[AI translation] Dear Brothers and Sisters! This part of the story of Jesus' final agony and suffering did not take place on Good Friday, but on the night before, but in fact it was here that he experienced all that happened that night and the following day. It was then that He fought the terrible struggle, the terrible death that awaited Him, so that in this bloody and bloody agony is contained the whole horror of Good Friday. With great humility, with silent reverence, let us also enter under the cool foliage of the Garden of Gethsemane, for this was the house of mourning where the Son of God, our Saviour the Lord, was tormented the night before His execution.To this day, the grove of hills that borders the town on the east is still called Gethsemane. Jesus walked up here with his disciples, singing praises. Jesus knew that the dreadful hour had come for which the Son of God had become man, for which the eternal Word had been made flesh in Him. He had left His disciples behind Him somewhere at the entrance to the garden, for where He was going, no one could go with Him. After this, loneliness fell upon Him with terrible power. He took three of His most trusted ones, Peter, James and John, and said to them, "Stay here and watch." (Mk 14,34b) How wonderful that the mighty Christ should seek the comfort and support of men - not that they could really help him, share in some way the terrible burden under which he began to tremble and agonise, but the knowledge of their presence, the warmth of their love, would have been so welcome in that hour! If only he could at least feel that those who loved him were there watching over him. Even the greatest suffering is easier to bear when someone is sitting there holding your hand. At least don't sleep when he is suffering, and when he is so infinitely sad to the end. And behold, He has not received even this slightest help, this spiritual support; while He is sweating blood in His soul in His agony, His own are asleep, the faithful, the elect are asleep. Peter, who only a few hours ago had so vehemently vowed to sacrifice his life for the Master, sleeps. Jerusalem sleeps, the eleven disciples, the world sleeps, only Jesus is awake - and Judas the traitor.
Alone - a terrible word indeed, but what it means in its true reality, no one knows as truly as Jesus himself. Abandoned by all, a single thread alone, he does all the work of redemption. He has no one to help him, not even as much as the dying can be helped by consolation. "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death," he laments. (v. 34b) The fire, the anguish of this suffering is within the soul, and I believe we humans will never in our lives penetrate the depths of this soul and understand what must have happened to it. Dostoyevsky, in The Half-Mind, masterfully describes the state of mind of a condemned man. He says that every other condemned man may have some small hope of survival - here, nothing. The only horror is that the end is here and every minute, every second brings him closer, there is no hope that something can happen to save his life. The terminally ill man still has hope: that he might be cured. A soldier fighting in the storm of war and siege can hope for his luck: that no bullet will hit him. The victim of a mine collapse can hope that the rescue mission will arrive in time, or the shipwrecked man can hope in his own skill and presence of mind. But there is nothing in the death house; no skill, no good friend, no good will, nothing: it is the end!
So it was in the garden of the Goat-maid. Jesus knew beforehand all that awaited Him, He told His disciples several times how much He would have to suffer, that He would have to die. But now the hour is here, and it is different. We all know that we will die one day, but it is different than when death actually enters our room. Jesus, too, in the trees of the garden, saw very clearly in his spirit, very accurately, all that was to follow. The events that would follow one after the other: the treacherous kiss, the arrest, the torture that would last all night, then the terrible whipping with the lead-tipped belt, then the hours of agony on the cross until the darkness of death finally descended. The knowledge of physical suffering alone was enough to grieve His Spirit unto death, let alone the suffering that the wickedness of the human heart would cause: the mockery, the desecration. He, the only Holy One, the True One, is counted among the evildoers. He, the only innocent, is cast out from mankind as cursed. He, the fountain and giver of all blessings, is betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, abandoned by the rest, mocked by His people, blasphemed by the gloaters, and He Who only ever loved. Is it any wonder, then, brethren, that human nature is terrified and terrified? Perhaps it is precisely his true humanity that makes a young, healthy man of barely thirty-three years of age rebel with every nerve against this terrible death, his heart is in agony: no one, nothing can help him but the Father's hand - and that is what is pushing him towards death!
Jesus foresees all this from the thicket of olive trees that grows over him. How could not that dear, pure, holy soul be sad until death! To such a horrible death! The true meaning of the agony is that, behold, He has indeed taken our sins upon Himself, and has indeed taken our sins to judgment. Why else should he die? We read in Luke's Gospel, "And when he was at his death, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground." (Lk 22,44) In this I see the proof that the Lord has indeed cast the sin of us all on Him. It is true that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Behold, so far has it come to pass that it is written of Him that He bore our sins in His own body upon the cross. So truly did He save us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us. This is what even the Son of God shrinks from. Not just the bitter cup that He must drink, not simply dying, His death - however embarrassing - but what that word means in its most terrible sense, 'damnation'. Jesus there on Calvary - let us note: he is damned! And He knew and accepted it all.
