As we prepare our hearts for Good Friday and Easter, I want to reshare a blog post from last year. It was based on the Moms Take Ten episode 57, “Kneeling with Jesus in the Garden.” You can listen here: https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/revisiting-jesus-in-the-garden
I have been reflecting on the hours leading up to Jesus’ arrest. In the dark of night, he knelt before God, pleading for a different way, a new plan of redemption. It is perhaps the most powerful example to all of us of the humanity and humility of Christ.
The Scriptures say that upon entering the garden in the company of all the disciples, Jesus asked Peter, James and John to accompany him a little further in. There, in that more intimate group, Jesus “began to be greatly distressed and troubled.” (Mk. 14:33). This was different from how he had been during the Passover meal or on the walk over. It is as though all the thoughts and emotions that he had been keeping at bay finally bubbled over. Moment by moment of his ministry years, Jesus had been focused on the task at hand, speaking to the person in front of him, responding to the need that presented itself to him. Through all of that, he knew his ultimate purpose. He mentioned it to his disciples multiple times, though they did not understand. Each time he brought it up, it was in a way that seemed to be matter of fact, simply informational. Now, though, the time had actually come, and with his closest friends at hand, he felt safe enough to reveal the true struggle he had regarding what was to come. “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death,” Jesus told the three men. (Matt 26:38). What a fitting description considering he was indeed preparing himself to face death.
The Gospel of Luke provides the most vivid description of the emotional anguish that Jesus was experiencing in the garden. Beginning in verse 41 of chapter 22 it says, “And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Without reservation, Christ laid himself bare before God the Father, knowing that it was in his presence that he was the safest. He did not need to paste on a smile or pretend as though everything was alright. He could kneel on the cold, hard ground of the garden in humility and submission, but also in honesty. He did not want to experience what was before him–brutal torture, as well as the spiritual wrenching that would take him from his Father. He who had known no sin would become sin, the one who was the definition of pure and holy would become as filthy rags.So he pleaded, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me!” (Luke 22:42)
I have never faced what Christ faced nor have I ever been in such agony while praying that sweat covered my face. And I thank God for that. I have, however, prayed similar prayers. “Lord, I don’t know if I can do this any more. It is too hard.” “Lord, this isn’t what I signed up for. There must be a different way.” “Lord, I am not strong enough to endure this. Please make it stop.”
Those prayers are whispered as I sit surrounded by tantruming children all clamoring for my attention. Those prayers are forced out through gritted teeth as my heart races and fist clench in frustration after I yelled at my kids yet again. Those prayers are cried with tears running down my face as I hide in my bedroom, unable to face the responsibilities outside the door.
Motherhood is hard. Beautiful, yes, but so very hard. Motherhood stretches and challenges me, and reveals the depth of my sinfulness moment by moment.
Christ’s agony in the garden and our struggle with motherhood both find their roots in a different garden, the Garden of Eden. It was there that sin first entered the perfect world that God had created. After Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, the Lord informed them of the consequences of their action. He spoke first to the serpent, the deceiver, who thought he had succeeded in ruining God’s plan. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring,” God said. “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen 3. 15). Jesus was that promised offspring and he knelt on the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane preparing himself to bruise the head of the serpent, knowing that his heel would be bruised in the process.
To the woman, God spoke these words, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” It is true, from what I have heard of those who have gone through it, that childbirth itself can be painful. The implications of God’s words go beyond that to the pain of the entirety of motherhood. Tim Challies put it like this, “it points to the entire process from conception to birth and even to the raising of children; it points to motherhood more than it points merely to childbirth. All of these were meant by God to be free from pain. It would be a joy to get pregnant, it would be a joy to be pregnant, it would be a joy to give birth, it would be a joy to raise children. There may be joy in all of those things still, but there is also pain. There is pain and trouble in conception as so many couples testify; there is pain and danger in pregnancy; there is pain and danger in giving birth; and there is pain in raising children. After sin’s entrance into the world, all of these good things would now be attended by physical, mental, emotional, even spiritual pain.” (https://www.challies.com/articles/pain-in-childbearing/ Accessed 3/25/2023)
This reality that we as women experience actually ties in to the curse given to the serpent for, ever since Eve first conceived, there has been enmity between our sons and daughters and him. Gloria Furman speaks of this in her book Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full. “When a baby cries out in the middle of the night…we mothers often feel inconvenienced…But those tears–bleating, frustrated, desperate, and everything in between—are announcing so much more than what your baby wants or needs. They are cries that silence the Enemy, who hates God, hates God’s creation, and hates the gift of life itself. Your helpless baby’s tears are tearing the tauntings of the Devil asunder.” Satan does not want our children to live, or to grow in the knowledge and love of God. He does not want us to raise children who will love the Lord. He does not want us to devote our lives to building a home that honors the Lord or a family that serves the Lord. Satan hates households that bring themselves under the banner of the Lord.
This struggle, this battle, this living outside of the Garden of Eden has our prayers mingling with Jesus’ in the Garden of Gethsemane, pleading with the Lord for a different way, a better way, an easier way. If our prayers stop there, and we give up, then the enemy would win. Jesus’ prayer leads us to victory when he adds, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). He takes his struggle, his desire for something different, and he submits it all to the will of the Father. Luke tells us that he did not do this alone but that an angel of the Lord came to strengthen him.
How desperately we need the Lord to come and strengthen us to be the mothers he has called us to be.
Christ’s willingness to submit to the will of the Father resulted in the cancellation of debt for all who have sinned for all time, breaking the curse of sin and providing a way for all to have eternal life if we would but believe.
Our willingness to submit to the will of the Father results in God’s kingdom being advanced in our hearts and our homes, as we discussed in the episode Beauty in the Ordinary. Remember the prayer that Kimberly Taylor read to us from Every Moment Holy by Douglas Kaine McKelvey? It concluded with these beautiful lines: “Open my eyes that I might see this act for what it is from the fixed vantage of eternity, O Lord—How the changing of a diaper might sit upstream the changing of a heart; how the changing of a heart might sit upstream the changing of the world.”
When we join with Christ in submitting to God, we join with him in bruising the head of the serpent, and he empowers us to do so. He has not let us alone. Psalm 139, which we spoke about last week, shows us how we are in the presence of God and his hand is upon us strengthening, comforting and guiding us. As he was about to ascend to Heaven, Jesus told his followers that he had been given all authority in Heaven and on earth and that he would be with them always, meaning that his power would also be with us.
So mamas, as you find yourself on your knees in your own garden, pleading with the Lord for yourself and for your family, be honest with him and humble before him, trusting that his way is good. Let him strengthen you and then get up off the ground, as Jesus did, and go do what he has called you to do. He paved the way, we have but to walk in it.
Lyssa Stoyko 