Intrepid

 

Intrepid

^{Luke 22:44 “}And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Agony: extreme physical or mental suffering.

^{Matthew 26:39 “}And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

     Nowhere do I find Jesus’ frailty so pronounced as in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Yet under the thin skin of a man in need lie a rock of resolution.  Maybe a hardboiled egg would be an appropriate picture.  The shell so delicate yet the insides congealed to give form regardless.  You can strip off its entire outer covering, the egg remains.

     That’s how it was with Jesus.  But to say He was intrepid would deny His outer being.  If we glossed over this one, we may miss the whole bit.  Yes, He was tempted in all ways and yet without sin.  So this instance was like the others.  Did Satan meet Him in the garden?  Didn’t have to.  The mountain He was about to climb threatened to fall and crush Him.

     Jesus was to suffer in His body.  We all know the gamut He walked.  Enough Hollywood films depict His trial.  Even if we could not read, His walk to the cross has been widely sensationalized to educate us by entertainment.  So a basic knowledge lies.

     But what the camera cannot capture is an eternal rift.  How do you split a mountain?  Can one carve out a section of God and cast Him down?  His Son fallen to a lower state.  The avalanche from the peak.  Refuse in crumbled rocks gather about the Base as to plead for mercy.  Jesus became sin for us.  Fragmented He assumed a lower part, the only place for Him.

     Was separation Jesus’ agony?  He had seen crucifixions.  The Romans made the Jews well aware.  No coincidence they decided to string three men up just before Passover when out-of-towners could witness.  It was a show.  Jesus had watched CNN before.  What He purposed had been articulated to Him.  Still, the suffering of abandonment overshadowed the pain He was about to experience in His body.

     Intrepid.  Fearless in the midst of strife.  Our armored Knight prepared for a final joust?  Not the picture.  Jesus knew gut wrenching inner turmoil.  Intensity to run in a direction, either to or from the cross.  Jesus a shredded soul cried out to His Father.  “If there be any other way… if there be any other way.  Nevertheless, Your will be done.”

     A brazen face with jaw jutted forward, John Wayne failed the part.  Jesus was the only one to take it to the cross.  He faced man.  He faced God.  He faced death.  And did not wane.  Perhaps intrepid must be redefined in light of Jesus’ struggle.

     We could rewrite history and fulfill a Hollywood dream.  Action!  Marlon Brando taking up a cigarette in the garden.  Leaning on his motorcycle, cussing the disciples for falling asleep.  The arresting multitude showing up, and Mr. Brando saying, “What took you so long?”  But that would not be the Jesus we know.

     Did Jesus know fear?  He better have.  He was as we are.  Yet, He steamed ahead like a train burrowing through the soul of His Father.  Racing full speed into the pitch of blackness, He reached forward for an embrace.  In futility, His empty arms fell down at final breath.  Severing the tie, His run terminated.  

     Intrepid lacks to authenticate His realness.  What Jesus feared came upon Him suddenly.  In body but more importantly in spirit.