SERMONS
AND REFLECTIONS
Jesus in the
Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-42)
Karen
Rollins
April 6, 1998
In
our society we seek comfort. We are urged to buy the biggest house,
the largest, safest car and even the cushiest toilet paper. We try to
reduce stress, banish pain and regulate our emotions. Of course none
of those things in itself is bad, however if we use those things to
avoid life we have a serious problem.
Jesus
doesn’t avoid life. In today’s scripture reading Jesus is facing
life head on and is paying the price for it. The Jesus we find in the
garden of Gethsemane isn’t a Jesus we hear much about. This Jesus is
distressed, agitated and deeply grieved. This is a very human Jesus in
a very uncomfortable position.
Let’s
look at the story. Jesus with Peter, James and John goes to the garden
of Gethsemane. He tells his disciples that he is upset "even to
death," asks them to wait for him as he goes on ahead and tells
them to stay awake.
Jesus
goes on, then falls to the ground and prays to His father. He asks to
be relieved from his suffering and yet makes clear that he will do
what his father demands. He returns to Peter, James and John and finds
them asleep. He is disappointed that they are not able to stay awake
even as he undergoes torments. This cycle repeats it self twice more.
Jesus declares that the "hour has come" and he has been
betrayed and they start to leave.
Why
is Jesus agitated, distressed and deeply grieved? It may be that he
knows that even as he prays Judas is betraying him, however I want to
examine another interpretation. Until the next passage where Judas
kisses Jesus sealing his fate, Jesus has a choice. He can choose to
flee and live a life of relative comfort or he can be obedient to his
father and proceed on the path that has been laid out for him.
Jesus
is struggling with his Call. How often have spoken with students going
through much the same torments? God is telling them over and over to
abandon their comfortable settled lives and heed a call to the
ministry. For our students the Call will not lead to a tortured death
on a cross (at least we hope it won’t) so how much harder must it
have been for Jesus to heed his calling?
As
Jesus berates his disciples for failing to remain awake he says
"the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Could it be
that Jesus sees himself in their failure to be obedient? Jesus is
human. As he faces his future could it be that his spirit was willing
but his flesh was weak?
As
he prays in the garden of Gethsemane, he makes a plea to God to
deliver him from his suffering. He knows God has the power to do all
things and asks God to use that power to save him from the trials that
are about to befall him. He is agitated because he knows that while as
a human he has a choice, he is being called to obedience.
A struggling
Jesus, a human Jesus, a Jesus that teaches us to face life head on and
not to avoid being uncomfortable.
