Holy week; Gethsemane

Yesterday I looked at Jesus' source of strength; his prayer life. We saw that some of that was devoted to praying for his disciples. Today I want to look a little more at the prayers offered in the garden of Gethsemane.

 Jesus having done all there is to do, fully faces up to what he is about to undergo. Jesus withdraws again from his disciples for what is a very private moment, leaving them with the instruction 'Pray that you will not fall into temptation', he with draws about as far as a stones throw, Luke records. So private, but not that private. I have often wondered how Jesus private words are recorded so accurately when he went off. The answer is simple. We are told how much anguish he is in. So much that he later sweats blood. I have heard preachers cite medical science to say that, however rare that may be, it is possible under immense stress. It hardly bears thinking about. Have you, even in your worst moments been close to that? I know I haven't.

And he did not suffer in silence. I think that Jesus words "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" was an anguished, gut wrenching cry, so loud that it was audible from a good distance, depending on how far you can throw a stone.

This is one of my favourite moments in the gospels. It is the most beautiful and terrible, simultaneously. The son of God, at his most vulnerable, the weight of the fate of the world hanging on his manifest love for and trust of His Father.

 I felt God show me a while ago, that Jesus, though he had much yet to undergo, won the battle of Calvary, here in Gethsemane's garden. That the real wrestling, the real sacrifice was made, by Jesus, on his knees, when he fully gave his will over to the Father. From then on in, the outcome was a certainty.

The angel then came and strengthened him. It only occurred to me today, that the strength (which is sometimes translated as comfort, literally 'with strength') may well have been more than just strength for the moment, but strength for the task ahead.

And somehow, it has always escaped my attention that he sweats blood, after the Angel has ministered to him. The scripture says, he prayed even more earnestly. Whatever was going on here, we know that Jesus was doing serious business with his Father. The hymn that I quoted yesterday contains the line 'He shed no tears for his own grief but sweat drops of blood for mine'. I have to say that that seems, as poetic and lovely as it sounds, like it is utter fiction. I am not saying that he had no thought towards what he would achieve for us but the grief was all his own. If Calvary was about us, Gethsemane was all about Jesus.

Isn't it amazing that he did not waver for a second in all his trial? Where did he get his strength from? I think he made his peace, here on his knees. Gethsemane held the last temptation of Christ. But the deal was sealed in the agony of his prayer and the submission to the father.

Remember what Jesus said to his disciples as he left them, 'Pray that you will not fall into temptation.'
That was exactly what he was doing himself. He was saying, follow my example. The disciples slept and they fell into temptation, but Jesus never wavered or wobbled.

The power endued on him is tangible as he steps forwards to his would be captors in the same Garden.

We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth, they say.
'I am he' says the Lord.
And they drew back and fell to the ground.