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John Stott - The Cross of Christ (Quote)
By jason | March 10, 2008
In describing the account of Jesus in the garden - his anticipation of bearing the weight of humanity’s sin to the point that he requests another way to accomplish God’s purposes - Stott shares this penetrating and powerful thought”
The agony of the garden opens a window on the greater agony of the cross. If to bear man’s sin and God’s wrath was so terrible in anticipation, what must the reality have been like?
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there. (p. 80)
Topics: The Scriptures, Theology |
March 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
This seems like a peculiar quote to use as an emphasis of Jesus’ agony. I don’t mean in any way to minimize the pain and sacrifice of Jesus, but anticipation is a curious thing…
How many times in your life has the anticipation been extraordinarily better or worse than the actual event? Imagine Christmas - when you were five years old, or even today. You spend a month singing Christmas Carols, shopping, and basically getting excited about the upcoming holiday. Then the holiday comes and suddenly - it’s over. 99% of the fun of Christmas is in the anticipation.
On the flip side, imagine getting an immunization as a child. I remember being TERRIFIED of needles as kid. All my classmates told me how awful it would be, and I just knew it would the worst experience of my life. The doctor came in with the needle, I squeezed my eyes shut - and I didn’t even feel it. The anticipation was so much worse than the reality.
So to use Jesus’ anticipation of agony to predict the level of agony he must have felt seems quite peculiar to me. As I said, I am in no way meaning to diminish his sacrifice. It just seems curious…
March 11th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
The only thing is there is a BIG difference between anticipating Christmas and needles and the Son of God anticipating the weight of the world’s sin.
I can see what you’re saying but your analogies are comparing apples and oranges I’d say.