Agony in the Garden, not on cross

THE EDITOR: With reference to the article in the Newsday of Wednesday March 24, entitled “Jesus did not want to die on the Cross” by George Alleyne I wish to make the following observations. Firstly, in order to understand the “agony in the garden” one must be acquainted with the “person” of Christ. In the person of Christ, two natures, human and divine, are united. Theologians call this “hypostatic union” and the scriptural support is: For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9 KJV. See also Matt 1:23; John 1:1, 20:28; Titus 1:3; Heb 1:8). In layman’s term we say, He was “one hundred percent God and also one hundred percent man.”

Thus, when Christ prayed “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” he prayed that he might avoid the “agony” that he was going through in the garden of Gethsemane, not the crucifixion. He knew all along that he was going to die and trusted that God would raise him up (Matthew 16:20-25 Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:7). This prayer intimates no more than that he was really and truly man, and as such, he could not help but be averse to pain and suffering. This is the first and simple act of a man’s will — to get away from anything which we sense to be grievous to us, and to desire the prevention and removal of it. Very deeply ingrained in the nature of man is this “law of self-preservation” and it rules there until it is replaced by some other law. Therefore, in praying like this, Jesus was not expressing a wish to be spared of death, but merely admitting a human reluctance to suffer. In so doing, he shows us that he was taken from among men (Hebrews 5:1), was touched with the feeling of our infirmities (4:15), and tempted as we are; yet without sin.

The sufferings here in the Garden resulted from his encounter with the “power of darkness” (Luke 22:53 Psalm 22: 12-14; John 14:30,31) and the placing of the iniquity of the world upon him by the Father (Isaiah 53:1-12). It was not any bodily pain or torment that he was in, since nothing had yet occurred to hurt him physically, but emotionally and spiritually; from within he was deeply troubled (John 11: 33). The words here in the original Greek are very emphatic; he began (lupeisthai kai ademunein) to be sorrowful, and in a consternation. Matthew Henry puts it this way: “It was sorrow in the highest degree, even unto death; it was a killing sorrow, such sorrow as no mortal man could bear and live. He was ready to die for grief; they were sorrows of death. The duration of it it will continue even unto death. ‘My soul will be sorrowful as long as it is in this body; I see no outlet but death.’ He now began to be sorrowful, and never ceased to be so till he said, ‘It is finished’ that grief is now finished, which began in the garden.”

It is true that many martyrs have suffered for their faith in Christ and have entertained the greatest torments, and the most terrible deaths, but this has been without any “sorrow and consternation.” The weight of the sins of the whole world were not placed upon them. Instead they have called their prisons their “delectable orchards,” and the fiery flames “a bed of roses,” all owing to the comfort and divine favour that Christ himself gave them in their hour of trial. When Christ cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?,” he was not protesting “needless suffering” as Mr Alleyne claims. He, himself said it was “needful” after his resurrection: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24;25,25,26 KJV). It was at this moment that the Holy and Righteous Father judged our sins in Christ by turning away from him. Our Lord, who had no sin of his own, and had known only perfect communion with the Father, was for the first time separated from Him. In this horrible moment, he was also assailed by Satan and the hosts of hell as foretold in the messianic Psalm 22.

SYLVAN JAMES
Debe