When he saw
It’s one thing to see death and suffering as a God, it’s a completely different thing to see it as a man. If this doesn’t demonstrate the full humanity of Jesus nothing else does. This isn’t death from a distance. This is death up close. This is the death of a friend. There’s a scene in the movie Cocoon where alien beings of light hold one of their companions while they expire. The leader explains to the humans with him that this is something they’ve never experienced - the light beings never die. Jesus himself is going to experience this - actually the Father is going to experience it - at the cross. Something so un-godlike is going to happen there and it’s previewed here. The language is flawed in translation. Jesus is torn. The word means snorting with anger. He’s furious. He’s completely present in his present and feeling all of this. He doesn’t stuff it or defer it. He doesn’t excuse himself from the table and let the mere mortals drink this cup. He drinks it with them. He’s one of us. Can you feel the joy of resurrection without the sorrow of death? He can’t skip out on this and jump to the party that he’s going to initiate. This is a full dress rehearsal for Gethsemane and Golgotha.
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