“Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace.”
Thomas Watson
The cross looms large. It is mere days away. The curtain pulls back on his passion, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:27-28) Jesus’ soul is troubled. He feels the weight, the anxiety, the anguish, the revulsion, the horror and the agitation deep within himself as he contemplates what is coming. His trouble is unlike ours. His trouble is none of his own making, but he suffers as a mediator. We suffer many times because of the consequences of our own actions. His trouble and its subsequent suffering is pure. When we experience trouble, even in our troubles, there is sin, worry, despair, unjust anger, a catalog of issues, but Christ, even in his anguish, never sinned. A pastor from a long time ago notes, “Our troubles, in their natural tendency, are killing and destroying; only by accident and the wise ordering of Divine providence do they prove advantageous, and lead us to Him; His trouble, in the very nature of it, was pure, and clean…and healing.” (Matthew Poole, cited in Ryle)
Jesus wrestles with this feeling of sorrow and being troubled and will wrestle again with it in the garden of Gethsemane. This anguish has a component that is continual. Christian, please note that your resolve to glorify the Father in your own trouble is a continual struggle. Continue to be resolved. He argues within himself, he is processing it all as a man, “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ Will this be his final prayer in this situation? No, it will not. Jesus resolves to go all the way to the end, beyond the chambers of Pilate and the presence of Herod, through the lashings and the mocking, right to the cross. He wants the Father’s name to be glorified. Believer, I close with this thought, are you willing to endure a little longer a very real struggle you are facing if you knew through the process your heavenly Father’s name would be glorified? Have a blessed week and we will see many of you on Sunday.
Unto Jesus be glory,
Pastor Dale
