32Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be astonished and in distress. 34Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.”
Truth to Learn
Jesus felt terrified and intensely sad before His death.
Behind the Words
The name “Gethsemane” is of Chaldean origin and is transliterated from the Aramaic gath, meaning “a press” and shemen, meaning “oil.” Thus, it is called “oil press garden.”
The word “astonished” in verse thirty-three is translated from ekthambeō, meaning “to be utterly amazed or astonished.”
“Distressed” is from the Greek word adēmoneō, which implies a “feeling of terrified surprise.”
“Exceedingly sorrowful” in verse thirty-four is translated from perilupos, which is made up of peri, meaning “around” and a form of lupē, meaning “sorrowful or sadness.” Hence this word means “grieved all around” or “intensely sad.”
Meaning Explained
When Jesus took his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane for the last time, he knew he was about to offer his life as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is completely God, so in His divinity He knew exactly what was about to transpire. But, He is also completely man, subject to the same emotions that we are. He knew that His obedience to the Father was about to undergo the supreme test and His human emotions surfaced. He was not surprised because He hadn’t known what was coming. He knew what was coming because He is God. But, in his humanity, He may have been surprised by the intensity of emotion He was experiencing.
Perhaps, while He was in the upper room only minutes before, He was so occupied with caring for His disciples that He didn’t really think about the abuse and torture that was about to come upon Him. Once in the garden, however, He knew that it was only a matter of time before the humiliation and physical suffering began. Even worse, His closest friends were sleeping in His time of sorrow and they would soon desert Him.
The Prophet Isaiah foretold this sorrow:
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their faces; He was despised, and we did not value Him. (Isaiah 53:3)
Mark tells us that He was not merely troubled, but astonished. Perhaps it was the thought of all the sin He was about to take on at the cross. Perhaps it was the wrath of His Heavenly Father that was about to be poured out on Him. Or, perhaps it was the knowledge that on the following day His Father, too, would turn His back on Him for three hours! He was about to face the worst time of His life – completely alone.
Application
The next time you are very sad or even terrified about the prospects of the future, think about Jesus and pray. He knows what it feels like. He can identify with you and comfort you.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2019 Will Krause. All rights reserved