The Messy Garden Prayer
- Karen Pennington
- Oct 5
- 2 min read
Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is messy, in every possible way. Never in any other point in his recorded life does Christ's humanity show the way it does here. This tired, scared, dejected man desperately throws himself before Abba Father in the dirt of the garden, with bloodlike sweat profusely pouring from his body. He looks horrible and weak. He probably smells worse. Though he is resigned and determined to do God's will no matter what, he also pleads with God to find another way.
Since we know Jesus Christ to be a sinless lamb, nothing he displays in the Garden of Gethsemane should be seen as displeasing to God. If we see Christ as our example, then God surely must honor our openness and honesty before the throne of grace when we feel desperate and less-than. In a world that stresses survival of the fittest, before God our integrity of heart must trump strength of appearance.
So it is not so much whether or not we have emotions that defines us, but rather what we do with them. In the words of Brooklyn Tabernacle's Pastor Jim Cymbala, "Emotions are wonderful servants. They're horrible masters." Our emotions should serve as a barometer, not a steering wheel. They tell us when the pressure is high, so that we can properly address the issues. To either add to or ignore the pressure is to invite an explosion.
In Christ's case, his intense emotions lead him right back into the arms of the Father, aligning his human and divine natures. It is precisely here in this dirty, sweaty garden of emotions, that the God-man receives the divine empowerment to commit the ultimate act of self-sacrifice that will change the course of human history and eternity.
I believe we are all called to change the world in some way. I also believe we all carry a mess of emotions around. We get to decided whether we will hold onto them, ignore them, or acknowledge and surrender them to God. Rather than seeing struggle as a sign of weakness, why not use it as an instrumental reminder that continually leads us back into the arms of God.
Scripture: Luke 22:39-45
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