Suffering Savior: Mark 14.32-50
(I presented this at our Good Friday Service at Heritage Presbyterian Church on 19 April 2019. The audio file is here)
Suffering
Savior
Jesus,
the cool-as-a-cucumber, emotionless, impervious Savior; that’s the sense many people
have of him. But look at these verses. Here is Jesus, “the eternal Son of God,” who
“became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct
natures, and one person, forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 21) in the
Garden of Gethsemene, and he is “… greatly distressed and troubled...very sorrowful, even to death” and so forth.
As we delve into this more fully, we will see that our Lord suffered
psychologically, somatically, spiritually, and socially.
“Greatly distressed and troubled” (33)
– The two Greek words used here are intense. Max Zerwick, S.J., translates them
this way, “he was seized by horror and
distress” (“A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament,” 5th
ed., p.156). This is not language used of one who is depleted of all emotion.
Here is our Lord Jesus, overcome with the darkness before him, the terror of
what he was about to enter into. Psychological suffering. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah
53.4a).
“Very
sorrowful, even to death” (34) – This is a deep sadness, not something
light or surface level. You could even say he expressed a dark depression; the
kind that makes one feel like death itself has closed its black arms around the
sufferer. This was the kind of language used by a young woman I sat with once
who was swallowed up in heavy despair, “I’m so sad, death would be far better
than this!” and then she went on to attempt suicide. Psychological suffering. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows” (Isaiah 53.4a).
“He
fell on the ground” (35) – The weight of the darkness and distress
crumpled him to the ground. He didn’t lie down gently; he fell under the
pressure. Our Lord is burdened to the breaking point! Maybe you have been here
before where the grief, or fear, or dreadfulness of a situation has brought you
to your knees or flat onto your face because you could no longer stand up
straight under it all. Where your body gives out on you. That’s exactly the
scene in this passage! Somatic suffering! Our Lord suffered psychologically and
somatically. “Surely he has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53.4a).
“Remove
this cup from me” (35b-36) – “Find
another way, if at all possible!” There is an almost desperate situation here.
The Son who always does what the Father desires, who has always known the Father's pleasure, finds himself faced with the Father's displeasure and anger for the first time and is teetering on the brink
looking into the dark chasm of disobedience! The temptation is real, raw, and rife!
Though our Savior doesn’t give way to the temptation, see here that he is
suffering spiritually! Our Lord suffered psychologically, somatically, and
spiritually! “Surely he has borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God,
and afflicted” (Isaiah 53.4).
Kissed
by the betrayer (41b-42, 45) – Social
suffering! Ratted out by one he loved and treated as a rapscallion and rogue by
society! Our Lord suffered psychologically, somatically, spiritually and
socially! “He was despised and rejected
by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men
hide their faces he was despised, and we
esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53.3).
What you see here in the garden continues on to Calvary where our Lord suffered on the cross somatically; he suffered at the cross socially as he was taunted by all those around him; but he also suffered psychologically and spiritually, crying out "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!"
Jesus
was willing to go to these densely dark depths to rescue his people from their doom!
You may have heard of the French fire brigade chaplain, Fr. Fournier. While the
cathedral of Notre Dame burned last week, he risked life and limb to rescue
relics of great value to him, plunging into the smoke-saturated, blazing-hot cathedral.
In a similar, but greater way, our Lord leapt into the dusky, suffocating abyss
of our psychological, somatic, spiritual and social suffering to rescue his
people, “For even the Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark
10.45). And he dove into the inky-black places of our shadowlands to redeem and
remediate us psychologically, somatically, spiritually, and socially! “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53.5).
(Picture accessed at Shade Release: Nether Forest on 19 April 2019)
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