If only we could know and accept that it was really for us, in our place and because of us! If only our souls would once tremble in the realization of what He saved us from when He died for us! Would that we could see from this hellish suffering what a terrible thing sin can be, if its punishment be so terrible! Behold, so terrible is the sin that is in you and in me, whether we know it or not, whether we repent or not. So terrible is that sin which we are wont to remit, For man cannot be perfect! A little lie, a little hate that we don't even notice anymore because it's so much a part of our nature. For the face and the Spirit of Jesus, the Son of God, was moved in anguish by this knowledge of what we had to suffer for it! If we thought of this more often, would it not give us the strength to live with a purer soul, a holier life? We certainly would. Well, let us think of it often!
This is one of the sacrificial fruits of that terrible agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. But there is another. There are stages in the journey of our human life, when the soul within begins to tremble and agonize and ache, and in its pain it sweats blood and lashes at heaven. Think at such times, dear Brother, of the agony of Jesus! For it was a redemptive suffering, which means that all the miseries of our life have already been experienced by Jesus. So then you can bear it all as if that suffering came to you through His heart, and then you will see that it will be easier, and you will understand that suffering has as much a role in shaping our lives as joy. Then that suffering will share the mystery of God, because He has shared in the suffering of the world. What a wonderful thing it is that Jesus became like us in all this, to stand right beside us in our agonies and fears. In His presence, you know, misery does not pass away, but shines out and glows in the depths of our lives. Precious divine embracing arms surround our suffering, our anguish, and with gifts and blessings fill our trials. Sorrow is enriched, pain is matured, and the soul is strengthened not to want to unburden itself of the cross at any cost, but to be able to take it up and accept it from the hand of God.
But all this explains only in a small measure the agonizing prayer, dripping with blood and sweat, which arose from his soul: "Abba, Father! All things are possible for thee. (Mk 14,36) For in the history of martyrdom we know of men who went to the scaffold with their heads held high. Jesus was never weak either, he knew no fear. Sin, devil, sickness, death cried out to flee from Him, and He is now full of terror. He crawls like a worm in the dust of the earth, the blood of death drops like drops of blood from his contorted face into the dust, and something so terrible is reflected in his whole soul that it is almost inexplicable, almost incomprehensible. Yet I say: it is here that his true divinity is revealed. No one knew so truly what death is in its true essence as He does; what is in the cup which He must drink.
When I was a child, I often thought that perhaps it was not so difficult for Jesus to go through what He had to go through, because He was God... But I have since imagined that it was much harder than it would have been for anyone, because no one has ever held such a cup, and never will, because it was reserved for Him alone. Do you know what was in it that He had to empty, drop by drop, consciously, deliberately, to the very bottom? The destructive curse of God over sin, the eternal wrath of God, eternal death as the wages of sin, that is, damnation itself, hell. And, at the same time, the terrible temptation of power, which comes upon him from without, with the thought that he could, with one mighty gesture of his hand, reject all this horror, all this shame, and save himself from this death. Who on earth deserves such a sacrifice? Peter, who denies it, or the later churches, which in His name killed people by crusades and inquisitions? Or Christianity, which made a gold amulet of His cross to adorn women's necks? Or you, or I, who so often, over and over again, by our despicable behaviour, deny, mock, slap in the face, crucify Christ in spirit? Is it worth suffering for, dying for, going to hell for, being damned for?
O bitter is the cup! You could have thrown it away, denied it, refused it from you. What a temptation to get rid of all that awaits Him, and what a power to take on all that awaits Him! That is the real power of Jesus, that He remains, that He renounces this power, that He was able not to free Himself from this death. There, among the trees of the Garden of Gethsemane, He sees sin, He feels that the immense sin that covers this land is pouring down on Him like a filthy flood. His soul is lifted up under this burden. He sees hell, he sees it, he feels its curse, all its horrors, and his innocent, pure soul shudders at it. He alone knows how terrible is the punishment of sin, the sin we so lightly play with, so complacently tolerate in our hearts. Even a life burdened with sin can be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God, and He, burdened with the sins of the world, has come before divine justice in such a way that He now pays for it all. Well, then, is not the meaning of the bloody, sweaty supplication in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father!. Take this cup away from me", but that he may say, "Nevertheless, not my will be done, but thine" (v. 36), for then "the curse shall be a blessing there", and "the cross shall make reconciliation".
And one more thing: Jesus is no longer suffering there in the Garden of Gethsemane today, but He still calls us to watch over Him and pray with Him as He continues to redeem the world. Well then, would you like your child and any of your relatives to come to a living faith, to see a purer and truer life around you? Do you want His kingdom to spread and the glory of His name to be exalted and more effectually established on this earth? Listen to His words, pray for His guidance! Just don't sleep!
Jesus alone, abandoned, accomplished our redemption. The glorified Jesus now continues with us and through us the work of the life for which He died. Let us draw strength for him, then, from the Saviour's suffering and death, and let us pray:
O Christ, I have seen your suffering,
And my horror is not ended.
Oh, that thou hadst become a deadly sinew
For my sins, for my sins!
Holy sacrifice, do not let us cease
See thee on the cross!
Your holy blood washes away our sins,
The open sky before our souls!
(Canticle 343, verses 1 and 3)
Amen
Date.