now and join him at his table
Whatever your moment is or was take this opportunity to give it to Him now and join him at his table