Home
>
Spirituality
>
The Garden of Agony (Part 1)

The Garden of Agony (Part 1)

Eden, the garden of ecstasy is no longer available to us. We left it in sin and shame and it cannot be regained. All the privileges it offered have been forfeited. And so every man on this toilsome journey through life, in the midst of much tribulation and much soul searching, enters the Garden of Agony.

We do not enter this garden out of choice. Destiny calls us to it and we must heed the call. Jesus said "if a man is to save his life, he must first lose it." Regardless of our socio ? economic status, race, religion, or creed ? regardless of our prestige, power, or intellect; the day will come when we will have to decide whether or not we'll cross over the brook Kedron.

The brook Kedron represents the sand-line between God's will and man's will. Some of us will decide not to cross over. Some of us will be unable to withstand the agony, the frustrations, the hurt, the suffering, and the despair. Some of us will not be able to cope and subsequently, look for another way out. We'll jump out of windows, we'll overdose on drugs, we'll drink ourselves to death or put a gun to our heads and pull the trigger; anything to avoid the Garden of Agony. The rest of us will confront our garden.

How we enter our garden will be largely determined by the kind of preparation we have made. Man has been a nomad and a wanderer ever since he was exiled from the first Garden; the Garden of Eden with its sinless wonders and its trees of life and knowledge. Ever since we left this garden, man has been roaming in a never-ending wilderness. Now, we find ourselves in desperate need of someone to point the way back.

Well, if we want to get ourselves together again, it is imperative that we go back to the spot where we first detoured from Christ. The hymn acknowledges this fact as it declares:

I've wandered far away from God, the paths of sin too long I've trod. I've wasted many precious years; I now repent with bitter tears. I'm tired of sin and straying Lord, I'll trust Thy love, believe Thy word. My soul is sick, my heart is sore, my strength renew, my hope restore. Lord, I'm coming home.

Somehow, we must follow the same path that Jesus trod. Jesus went all the way. He crossed over the brook Kedron; He went all the way to another tree of life in another garden. That garden is called Gethsemane.

We know that Jesus died at Calvary and rose again. But I ask that you think along with me because in a very real and profound sense, Jesus had already died before He got to Calvary. Somehow, Calvary had already happened in the agony of Gethsemane. Somehow, Jesus experienced spiritual, mental, physical and emotional death in the agony of the Garden Gethsemane.

The Gospel of Matthew represents Jesus as saying, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death." Jesus was wholly encompassed, encircled, and overwhelmed with grief. He was plunged entirely in sorrow and woe. Mark records that Jesus "began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy." And it is interesting that the great physician, Dr. Luke, is the only editor to mention "And being in agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground."

Even today, medical literature has documented this rare condition as "hematidrosis" or bloody sweat. When a person is under extreme and severe emotional and mental stress, the small capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone had depleted Jesus of his strength. We say that Jesus was resurrected on Easter, and in reality He was. But in another sense, He died and was somehow resurrected in Gethsemane.

We too, all of us, are on our journey. The first garden cannot be reclaimed. It is a lost paradise. And if we are going to be saved, we must somehow struggle while stumbling to pass through the second garden; the Garden of Agony. We must confront our garden because somehow, it is there where we die and it is there where we are resurrected again, or we fail forever.

And you know, experience has taught me that the greatest agony suffered in our Gethsemane is the fact that it must be suffered alone. This is true of all pain is it not? Agony is of such that other folks may empathize with us; they may sympathize for us, but there is something about agony that all of us must bear alone. It is a point in our lives when we are forced to move to another dimension; a dimension beyond the mundane, a dimension beyond the realm of ordinary everyday common activities.

When we enter our garden, we discover that it is unlike any place we have ever experienced before. It is a place of bitter anguish and a yearning desire to escape, to get away. It is a place of suffering on a titanic scale. It is a place of failing, of deficiency, of spiritual torture, of sinking of spirit.

(continued in Part 2)

* More information about Hematidrosis can be obtained at: beyondthepassion.org.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. http://www.clergyservices4u.org. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, will be available in July.

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..

In The News:

New phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

The Garden of Agony (Part 1)

Spirituality