? Time has come; Is the Son of Man delivered into the hands of sinners?(Mk 14. 41).
Jesus’ whole human life foreshadowed this hour: every prudent attempt to maintain the mesianic secret, every emotional investment joyfully granted to his disciples, every glimpse of the ocean of his goodness as he healed the blind, the mute, the lame, the demonic. and even when he resurrected the dead.
- At that moment.
- The time has come.
- The whole story depends on this hour and it’s absolutely terrifying.
- Jesus must decide: will He protect his own life and soul or accept the perfect and painful will of the Father?.
Jesus’ death had begun long before this hour, but now, in Gethsemane, he must face death for himself, which occurs before death on Calvary. Never has a soul been so distressed. Never has a human being been so unworthy of divine wrath. Has anyone ever faced such horror: being a sinner on behalf of others?Put yourself in our place.
Also in John 2, when Jesus turned water into wine, he knew, “Isn’t it my time yet?(Jo 2. 4). But he recognized that his time would come. And that fact shaped him from the beginning.
When Jesus secretly went up to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles, He knew, “Isn’t it still my time?(Jo 7. 6). When you started teaching publicly, it didn’t take them long to try to stop you; but didn’t one put his hand on yours?Why was he saved? Joo explains, “Why wasn’t the time yet?”(Jo 7:30). Again, in John 8, during this same appearance in the holy city, he taught in the temple; And no one stopped him?. Once again, John explains Jesus’ invincibility: “Why had not his time yet come?(Jn 8. 20).
However, when Jesus finally arrived at this dramatic and prophetic Easter week, did you know what?
“The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified; indeed, I say unto you, if the grain of wheat that fell on the earth does not die, it is left alone; But if he dies, does it produce much fruit?(Jn 12: 23-24).
When Jesus landed with his disciples in the upper chamber to prepare them for their departure, He knew it was time (John 13. 1). When he began his magnificent priestly prayer on Thursday night, he prayed, “Father, the time has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you?(Jo 17:1).
In the English church, do we start calling that painful night before Good Friday?Holy Thursday? (the equivalent of “Holy Thursday”, in Portuguese “NT”). Scholars suspect that the word “Holy” comes from the Latin mandatum, which means mandate. It is a reference to the commandment Jesus gave to his disciples in the upper chamber, after washing his feet (Jn 13:1-20) and seeing Judas depart (Jn 13:21-30):
I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I loved you, that you also love each other. To this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you love each other?(Jn 13. 34?35)
So, calling it “The Thursday of the Commandments” can give the false impression that the emphasis is on our love, not on the love of Jesus. The emphasis of this Holy Thursday, however, is not the new commandment for the church (?Love yourself?), But your husband’s inimitable act (?How did I love you?).
That first Holy Thursday, when Jesus said, “As I loved you,” he did not refer primarily to the washing of the disciples’ feet, but to what heralded the washing of the feet: his own death the next day and the next day. The supreme sacrifice I would make to save them. The sin of these disciples, and ours, rightly deserved the almighty wrath of God. Saving Jesus and showing his love for us would require much more than washing our feet. And much more than just a physical act. Death.
When Jesus finished praying in the upper chamber, He went out with his disciples across the Cedrom creek, where there was an orchard; Then you came with them?(Jo 18:1). His time had come and it would be the orchard of his agony. The first Adam felt no anguish in his garden, for he gave in very soon, but Jesus knew that to resist all temptations he would have to suffer.
His hour of unbearable suffering when he literally reached Calvary would be backed by the emotional and spiritual agony that has occurred in the past. Before exclaiming, “My God, my God, why have you helpless me?”, In the great eclipse of his Father’s light (M. 15:34), he must first, here in the garden, make the final decision to submit to hell himself; he must embrace pain, not just endure it; you must choose the stilts and the darkness. He needs to move forward to receive the holy wrath of his Father and saloarse his time.
Jesus will not be a mere victim. If it is like a lamb for this slaughterhouse, it must go voluntarily; freely, by his own eternal spirit, he must offer himself (He 9:14).
If there’s ever been a sacred fear, it’s good. Did he begin to feel overwhelmed by terror and anguish?(Mk 14. 33). Totally human, Jesus confesses: “Is my soul deeply sad until death?(Mark 14:34). Being in agony? (Lk 22:44), leans to the ground and prays” so that, if possible, this hour would be saved. “
His torment is so great that, being in agony, he prayed more intensely. And has it happened that your sweat turned like drops of blood falling on the earth?(Lk 22:44). Are there loud cries and tears? (Heb 5. 7). When he was weak, did an angel from heaven appear to him to comfort him?(Lk 22:43).
At every passing moment, he approaches the traitor who arrives with his troops, Jesus will be betrayed by the hands of sinners and they will personify, in the eyes of the whole world, the very essence of sin: the attack of God, with the intention of killing. How could every minute in the garden seem like a life?
Jesus knew that hell itself was coming. So how can he, as a man, embrace him with all his horror?
Earlier in the night, he had told his disciples what his time would mean: anguish, because of joy.
“The woman, at the time of childbirth, is sad, for her time has come; But after the birth of the child, do you remember the affliction, for the pleasure that a man must have been born into the world?(Jo 16. 21)
In the garden, Jesus is always on the other side, and yet he speaks, with all the terror and torment, with all his sadness and affliction, feeling the just joy to choose the joy that will come. Isaiah had prophesied, “Will you see, the fruit of the hard work of your soul, and will you be satisfied?(Is 53. 11). The obligation alone cannot stand this hour. Will supporting him require joy, in exchange for the joy offered to him, did he bear the cross?( Hebrews 12. 2).
In the end he decides, “Isn’t it my will, it’s yours?”(Lk 22:42)
Never before has a human heart, spirit, and will faced what Jesus faced in this garden, and God will never need it again. Your Son’s visit to Gethsemane is absolutely unique compared to any garden of anguish to which God can guide us.
Those who hate God will soon be unprotected in the face of their almighty and righteous anger, but they will never do so for others. And they will never do so in exchange for the joy offered to them, by the Father and his people.
God will never pass one of his children back to this shadow of death garden. We may give up our own lives in this world to save others here, but we cannot choose God’s wrath on someone else’s sin. the night is absolutely unique.
And yet it is the Thursday of commandment: “Love one another, as I loved you”
Jesus’ garden will not be ours, your time will not be ours. But having been so loved, how can we not love one another?
Yes, we will love, but Holy Thursday does not stimulate our love. It is a night to marvel at what Jesus has embraced for us; it is a night to be seduced by the uniqueness of his sacrificial love. Imagine that when we were still sinners, he died for us (Romans 5. 8). This is love: is it not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins?(1Jn 4. 10).
On “Command Thursday” we don’t take responsibility for loving each other. We fall to our knees, prostrate ourselves on the ground and say:
It was for me, in the garden
He prayed, “Not my will, but yours. “
He did not weep for his own suffering
But he sued drops of blood for me
Wonderful! Wonderful!
And my song will always be:
Wonderful! Wonderful!
My Savior’s love for me!