Fully God and fully Man, that is the standing of orthodox Christianity on the nature of Jesus of Nazareth. Nowhere in Scripture is that more clearly displayed than in the narrative of the arrest, trial, and execution of the Messiah

I have, more than once, commented that the fact that God knows the future in no way implies that He forces that future on us. That is a matter of straightforward logic; especially straightforward to our generation that has ubiquitous access to video and audio recordings of events both mundane and momentous. Upon seeing such recordings for the first time we can think they are happening in real time because they did happen in real time; just not our real time. And the fact that they are real means they have on us the same emotional impact that the actual event would have had, had we been present there.

Imagine then, if you can, what this would be like for Jesus. He knew exactly what was going to happen in that Garden of Gethsemane. He already knew it. He had already seen it all. But also, as the minutes tick on toward that appointment with destiny, He is experiencing each of those events Himself, in His own, human, real time.

This is the collision of godhood and humanity in the man-god; as Kierkegaard calls Him. And as Kierkegaard points out, we cannot possibly imagine what He is feeling, we cannot comprehend it, because in the whole history of humanity there has never been and there will never be another man-god. He is completely heterogeneous: He is, He was, He will forever be the One and Only. And yet He was fully human, like you and I.

We can understand the agony of undergoing severe trauma. Through our understanding of PTSD, we are fully aware today of the enduring agony that such trauma leaves in the memories of veterans of war and victims of crime. But I don’t think we can imagine what that would be like for a human being that is also God and for Whom, therefore, time need not pass…  In other words, for Him, the trauma can never be left behind, because to God, past, present, and future are all the same.

I believe that every time Jesus spoke in the gospel about this moment to His disciples, He was seeing it as it was happening and, therefore, living it… over and over again. To Him, it never was just a replay of a recording. And I think this is what Mark is trying to capture when He says here below that Jesus began to be amazed…

Mark 14:32-34 And they come to a place of which the name [is] Gethsemane, and he says to his disciples, Sit here while I shall pray. And he takes with him Peter and James and John, and he began to be amazed and oppressed in spirit. And he says to them, My soul is full of grief even unto death; abide here and watch.

Strong’s concordance explains this word translated here, amazed, as ekthambos= to astonish utterly — affright, greatly (sore) amaze… greatly astonished – properly, out of one’s senses with the outcome of being amazed to the level of wonder.

Jesus asks Peter, James, and John, to stay alert, to watch over Him, as He goes to pray to the Father,

Mark 14:35-36 And, going forward a little, he fell upon the earth; and he prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: take away this cup from me; but not what *I* will, but what *thou* [wilt].

If imagining what Jesus is experiencing is beyond us… then there are no words, no concepts that could approximate this conversation with the Father. Because, indeed, all things are possible to the Father. Try to think about it: The Father, faced with the capture, torture, and murder of His beloved Son, could have stopped the universe right there. He who created everything could have erased it all and started over again. The Son of God need not ever suffer death… And who would have ever known?

Of course, then we, humanity, would never come to exist. Because if we existed then we would never be delivered from the eternal death that sin produces in us. And the Father could never let that happen, because He Loves us.

It is an indissoluble knot.

Once God, infinitely Just and infinitely Merciful, creates a humanity in His likeness – with free will (so we can Love like Him) and spirit (so we can Live like Him) – that God can only remain infinitely Just and Merciful by creating a way out of the eternal consequences of the power of evil that comes to co-opt our free will.

Free will, meant to give us the power of Freedom for a life eternal, becomes the target of the parasite we call evil whose only goal is to condemn us to the slavery of sin until it leads us to death.

It is an indissoluble knot. It can go no other way. Which is why Jesus told us about it from the beginning of His ministry:

For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. (John 3;16).

And why, together, Father and Son, agreed on this plan since the beginning of time:

Isaiah 49:1-3 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples from afar. Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, he hath concealed me under the shadow of his hand, and he hath made me a polished shaft: in his quiver hath he hidden me. And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.

Here is the Son proclaiming that He has been given the Mission. BUT there will come a time when it looks like that Mission has utterly failed… Nevertheless, the Son will not give up.

Isaiah 49:4 —And I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; nevertheless my judgment is with Jehovah, and my work with my God.

And then the Father answers:

Isaiah 49:5-6 And now, saith Jehovah, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I should bring Jacob again to him; (though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength;)  —and he saith, It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I have even given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

This is the way it was planned before Time began. Why? It is the only way it could be done. So, the Father and the Son agreed to it.

Whether we like it or not, is immaterial. We might as well complain about mass attracting mass via gravitation, or complain that we don’t like the microwave background of the universe… What could we possibly do about it?

It really is beyond our ability to do anything about it… because this is the way the universe is. And at that moment, in that Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus in His humanity kneels shocked at the price He knows He is going to pay (for all humanity) and His inability to humanly stop it from happening. Only the Father could… But Jesus yields to the Father’s will.

It could not have been easy. It wasn’t:

Mark 14:37-40 And he comes and finds them sleeping. And he says to Peter, Simon, dost thou sleep? Hast thou not been able to watch one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh weak.

And going away, he prayed again, saying the same thing. And returning, he found them again sleeping, for their eyes were heavy; and they knew not what they should answer him.

Mark 14:41-42 And he comes the third time and says to them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is delivered up into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us go; behold, he that delivers me up has drawn nigh.

Three times Jesus went to pray; and it looks like, three times, He prayed the same thing. Why three times?

Maybe that’s how long it took for the Father’s will to give the human Jesus the strength to go through it all.

That is what Luke says:

Luke 22:41-43 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and having knelt down he prayed, saying, Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me:—but then, not my will, but thine be done. And an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him.

And maybe this is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:8 that he prayed three times for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh”. At the third time Paul stopped, because he heard the will of God and clung to it:

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, My grace suffices thee; for [my] power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me.

We cannot read this passage of the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane without letting it become a mirror for our lives. The suffering lying before Jesus there was utterly real, as real as any suffering we go through in our lives. His feeling of human impotence is exactly the same we feel when we can see no way out. And the despair that brings us to our knees is the same that brought Him to His knees. If this is so, then, the only thing we can do, the one thing we must do, is do exactly what He did. There, on our knees, pray to the Father.

And after pouring our hearts out to Him, what we really really need, what we must ask of Him, is that He reveal to us His will… so that then we can agree with it; because if it is His will, it is completely immersed in His Love. Whatever happens, whatever we have to go through, He will give us His strength.