Holy Week - Follow the Final Steps of JesusSample

Because He's human he sympathizes. Because He's God he saves...

Thursday:

After sharing a final meal with his disciples, Jesus left the upper room where they celebrated Passover and made the familiar journey through the dark countryside to the Mount of Olives. He led his followers to a garden of olive trees called Gethsemane, situated at the bottom of the mount. There, Jesus uttered some of the most desperate, human prayers we can imagine.

The sorrow recorded in them is felt, even these thousands of years later. “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” (Matt. 26:39)

In this moment, we get to see the wonder of God made man. Jesus lived this life. He experienced sorrow, disappointment, temptation, pain, suffering, longing, and restlessness. In the garden, we see it all.

But we must be careful to remember, Jesus is not like us. We had our chance in the garden, our moment to submit or rebel. And through Adam and Eve, humanity chose itself over God. Jesus, though he was God, humbled himself before God. This second Adam in a different garden walked the road of humanity but never compromised his deity.

Jesus’s tears in the middle of the night, his anguish alone in the garden, reminds us that there is one who understands the depth of our humanity. But while he gets us, he is not like us. And that’s good news. Because he is human he sympathizes. Because he is God, he saves.