When was the last time you really contemplated what Jesus suffered at the cross?
If you are like me, I don’t particularly like to think too much about it. I mean, He suffered in my place! It isn’t a pleasant thought!
Tomorrow marks the beginning of Lent, a time of year when we are encouraged to give up something that is precious to us. This is done to help us better appreciate just how much Jesus gave up for us, but during this particular Lenten season, I would like to challenge you to take Lent a step farther. I challenge you to spent time in meditation, contemplating just how deeply Jesus suffered for each of us!
Why?
Because the lessons we can learn from Jesus’ suffering are lessons that will work to reinforce our faith and draw us closer to God!
This will be the theme of the Saturday lessons throughout this Lenten series. Today we begin this series by looking at Jesus’ suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane …
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE
We begin our walk down the path of Jesus’ suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. At this point in the story, Jesus hasn’t even begun to experience the physical torment of His arrest, His mock trial, the walk to Calvary, or the of the outrageous brutality cross. At this point, Jesus is free, He’s in a peaceful place, and He’s surrounded by His closest friends. But Jesus knows what is ahead of Him. The Bible records that “…He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.'”. (Matt 26:37-38 NKJV)
Jesus has known all of His life that the next few hours would happen. He even told His disciples that He would die and raise to life again after three days (See Mark 8:31). But as the hour draws near, the reality of what He must go through weighs heavily upon the shoulders of our Lord and Savior, to the point that the Bible tells us: “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44 NKJV)
Medical literature demonstrates that the sweating of blood is a physical reality. It is known as “hematidrosis”, and though rare, it occurs under conditions of great emotional distress. The tiny blood vessels in the sweat glands rupture, and the blood then mixes with the sweat. Those who experience it are usually near death. [1] The fact that Jesus’ sweat was mingled with blood is, in itself, an indication of His great anguish. Is it any wonder that an angel needed to come and strengthen Him (See Luke 22:43)?
There are three important lessons to be learned from Jesus’ suffering in the garden. First of all, after surrounding Himself with His closest friends, He went off by Himself to pray: “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.'” (Matt 26:36-37 NKJV).
We’ve all experienced moments when we just don’t want to be alone. We need emotional support, and we look to our close friends or loved ones to give it to us. We gather a select few and cling to them!
And this is what Jesus did. But it isn’t ALL that He did. He left them all and went deeper into the garden to pray: “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed …” (Matt 26:39 NKJV).
When we are overcome with sorrow or fear or grief, it is okay to gather our support network around us. But we shouldn’t lean on them! Instead, we should go to our Heavenly Father in prayer!
Why?
Our friends and family may care about us, but they are human. They may not know how to help. Even Jesus’ closest friends fell asleep when Jesus needed them the most: “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping” (Matt 26:40 NKJV)
But God is always there!
The second important lesson we can learn comes from Jesus’ prayer itself.
I don’t know about you, but my prayer in the midst of trials usually goes something like this: “Lord, make it go away!”
You know what I mean! When we are in financial straits, we pray for money. When faced with illness, we pray for healing. When our children misbehave, we pray that they will behave again! Lord, make it go away!
But this wasn’t Jesus’ prayer. Oh, I doubt He would have minded if God had suddenly come up with another way: “if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me …” But it is the end of His prayer that teaches us the important lesson: “…nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matt 26:39 NKJV)
At the beginning of the worst suffering known to mankind, Jesus basically says, “If it’s the way it has to be, I submit to Your will!”
Friends, the next time we are facing trials, let’s remember Jesus’ prayer at the Garden, and let our prayer also be: “Lord, I’d like it if you’d take the trouble away, but if this is not Your will, then I accept it with grace. You will give me the strength to get through!”
The last, and perhaps most important lesson to be learned from Jesus’ Garden experience is just this: Jesus didn’t have to be in that garden that night! He knew something was afoot. He could have fled to the wilderness!
But He didn’t. Instead He strengthened Himself in the Lord and then went out to meet the men who would arrest Him.
There comes a moment when temptation and problems cannot be avoided, and we shouldn’t even try. The best thing to do is to remember Jesus’ example in the garden: Strengthen ourselves in prayer, and then meet the trouble head on, ever knowing that God will give us the strength to carry on!
Friends, the next time we are facing trials, let’s remember that although it’s good to encircle ourselves with our support systems, we must not forget that we should only lean upon God! And instead of trying to pray away our trails or run from them, let’s submit to God’s will, ever knowing that what He is allowing us to go through is NOT bigger than His ability to help us through. All we have to do is lean on Him! Only then can we face our problems and temptations head on and victorious!
Please join us next week for THE SUFFERING OF JESUS, Part 2: The Arrest.
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
[1] http://www.apologeticspress.com/articles/2223
(To access the entire “The Sufferings of Jesus: A Lenten Series” mini-series, please click here.)