His Hope for Ours
And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch."
Mark 14:33-34
The time had finally arrived. He had been anticipating its arrival for 33 years and now, what had always been at a safe distance away had suddenly come very near and very real. With its reality came the battle within. The battle between the God in him and the man in him. The God in him knew that the plan was going to happen. The God in him was fearless and ready. But it was that other part of him, the part that came from his mother’s DNA, the human side, that he struggled with at this moment. There had been a nagging fear that He had been able to keep at bay for so long, but now had become a raging storm of grief, with such sorrow as no man had ever felt. He had to find some solace, He had to get his perspective back; He had to talk to his Father! Now! This very minute!
The Galilean man left most of his dear friends just outside the gate of the garden he had chosen to pray in. They were safe, at least, out of view. He took only the three most trusted with him. Three dear friends that couldn’t be any more different from each other. Three men, with three very different gifts. He took Peter, the one who could shoot off at the mouth quicker than anyone he knew, but Peter was a fighter. He needed a fighter by his side right now. Then there was James, the quiet one. He didn’t say much and could also be a hot head. But the Man knew He could rely on James’ stoic faithfulness to watch through the night. And then John, the one who had shown his love for Him by resting his head on His chest. John, who loved him the most. Surely, He could rely on John to pray Him through.
He took them aside privately and told them the secret He had kept from the others. "My soul is very sorrowful, EVEN UNTO DEATH." His very human flesh was swallowed up in grief over what was to come.
"That which weighs upon his heart, so excessive a strain that human nature must fail to endure it." *
In one last effort, He said to his dear friends, "stay here, pray and watch."
Watch- to see, to be awake, to be vigilant, attentive, to be aware. To watch! But watch for what?
Jesus knew that Judas had already gone to the Sanhedrin council.
He knew the money had already switched hands, the plan already had been laid, the net had already been cast.
On that warm spring evening, in a garden filled with crooked trees, ripe with the smell of olive blossoms, He knew that at any minute a passel of Roman soldiers would storm in and take Him away.
He knew his Father's plan was already in motion, but still his human side held out for HOPE.
HOPE that this cup would be allowed to pass from him. He knew anything was possible with His Father. Anything! So maybe.... just maybe this were possible, too.
HOPE that His Precious Father could somehow and in some way find another way. Any way but that cruel and torturous cross. But He knew...
He knew that he and his Father had already discussed this plan eons ago, in ageless days past.
He knew he wasn't forced to become the sacrifice. He was a willing participant.
He knew he had volunteered with no hesitation because...
He knew it would only last three days. Three very long, very dark, very painful days.
And He knew he had a mission, a quest. It was time. Time to usher in grace for his creation. A creation that couldn't handle rules and regulations. Beings that were so sin ridden and soul sick, there was no hope for them. He was their only HOPE.
But still as He lay prostate on the ground of that dark parcel of earth, before his Father’s heavenly throne, he held out for HOPE. As beads of sweat; no, not sweat, blood! As blood formed on his brow from the stain of his prayer, he held out for HOPE. As an angel, sent from His father , the only help Abba could offer His Only Begotten, gently ministered, He held out for Hope.
He knew, so why did he ask his faithful trio to watch.
He knew that any minute he'd be able to hear the guards as their sandaled feet clonked along the rock path, in matched cadence. Though they were stealthy, He knew of their presence.
Twice he had asked, had pleaded for his dearly beloved friends to watch and pray, but God in heaven had put them into a nice little slumber, because it wasn’t their time to watch. That would come later after His plan was finished and a new age of grace was ushered in. Then they would watch. Then they would be vigilant. Then they would pray, fight and faithfully stand by him. But not tonight. Not on this most important night in all human history.
Could it be that he had a plan just in case his father said, Okay, Son. I'll find another way? Was he ready to flee with all of his might- with every muscle in his tightly wound human body- at the first cry of alarm from his "watching" friends? Had he set them as human guards to watch out for the approaching soldiers or as spiritual guards to storm heaven's throne room with him, because HE knew that where two or three... or four are gathered in His name, there his Father would be?
We'll never know until we get to see His most beautiful face one day. But I believe He entered that garden with a HOPE, only in the end to say, "Not my will, Abba Father, not my way, but Yours."
The second he heard his treacherous "friend's" voice draw near, he rose with all purpose, all dignity, all humility and all humanity; took up that cruel, savage, brutal, inhumane cross and bore it to Golgotha's hill. And there, he made a way of salvation to begin. He had held out hope, but ultimately gave in, so that we, his lost people could have an eternal hope in him.
"For we are saved by HOPE..." Romans 8:24
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for..." Hebrews 11:1
"Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is." Jeremiah 17:7
*Quote from Pulpit Commentary
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NOTE: I hope you'll allow me to take a little poetic liberty as I ponder on some of the why's that swirl in my mind about Jesus' garden-side prayer meeting. He obviously was searching for another way, but ultimately chose Plan A, (By the way, there was never and will never be a Plan B, C.... to Z, ever!) as he knew from the beginning that He would. But I sure do appreciate that He allowed us a glimpse into his human side struggle. He was God and man. You know that man side had to give him troubles, but the God side kept him sinless and just, so that He could fulfill the law and become the perfect sacrifice. (This is also why the apostle John completely left out the garden prayer from his record. John was recording Jesus, the Christ, God with us. Not Jesus from lowly Galilee, the man with human feelings and doubts.)
He sacrificed so much that day on the cross. I'm sure we'll never understand what it cost that man, Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, to give up all he had ever known, ever had, to die the most cruel death, just to save our retched souls from an eternal damnation. But of the many things sacrificed that day, his hope for another way was one of them. All, so we might have a hope to endure through the ages.
Praise His Holy Name FOREVER!!
