Against that day

I’ve often wondered why Jesus agonized so in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had known all along this was coming, this was why he was here. He’d frequently said things to his followers about “while I’m here,” “when I’m gone,” “one of you will betray me” and so on. He had tried to prepare them.   At one point he even said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed….” (Luke 9:22). He knew what he was in store for. Yet the night of his arrest, he was praying, pleading with God, saying “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) Luke 22:44 goes even further describing the torment Jesus was experiencing: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Imagine praying so passionately you sweat blood. He was begging God to find another way, a different answer. What was he so afraid of that he asked God to save him from what was coming? We’ve been taught—and it makes some sense—that it was the betrayal, torture, and crucifixion.  But he already knew that was coming. Maybe that wasn’t the complete cause of his torment. Maybe it was because He was paying the price for sin; He would become sin (2Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin…”), our sin, which meant he faced the ultimate death: separation from God. He would be truly human, condemned and separated from God. How horrible for Him who had never known what it was like to not be in the presence of God. We’ve only had the slightest taste of the closeness Jesus and the Father shared when we have those precious moments where we feel God’s presence so strongly we burst into tears of joy. Jesus lived it his whole life. He had never been separated from God. He was there at creation and throughout human history.

But that was the only way to redeem humans. He had to pay the price of sin. His cry of Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" was the cry of abandonment. The price for humanity’s sin was to accept their penalty, separation from God. He was going to come face to face with our hell, with what we were condemned to because of our sin. He was going to become our sin for us. He would be more alone than he’d ever experienced. He’d be separated from the Father. No wonder he pleads with God, Isn’t there another way? “Yet not my will but yours be done.” He obeyed. As horrifying as it was, to become sin, he knew that on the other side of whatever this separation was, Father would be there, and they would be one again. He submitted to paying the price of sin—separation from God—to buy the human race back from satan.

I often fear when it comes down to the harsh truth and I face whatever makes me so afraid that I might not come out the other side, I must choose to trust God. “I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) That’s what Jesus did in Gethsemane. From the Garden prayer on, Jesus knew and trusted God would be on the other side of it all. He loved us enough to pay the price for sin.