The Savior’s Suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane

Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men- Doctrine and Covenants 19:19

Selected passages of the scriptures in Matthew, Luke, and John describe the suffering of the Savior Jesus Christ while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The words and phrases describing his suffering include: sorrowful and very heavy (depressed), agony, sweat that were like big drops of blood, an angel from Heaven coming to give him strength, “Take this cup from me,” and fell to the ground as he prayed.  This is what I found from reading those selected passages. 

My savior Jesus Christ suffered spiritually and physically when he atoned for my sins and the sins of the rest of humanity.  After reading from selected scripture passages from Mosiah, Alma, and Doctrine and Covenants, I found that Jesus Christ was physically thirsty, hungry, and fatigued.  He suffered temptations, pains and afflictions.   “In that bitterest hour the dying Christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consummated in all its fullness, the Father seems to have withdrawn the support of His immediate Presence, leaving to the Savior of men the glory of complete victory over the forces of sin and death” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 661).  Even though the Father withdrew from his son Jesus Christ, he managed to complete all the requirements of the atonement.  I cannot imagine how Jesus Christ felt when Heavenly Father left him alone during the last moments of his mortal life. 

Taking the sins of the world wore Jesus Christ out.  I will never know how intense it was, but from the readings, I’ve learned the pain was unbearable,  “Intensified beyond human power to endure” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 661).  Every single pore in his body bled.  That gives me a glimpse of the great suffering he went though, but only Jesus Christ himself knows how it really was.  He was the only one that could have done it, no doubt about it.  I know I could not take the load he took, but I am eternally grateful that he did.

The garden of Gethsemane was a place that Jesus Christ went to frequently.  This place gave him the privacy he was looking for when he needed to pray or talk with his disciples (New Testament Student Manual p. 172-173).  This was the place he would choose to go forth with the atonement because he would have the privacy he needed. 

 When Jesus Christ was going through the atonement, he asked his disciples to pray, however, when he came back to check on them, they were asleep.  Jesus Christ taught his disciples that “ the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mathew 26:41).  If we pray for strength to overcome temptations, even if our bodies are weak, the strength of the spirit can overcome that temptation. 

Mosiah 15:7 says “The will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father,” 3 Nephi 11:11 says “I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning,” and Doctrine and Covenants 19:19 says “Nevertheless, glory be to the Father.”  All these are phrases that show that doing the will of the father was the motivation for Jesus Christ to “drink the bitter cup.”  The savior initially asked the Father to remove the bitter cup from him, but he always said in the end, thy will be done, not mine. A quality we need to have to submit ourselves to the will of God is to be humble.  Jesus Christ is a humble being and because of that he was able to accept and do the will of God, not his.  Our natural man side will always want to fight against the will of God, but learning to become humble can overcome that. 

When Jesus Christ was in agony during the atonement, he prayed more earnestly to the Father.  When I am going through a tough time in my life, I pray more, because it gives me the strength I need to overcome that trial.

I will never be able to comprehend the physical and spiritual pain Jesus Christ went through while atoning for my sins.  I cannot imagine going through the pain he went through.  He endured everything just to obey Heavenly Father.  Because of his atoning sacrifice I will one day also conquer physical death, and I can still battle spiritual death.  What Heavenly Father requires of me is nothing compared to what he required of his Son Jesus Christ.  That makes me think that I can endure until the end if I follow the straight and narrow path back to his presence.  He submitted to the will of the Father without questioning him.  He is the perfect example of humbleness.  Those are the qualities that I want to acquire during this lifetime.