(This passage is also referenced in Mark 14:53-15:5, Luke 22:54-23:17 and John 18:12-37)

Often, as we read the Bible, we read it with the benefit of hindsight.  We know what happens and how it ends, and it can sometimes be harder to put ourselves in the positions of the characters involved.  In this instance, however, it is different.  Jesus also knows what must and will happen to him.  This doesn’t make it any easier, though.

‘Fatalism’ is to have a submissive attitude to events, as you believe they’re predetermined.  It’s a passive acceptance.  Jesus never succumbed to this.  Being fully God and one with his Father, he knew what had to happen.  However, being fully human, he felt the fear, the pain and the rejection.  These two sides act in tension and cause great personal anguish, the scale of which is impossible for us to comprehend.

I’m sure we’ve all been in situations which are extremely difficult and unsettling, situations where we know that something very difficult or uncomfortable is going to happen, but we need to go through with it, or even facilitate it happening.  What do we do in such situations?  There’s no better example than to look at Jesus’ actions.  He was tormented, but went to his Father in prayer.  Then he did it again.  Then again.  Christ’s model of persistent prayer is one we can all follow.  His prayer time is over when Judas arrives with a large mob.  Strengthened, Jesus commands Judas to “do what you came for”.  As they arrested him, Jesus was still able to point out how ludicrous the situation was: that he’d sat every day in the temple where they could have easily arrested him peacefully, but instead came as an armed mob.  He notes how this is a fulfilment of the scriptures.

This time in Gethsemane seems to be Jesus’ greatest clash between being fully God and fully human, and he seems to be aware of this, even to the point where he says that he could “call on his Father for more than twelve legions of angels”, but he understands that the scriptures must be fulfilled through him.  Through his personal suffering and anguish, he identifies with our own struggles.  He’s been through and seen it all himself.  There’s therefore no limit to the depth of our relationship with him.  What a friend to have!

Thank you Jesus that you endured suffering and death to bring me to you.  I pray that I never lose my gratitude for this.  Show me where I can use my personal trials and suffering to help others and to point them to you.  Amen