Contemplating the Cross: Gethsemane

For the next few days, I’ll be posting excerpts from Nancy Guthrie’s Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter (Crossway). Join me as I aim to contemplate the cross this passion week.

Today’s meditation is by R. Kent Hughes, from chapter 5 “Gethsemane” (pg. 31-36 of Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, edited by Nancy Guthrie).

The Lord deliberately chose Gethsemane. John’s specific mention of it as a “garden” in John 18:1 suggests that the apostle has in mind a deliberate comparison with the original garden of Eden. The symbolism is this:

• The first Adam began life in a garden. Christ, the second Adam, came at the end of his life to a garden.
• In Eden Adam sinned. In Gethsemane the Savior overcame sin.
• In Eden Adam fell. In Gethsemane Jesus conquered.
• In Eden Adam hid himself. In Gethsemane our Lord boldly presented himself.
• In Eden the sword was drawn. In Gethsemane it was sheathed.

This symbolism is not accidental or incidental to Jesus’ death. It was an assurance for future generations of readers that Christ was in control….

The surroundings of Christ’s final hour clearly displayed his sovereign control. The intensity of his agony and his sovereign resolve to bear it, his control over his captors, his protection of his own, his grace to the wounded, all proved he is an omniscient, all-powerful God. Christ was in control when life was falling in, when things looked the worst….

Gethsemane was not a tragedy, and neither are our Gethsemanes. This does not do away with the wounds of affliction in this life, but it is encouraging to see that behind human tragedy stands the benevolent and wise purpose of the Lord of human history. Life may be dark at times, tragedy may come, and at times the whole world may seem to be falling apart. The wheel may appear ready to crush us. But this is not the end. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28), even in Gethsemane.

How wonderful it is to see Christ undoing the wrongs that befell us in Eden. How glorious our Savior truly is. May we follow him through dark times in our lives, confident that He is always in control.