Thinking in the Garden...

Recently, i've found myself meditating on Jesus in Gethsemane and the events from there to the crucifixion (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46).

Often, we put the focus on Jesus' sacrifice from His and our perspective. But for some reason my mind has been constantly thinking about the Father's perspective.

God has been merciful and gracious to me in that He has allowed me to have a son of my own. In doing this, I've seen things a lot differently than I did before I was a father myself.



Quite often I see my attempts at discipline, correction and guidance towards my own son, and have had to pause and realise that all the things that I say and do to and for my son, God has been saying and doing towards me.

Quite often i'll say things like, 'why didn't you listen to me. If you'd listen to me you wouldn't have gotten hurt', then I think, that's exactly what God is saying to me.

So God is teaching me about His love and care towards me while I attempt to love and care for my own son.

As God reveals more and more of this aspect of Himself to me I started to think what must've been the Father's perspective on Jesus' sacrifice.

I do believe that we really don't think about it very often. We usually just tend to focus on what Jesus went through on our behalf. And although that's not necessarily a bad thing, I think we should often consider the Father's role in His Son's sacrifice.

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I once heard, what was supposed to be, an analogy of the crucifixion from both the Father's and the Son's perspective.

It went something like... A Father and Son maintain a train line. There's a problem on the tracks and there is a train filled with people oblivious to the fact that there is a problem on the tracks which will end up killing all of them.

The Father and Son sees this and realise that there is nothing they can do from where they are. Someone has to go to the tracks and manually fix it in order to save the train load of people.

The first problem is that because it has to be done manually, the person that goes will surely die. They will get run over by the train.

The second problem is that someone has to also stay behind to guide the other and make sure whatever the other does manually actually fixes the problem.

The Son agrees to go, and although the Father loves the Son, not taking this decision lightly, agrees for the Son to go.

The Son goes, fixes the track, gets run over by the train and dies. The Son sacrificed His life to save the train load of people.

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Now, when I first heard this analogy I thought it was excellent (keeping in mind this was a number of years ago). Now that i'm a bit more mature in the faith, I can see all sorts of problems with this analogy.

I'll only focus on one issue though, and it's the fact that the Son wasn't run over by an outside force (the train), He was "run over" by the Father Himself... knowingly.

I think we miss that quite often.

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In Gethsemane, we see Jesus praying to the Father and asking if it was any way possible that the cup could be passed from Him. The bible records that Jesus was in agony. So much so that we was starting to sweat blood, which is a medical condition that takes place when people are under intense pressure or stress. Jesus tells His disciples that His soul is sorrowful unto death.

We often assume that Jesus is talking about having to carry the sins of the world and dying for sinners. That this burden was so heavy and this is why He was so stressed.

I do believe that it does play a part, but I don't think that was the main issue here.

The main issue, I believe, is that Jesus would have to take the full force of the Father's wrath upon Himself.

It's this that caused Him the most pain, sorrow, and stress.

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The bible tells us that there is one God who exists in 3 "persons". The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God. The bible tells us that they have always been in relationship with each other, and that they always act in one accord.

The Father loves the Son, and has always done so.

So, the main issue that Jesus faced, was the wrath/punishment from the Father that loves Him.

This is what Jesus is actually talking about in Gethsemane.

When He mentions the cup, this is the cup of the Father's wrath. This is the cup that the Father has given the Son to drink.

As I consider this, I think of my son. Although he's only a small child, I find it extremely hard to imagine what it would be like for him, me punishing him for something he hasn't done.

Obviously, this would only be the case if Jesus didn't know what was going to happen, but we know from the old testament that this was planned all the way from the beginning in Genesis.

So Jesus willingly offered up Himself to take the wrath from the Father.

But just because someone willingly does something doesn't mean that they aren't a bit apprehensive. Especially when they are willingly going to experience something that they've never experienced before.

This is where Gethsemane comes in.

Jesus is apprehensive. He very purpose for entering creation was for what was about to take place. All of his mortal life was leading up to this point. At the same time, He is full of sorrow, grief, and stress because He has to receive the fury, and wrath of His Father who loves Him.

Imagine, loving someone so much, but still having to pour out all of your anger on them?

The bible tells us that Jesus was in agony as He was just about to drink from the cup the Father prepared, but what about the Father.

The Father must have also been in agony at having to pour out His wrath on His Son. To see His Son suffering at His own hands must've been extremely hard. He couldn't even ease up even a little as Jesus had to take the full force of the Father's wrath in our place in order for our sins to be paid.

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Again, now that I'm a father, it hurts to see my son in pain when he isn't at fault. Worse if something i've done has accidentally caused him pain. All I want to do is run to him, hold him tightly, and try and soothe him.

But the Father couldn't do that. Jesus had to fully bear our sins with no relief.

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To think, that my sins were so absolutely vile, that not only did an innocent man have to suffer and die, but that the Father had to mercilessly pour out His wrath against the innocent Son whom He loves so much.

Again, it might be because I have a son myself. A child whom I love. A child whom just the thought of anything happening to him really bothers me. I know that God's love is infinitely greater than mine and so it's hard for my to even fathom the emotions that the Father would've had in not sparing His Son on our behalf.

To punish the innocent in place of the guilty. To not spare the blameless for those who are to blame. To pour our anger and wrath upon your own Son, for the benefit of those who aren't related.

It's almost hard to grasp on an emotional level.

Perhaps this is why we rarely look at it from the Father's perspective.

Just a thought...

Maranatha