“SCENES OF HIS SUFFERING: THE GARDEN”
Midweek Lenten Worship II
February 24, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples
across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which He and His
disciples entered.
John 18:1 (ESV)
The sun has set. The Last Supper is over. It is late in the evening
when Jesus, accompanied by the eleven, leaves the upper room and makes
His way through the crowded narrow streets toward the garden. He
passes the Jewish burial ground, heading toward a deep ravine, and
crosses a narrow wooden bridge that spans the brook called Kidron.
Following Him is His timid little flock, clinging fearfully to their
Good Shepherd who is about to lay down His life for His sheep. They
arrive at the place called Gethsemane, which literally means “olive
press.” It apparently was a grove of olive trees that also had the
equipment necessary for making olive oil. The owner of this garden is
unknown to us, but the fact that Jesus and His disciples often met
there leads some people to believe that it must have been owned by a
friend or follower of the Lord. Gethsemane was a peaceful place--a
place conducive to prayer and meditation.
It’s no accident or coincidence that such an important part of our
Lord’s Passion should take place in a garden. If you will recall,
this whole mess of human sin, which Jesus suffered and died to defeat,
began in a garden. And so throughout this narrative we see the stark
differences between these two gardens: The garden of Eden is where
“the first . . . Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45 NIV) faced the tempter and
was overcome; the garden of Gethsemane is where Christ, (who Scripture
calls “the Last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45 NIV), faced the tempter and
overcame. The garden of Eden is where Adam and Eve hid from God among
the trees; the garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus sought out His
Father in prayer. The garden of Eden is where God first uttered His
promise to send a Savior--a Descendant of the woman--to undo the
damage that she and her husband had done by sinning; the garden of
Gethsemane is where many of God’s promises were fulfilled in His
Anointed One. The garden of Eden is where man tried to take the place
of God and determine for himself what is right and what is wrong; the
garden of Gethsemane is where God took the place of man and bore his
sin, righting all wrongs. The garden of Eden is where man began his
life of sin; the garden of Gethsemane is where Christ begins to suffer
for man’s sin.
What is Gethsemane to Jesus? First of all, it is a place of
temptation. You know, He didn’t have to go through with all of this.
At any time during this sad drama He could have perked up and said,
“Sorry, folks! I’m not gonna do it!” We can sense the temptation
that, according to His human nature, was every bit as real as the
temptations that you and I face. We hear Him pleading with His
Father, the perfect Judge, three times to find some other way to make
atonement for sin. But there was no other way. Sin had to be paid
for by the shedding of innocent blood--the innocent blood of the
perfect Lamb of God. That and that alone could take away the sin of
the world. Judas Iscariot wasn’t the worst enemy that Jesus faced at
Gethsemane. The devil was there too, attacking the Last Adam just as
he had attacked the first Adam so successfully in the other garden.
If only he could get Jesus to back out on the divine plan, he would
win. Then there would be no atonement for sin, no forgiveness, no
heaven, no hope for anyone. The turning point comes in a simple
statement uttered by Jesus as He prayed to His Father--a statement
that we rattle off every time that we gather for worship--a statement
that we probably ought to pay a lot more attention to and take to
heart. That statement is: “Thy will be done” (John 26 41 KJV).
Because Jesus was committed to the good and gracious will of God, you
and I are saved and Satan is defeated.
Gethsemane for Jesus is also the beginning of His greatest anguish.
“My soul is sorrowful,” He says, “even to death” (Matthew 26:38). You
know, Jesus’ greatest anguish was not physical. Lots of people,
before and after Jesus’ time, were crucified. Jesus hung the cross
for somewhere between three and six hours before He died.
Comparatively speaking, that wasn’t a very long time. The average
duration for a crucifixion was about four days. That’s how long it
usually took for a crucified man to die. What made Jesus’ suffering
so much worse than anyone else’s was that He--the only One who was
totally innocent--was bearing the burden of our sin. All of God’s
righteous anger toward the sin of all humanity--all the sins that had
been committed and all that would be committed until the end of
time--was directed toward Him. This is the mystery of the Gospel,
that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we
might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). His
greatest anguish begins right here in the garden. It’s payday for all
sin, and He bears the burden alone.
And what is the significance of Gethsemane for the disciples? For
the disciples Gethsemane on this particular night was the place where
they betrayed their best intentions. These men had every intention of
remaining loyal to their Master. Peter even went so far as to say
that he would never deny his Lord, even if it meant dying with Him.
And lest we place all of the blame on Peter, the Scriptures expressly
tell us that “all the disciples said the same” (Matthew 26:35). We
say it too. We said it when we knelt before the Lord’s altar on our
confirmation day. We said it every time that we’ve joined a Christian
congregation. In a sense, we said it just a few minutes ago when we
confessed our faith. We say it with all the boldness of Peter and the
rest. But when things got ugly in the garden, the disciples, just
like us, gave a new and radically different interpretation to the old
saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” They got
going, alright. They ran for their lives and left their Master to
face His captors alone.
So for the disciples of Jesus Gethsemane was a scattering place.
Earlier that evening Jesus had reminded them of Zechariah’s prophecy:
“Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zechariah
13:7). There is a strange irony in the way in which God fulfilled
this prophecy, because it was not only fulfilled when the disciples
ran away as Jesus was arrested; it has been and continues to be
fulfilled ever since. Because the Shepherd has been struck by God’s
judgment against sin, the sheep of His flock scatter to all corners of
the world, sharing the Good News of His grace and forgiveness.
As faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we also scatter--not
in fear, to cover our own skin, but with boldness, to proclaim His
redeeming love. He endured the agonies of the garden and the horrors
of the cross for you and for me and for every sinner. He continues
His work (that work now being the proclamation of forgiveness and New
Life through His death and resurrection) through us--in the words that
we speak and in the acts of service that we perform for others. In
this way He is glorified in us, despite all of our faults and
failings, and His power over our selfishness and sin is demonstrated
to the whole world.
Amen.
May the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
making us kings and priests before His God and Father, lead you to a
life of repentance and trust. May He also be glorified in the lives
of you, His people. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Amen.