"Your Redeemer's conflict see. Watch with him one bitter hour."

"Agony in the Garden" - El Greco

Hymn: “Go to Dark Gethsemane” – James Montgomery (1771-1854)
Common Tune: REDHEAD

This hymn is a guided tour through the final days of the earthly life of Jesus – the week we call the Passion. The first stanza (from which this hymnline is taken) is about the agony of Christ in the garden, dealing with his impending death; from this, we learn how to sincerely pray. The second stanza deals with the judgment process, the mistreatment and the sentencing; from this, we learn how to take up our cross. The third and final stanza in most books, carries us to Calvary to recall the dying Lamb, learning from Jesus how we should face death.

In order to ‘get into’ the Gethsemane story, we need to wrestle with God’s plan the way Jesus did. We need to grasp the conflictive thought process through which even the perfect Son weighed his options. Because we know his decision to accept the cross-death, we sometimes overlook the agony, the crying out to his Father, the begging for another option: “Isn’t there another cup? Couldn’t we let this one pass?”

Some theologians say he had no choice. After reading the passage over and over and trying to identify with this One I call Friend, I think he DID have an option to walk away. Otherwise, his death would not have been sacrificial; it would have been mandatory. For those of us who have benefited from the blood-bought redemption, that makes a huge difference in our perspective.

Watching with Christ for one hour and grappling with him – struggling with him flat on his face before God – could make a huge difference in how we get to this Friday. Can we carve out an hour from our busy week of Lenten lunches, Maundy communion, Good Friday reflections… much less purchasing an Easter frock, coloring/hiding eggs, planning/preparing a meal for the family on Sunday after church? Perhaps that is out of the question for many of us; but if we could manage an intense hour of walking through the bitterness – “the wormwood and the gall” of the first two stanzas of this hymn, we would be more prepared come Friday to comprehend Golgotha’s tragic implications – and to walk toward Sunday with more conviction than ever before.

It’s going to be a long week for us. Think what a long week it was for him!?

Hear This Hymn Mournfully Sung