Anguish in the garden

We are in the midst of Holy Week, the most sacred and revered time in the Christian faith. We know that the sorrowful day of Good Friday is coming; the day that Jesus hung on the cross and died for our sins to save the world from ourselves. He hung next to two thieves wearing a crown of thorns. His clothes were stripped. He was mocked, beaten, and he was questioned as truly being the Son of Man before they put Him to death. People stood by watching and jeering.

Before sharing a meal known as the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, Jesus gets on His hands and knees to wash the feet of His disciples. He knew that he was about to be betrayed. He even tells this to His disciples.

As He breaks the Bread, He tells His disciples that, “This is my body, which will be given to you.” He then takes the Wine and says, “This is my blood.”

Following the Last Supper, Jesus was betrayed, as He knew He would, by Judas. Later that evening, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. This is such a poignant moment in the Bible. It is a time where we see Jesus as a man in agony.

Jesus is overwhelmed with burden and grief as He knows His death is imminent. He prays. It is easy to only think of Jesus in the Divine sense, but He was also Man. That Thursday evening, He was a vulnerable man weeping in a garden to His Father. He had the sins of the world on His shoulders, and He knew what was going to happen on Friday. Jesus told His Father, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

The three coming days, known as the Triduum, consisting of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday ultimately lead us to Easter Sunday. Much like Good Friday, winter can be harsh and challenging. We hold on to the fact that we know just like Sunday is nearing, so too, is Spring. Spring is a time of rebirth and resurrection. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, broke bread, and wept on Thursday. He was killed on Friday, but what happened Sunday? Resurrection. Spring came, the Heavens opened, and the tomb was empty. “He was not there, for He had risen.” Matthew 28:6.

I often have wondered about the Garden that evening that Jesus went to talk to His Father. What was blooming? What did it look like? What did it smell like? Were there animals nearby that heard Him weeping? Did the tears that Jesus cried that night fall to the ground and land on any flowers? What must it have been like to be Jesus knowing that you were to be put to death tomorrow? Did He focus on Sunday or was He overcome with anguish about Friday?

The Blessed Mother statue holding the Christ Child in my garden. (Photo provided by Megan Rathz)

I often think about one of the greatest lines from one of my favorite novels, The Secret Garden, “Is the spring coming?” “What is it like?” “It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine, and things pushing up and working under the earth.”

Some believe it rained on Good Friday. I don’t know if it is known for certain, but whether it rained from the sky or not, the blood of Jesus poured down. Friday was a dark day. Jesus looked at His mother on His way to be crucified, carrying His own cross that he was eventually nailed to. What was Mary thinking that day? She saw her only child fall and struggle as he carried this heavy cross. The cross that is weighed down by the sins of mankind. What a heavy burden to carry. What must it have been like to see your baby boy on His death march? Would you have wiped His face like Veronica?

As Jesus died, the Earth shook. Just as described in The Secret Garden, rain falls upon rain, but soon will come the sunshine. Sunday will come. The sun will shine again. And just as the Earth shook on Friday and the blood of Jesus poured out, the same Earth is working on new life and resurrection. He went from weeping in the garden on Thursday to rising from the dead and an empty tomb on Sunday.

May these coming days be a time of holiness for all of us. May we remember the ultimate sacrifice that He paid for all of us. May we never forget Friday. We will mourn on Friday and weep just with Mary as she stood looking at her only Son, but we must never forget the tomb will be empty on Sunday. Death could not hold Him.

For very soon He will be risen indeed.

Megan Rathz is a wife, mother and teacher. She says everything she has ever learned in life came from her Master Gardener mother.