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Matthew 26:36-46: Jesus' Agony in the Garden Essay examples

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The road that Jesus accepted on the way to Calvary had to first pass through the Garden of Gethsemane (גת שמנים olive press in Hebrew). It was here that Jesus, in his humanity, experienced true “fear, distress, anguish, and sorrow.” These emotions which Jesus felt that night were real. According to James Keating and Thomas White, who used Thomas Aquinas, states that Jesus has two natures, human and divine. Both were aching with grief. They explain that all humans have two wills, which are caught in a web of tension. The first will is our sensitive will, which contains our emotions. The second is our rational will where our rational decisions are made. Seeing that Jesus is fully human, he had both of these wills in operation in Gethsemane. …show more content…

As Jesus and his disciples departed Jerusalem for the Garden of Gethsemane his heart was now aching with sorrow. It was at Gethsemane, which lies across the Kidron Valley that Jesus predicts that all his disciples, his closest friends, would deny him. This included Peter who would deny him, not once but three times. Although, his disciples, along with Peter, say that it will never happen, Jesus knows better.
As Jesus enters the Garden of Gethsemane he knows that his kairos (καιρός ) or definitive moment was fast approaching. Gethsemane was a place caught in time. The prophet Zechariah alludes to Gethsemane in an eschatological prophesy concerning the end of time. According to Zechariah’s allusion Jesus will come back to Gethsemane for the final judgment. Likewise, the prophet Ezekiel, because of the sins of God’s people, sees in a vision the Glory of God departing the temple heading east toward a Mountain, which is most likely Gethsemane. Yet, Jesus’ kairos was in the present. As he stood at the gate to Gethsemane his sorrowful heart was quickly turning to anguish. However, Gethsemane must have been a place of comfort. It was in Gethsemane that Jesus taught his disciples. It was only a few days earlier in Gethsemane, that Jesus had predicted his kairos, which was now upon him.
Jesus wanted to be reassured that his kairos was the will of the Father. As a result,

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