I don’t like scary movies. My wife and daughter love them. I let them go together. I prefer to get my adrenalin rush in other, less terrifying ways. This is why I will never jump from a plane or dive off a cliff. There’s absolutely nothing appealing to me about those activities. But, then again, a lot of people would be terrified to do what I do on a weekly basis – stand before a thousand people and preach. So, I guess we all have the things that terrify us. Jesus had his.
The Scariest Moment of Jesus’ Life
Jesus died on a Friday. It was a horrible and painful death. Several hours of torture with a Roman whip, followed by nine hours nailed to a cross. It was death through a slow process of suffocation.
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me” (John 13:21).
The most terrifying part was that Jesus knew it was coming (John 13:1). The night before, after having supper with his friends, Jesus told his disciples what was going to happen (Mt. 26:24). He even knew which of his disciples was going to hand him over to the authorities (John 13:11). He knew that it was just a matter of time.
Later that night he was overcome with fear. He went to one of his favorite spots on earth – it was a garden on a sloping hill covered with olive trees, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. The garden was more of an orchard really. A place where trees and vines and overgrown shrubs grew wild at each other. This knot of trees and overgrown brush overlooking the eastern wall of Jerusalem was located on a rising hill known at the Mount of Olives.
Jesus Makes a Strategic Retreat
Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Mt. 26:38).
The Mount of Olives was the perfect place to hide — just long enough to buy a little more time. Jesus needed time to think. He needed a few more minutes with his Father. He needed to be sure. So, Jesus took his closest disciples into that thick grove of trees and asked them to pray and watch. Then he went a little further into the darkness and threw himself to the ground in an agonizing plea with God.
The garden was called Gethsemane (it means “oil press”). There was most likely a stone slab in the garden that was used as a community oil press. The Bible loves irony – that night it was Jesus who was being pressed. He was being squeezed by his fears, sweat pouring down his face like blood pouring from a head wound (Lk. 22:44). He was scared out of his mind.
What do you do when your fears are overwhelming you and there seems to be no escape?
Jesus Did Ten Things to Deal with His Fear
1. He was aware of his fear.
Jesus was realistic about his situation. He knew that he had come from God and he knew that he was returning to God (John 13:3). He knew that his fears were justified and normal. He didn’t run to the Garden as a way to escape his fears. He went there to confront his fears. Jesus embraced his fear.
2. He identified his fear.
Jesus called his fear by name. He knew that Judas was going to betray him. But, he also knew that Judas was not the source of his fear. In fact, he wasn’t afraid of any person. He was afraid of the painful experience he was about to undergo on the cross. He told his disciples that night that they would all abandon him. He was afraid of the alienating nature of the cross. He said, “May this cup be taken from me” (Mt. 26:39). Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross. He named his fear.
3. He sang.
There is something special about singing. It clears out the lungs, opens up the heart, feeds the soul. A song makes us feel the moment. Music has a way of encoding all the emotion of an experience and transposing it across time. Jesus needed to feel the moment. He sang with his disciples and I’ll bet they never forgot the moment (Mt. 26:30). Many of the greatest songs are a product of painful moments because those are the moments that connect us to our fears and inspire us to rise above them.
When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
− Henry David Thoreau
4. He got away from the source of his fear.
There is power in a strategic retreat. Jesus knew what was coming. But, now that he was facing it, he wanted to be sure. He needed to know that this was the only way to accomplish God’s will. He needed to know that both the purpose and timing were aligned. He needed a little more time with his Heavenly Father. Sometimes, it pays to get away from the fear. Not to escape – just for a breather.
5. He went to a familiar and soothing place.
After a long and stressful trip, there’s nothing more comforting that arriving home. Vacations are nice, but they can never replace that familiar recliner or the bed you’ve slept in for twenty years. There’s nothing like the warmth and familiarity of home. The garden was a familiar, comforting, and safe place for Jesus at the moment he needed it most. Jesus retreated to his favorite spot at his most fearful moment.
6. He asked his closest friends to help him.
Jesus knew that no one could go to the cross with him. In fact, he had just finished telling his disciples that they would all abandon him (Mark 14:27). The cross was a lonely place. Only the perfect lamb could do what Jesus was destined to do. But until the final moment came, Jesus wanted his closest friends around him. He asked them to pray for him (Mark 14:32). You don’t have to do it alone. Jesus drew strength from his friends.
7. He released control
Jesus knew that he could accomplish what faced him on the cross only with complete surrender to God. “Your will be done” (Lk. 22:42), was not Jesus giving up. On the contrary, it was Jesus giving everything. As Richard Rohr writes, “surrender is not ‘giving up,’ as we tend to think, nearly as much as it is ‘giving to’ the moment, the event, the person, and the situation.” 1 Jesus understood that what you resist, persists. So, he released control to the only One he trusted with his life.
8. He found meaning in his fear
Jesus understood that his death on the cross would not be in vain. The agony of the cross scared him more than anything he had ever faced. But, he also knew that at some point the torture would end and that, in the end, it would all be worth it. Jesus said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn. 12:32). Jesus knew his life and death had profound meaning and would change the world.
9. He talked honestly and openly with God.
Jesus opened up to God in such an honest and transparent way that his face was transfigured. Some biblical scholars call this the transfiguration of agony (in comparison to the transfiguration of glory found in Matthew 17:2). Sweat was pouring off his face (Lk. 22:44). His eyes closed tight, his lips twisted as he pleaded with God to rescue him. Take this cross away from me. Don’t make me do this. There has to be another way. This was his cry. Jesus was gut-wrenchingly honest with God.
10. He took action
At some point, Jesus knew it was time to stop praying and start doing. He saw the approaching torch lights of the posse coming for him. He said to his disciples, “C’mon, Let’s go. It’s time to make it happen.” In that moment Jesus could still have escaped. The Mount of Olives is strategically located on the East side of Jerusalem. A run down the opposite side of the mountain leads away from Jerusalem and towards his wilderness hideout (Jn. 11:54). They would never have found him there. But Jesus decided it was time to take action. He walked courageously toward the flickering torches — toward the cross — toward his greatest fear.
According to recent research, 60% of what people fear will never take place, and 30% of what people fear has already happened in the past and cannot be changed. 2 So, a large percentage of your fears are wasted energy because they will either never come to fruition or have already come and gone (And guess what? You survived).
No matter, your fears are real to you, and Jesus gives you some great coping skills to overcome even your most profound and well-grounded fears.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
What are two or three things you can do today to better deal with your fears?
How do you identify the root causes of your fears?
What is your biggest “take away” from the way Jesus dealt with his fears?
