An Angel in the Garden

As we move through this Passion Week, preparing for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, let us meditate on Luke 22:39-44—

“And He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. And when He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

An angel from heaven came to strengthen our Savior as He suffered in the garden—to strengthen Him to suffer unspeakably and carry His cross and die on it. “There was an outstretched hand, His Father’s hand—even in the darkness—and Christ knew it. Initially the presence of the angel must have brought some modicum of comfort to the Sufferer. It came at a moment when unaided human nature could no longer take the strain. It was a critical moment. Christ knew that His sorrow was ‘unto death’ and as Dr. Frederick Godet remarks, this was ‘no figure of rhetoric’. But it was not the Father’s will that the Savior should die in the garden, and just as after the temptation in the wilderness angels ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11), so now He was strengthened by an angel. How strange is the sight! A creature sent to minister to the Creator! But then, as man He ‘for a little while was made lower than the angels’ (Hebrews 2:9). Here the theologians run out of answers. Mercifully so! There is a place for mystery. There is need for ground on which, in a unique sense, one walks by faith and not by sight. Bishop Ryle says well of Christ’s experience in Gethsemane, ‘It is a depth which we have no line to fathom.’ (The Cross He Bore, by Frederick Leahy)

“For one fleeting moment immense joy must have leaped within Christ’s soul as the Father’s hand touched Him. This was a message from home. Heaven was behind Him. He was forsaken, but not disowned. His Father was there, somewhere in the darkness. His loud cries and tears had not been unnoticed.”

(Tim Chailles)