“The ‘Agony’ of Jesus in the Garden…”

Mark 8:34 – “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself (garden work), and take up his cross, and follow me.” Without Gethsemane, there’s no Golgotha. The garden must precede the cross and is the first work in following Jesus.

Tension in Mark’s Gospel 1:45 (b/c of growing reputation…) Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. Loneliness among vast crowds.

The Gethsemane of Jesus (32-36) Psychological anguish before his physical suffering (or, as part of) Abba – intimate address, met by dreadful silence of Heaven “His prayer does not try to run counter to the Father’s purpose but explores the limits of the purpose without trying to burst its bounds.” Might there be another way? Cup represents God’s wrathful judgment or refer to Jesus’ death and suffering Instead of being delivered from death, he’ll be delivered through death and glorified by the resurrection He will not slip away in darkness or resort to violence

The Gethsemane of the Disciples (37-42) Emphasis falls on his return to disciples, not his return to prayer Gregoreite – stronger than keep awake/watch J slept through their crisis, which was no crisis, now they sleep through his very real crisis Don’t know what to say – like transfiguration. Were dumb in the face of Jesus’s glory and now are numb in the face of his anguish “Only prayer enables one to answer the call. The disciples slept instead of praying; and when they finally rise, they go off in every direction but the one that Jesus leads, trying to save their own lives.”

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce