Jesus Worried, part two

 A few days ago I posted a somewhat lengthy comment about a new heresy floating around churches and elsewhere that Jesus experienced worry and anxiety. I tried to demonstrate from the Scriptures (thereby avoiding giving my opinion only) that Jesus NEVER worried or had anxiety.

Some have asked me about the text in the Garden when Jesus' sweat was like drops of blood and in which He asked the Father to remove the cup He was about to drink. Here is my response to that question:
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Clearly, Jesus did not want to die. Thus His prayer in Gethsemane. But to say He was worried or anxious about it does not meet the criteria of 'texts in context.'

People worry and are anxious over things they perceive are out of their control. But the Lord Jesus was certainly in control of the ENTIRE events leading to and through His crucifixion. That's why He told His disciples He could call 12 legion of angels to His rescue – but "How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (Matthew 26).

He told His disciples (John 10:17-18) "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Yes, He told His disciples in John 12 27 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” And that was His point – that He came from heaven to earth for that very purpose – to die.

But He knew perfectly well the kind of death He was to die. He knew the torture He would endure. Who would want that kind of death? And thus, His prayer. But didn't He do it all for love for you and me? And again, He could have called the whole thing off right there in the Garden.

His drops of blood (hematidrosis) were not (if we look at all the scriptures) from worry or anxiety. It was from not wanting to die as He was going to die.

Look for a moment at the history of the Church’s martyrs, beginning with Stephen. Does the text in Acts suggest he was worried or anxious? What about St Paul who wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Later, just before his martyrdom, he told Timothy, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.”

If Paul was worried or anxious about his impending death (or earlier imprisonments,) he would not have written also “I will not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death (Phil 1 ). Nor would he have told Agabus and the others, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21).

If Paul (as well as so many of the Church martyrs) faced their martyrdom with hearts held high – do we think less of the Son of God?

The Scriptures, when taken in context with the rest of the Scriptures, clearly teach Jesus never worried or was anxious. Why? Because He completely, utterly, wholly trusted His Father to do what was right.

That is another reason Jesus is our example par excellence in how to live and trust the Father -- even through the valley of the shadow of death.