Gethsemane

Passage: Matthew 26:31-44

One great source of Jesus’ earthly suffering is the tension between his two natures. Jesus is human, clothed in flesh that constantly whispers to him of comfort and self-preservation. Jesus is divine, embodying a will that is inextricable from that of God the Father. It’s the will of the Father that birthed the Son into human flesh and human space. And it’s the will of the Father that draws Jesus inexorably to the cross.

At Gethsemane Jesus’ flesh cries out for some alternative. He knows that God’s eternal redemption plan leads here. His heart beats with love for a race whose only hope is this course. Yet his flesh anticipates the whip; the thorns; the nails. And everything in him screams “No!” Everything, that is, but the thing that brought him here. Here to the garden. Here to the cross; to the grave; to the terrible separation that seals once and for all the promise of salvation. The very will of the Father, who so loved the world that he gave his only Son.