Sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane

This past Sunday's lesson was about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. One thing that struck me from the scripture this time around was the word "sorrow". The gospel of Mark records Jesus as saying, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Mark 14:34 NIV)

Sorrow. Is that what most people feel when facing death?

It seems like most people read that word and change its sense to something else, something more like most of us would feel in the face of inevitable torture and death. Fear, maybe. Apprehension. An overwhelming compulsion to either fight or flee from what was to come. A natural aversion to death. But sorrow isn't apprehension. It's a different feeling altogether.

Other people see "sorrow" and pull in an eternity of sin to explain it. As one songwriter put it: "He had no tears for His own griefs, but sweat-drops of blood for mine," and "He took my sins and sorrows; He made them His very own."* In that view, Jesus was overwhelmed by the sorrow of all the wrongs done by all the people who ever had or would live.

Those people may be right, but it requires a more mystical view of Jesus than fits well with my personal theology.

My trusty World Book dictionary defines sorrow as: grief, sadness, or regret. It raises an interesting question. What would cause such depth of grief, sadness, or regret in the depth of Jesus' soul? I wish I could get inside his head and figure out what was going on.

Some possibilities:

• Thirty-three years and it's over? Such a short time to experience life in this world. How sad to reach the exit door so quickly and so much sooner than would have been necessary apart from the dark hearts of the religious leaders. So many years left by any physical measure and yet the thread of life is coming to an end.

• There are so many things left undone! So many more people who need a loving touch and healing. So many more stories to tell. So many more days of ministry. Three years is barely a start! How grievous to see it come to an end so quickly.

• The disciples still don't get it. What will happen to them when they're cut loose so soon before they're ready? If only there were one more trip to Ceasarea to do some more discipling. As it is, they're going to run for their lives the minute the going gets tough. They are simply not ready to be left on their own.

• How sad that a few people with evil intent will put an end to it all. What a tragedy sin is in this world. (That's the closest I can come to Jesus being overwhelmed by sorrow for "my sins".)
  

Sorrow. Grief. Regret. Oh, for one more year, one more month even. One more day to walk next to the Sea of Gallilee and teach the souls so hungry to hear the good news. Oh, to break through the blindness and deafness that has led to this place. How sad that it has come to this so quickly.

Yes, Sunday was coming. There would be resurrection and eternal glory. But life as a man in this world was coming to a tragic close with tasks undone.

Could this be the explanation for Jesus' sorrow? It's interesting to think about anyway.

What do you think?

*"My Savior's Love" by Charles H. Gabriel, 1905