In the Garden of Gethsemane: Discovering Meditation

The very first psalm in the Book of Psalms begins with these lovely words of encouragement:

Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.


Christian meditation is often associated with prayer or scripture study, and comprises largely of continual, focussed thought on God and his word. It is not as difficult to meditate as people imagine. In fact, most of us are experts in meditation. Do you worry about anything? That's meditation! Continued, intent, focussed thought on something. (Do you have a credit card? That's cause enough for a little meditation. Do you have two? Double cause. Six or seven cards? I can practically guarantee that you are a serious meditator.) Such meditation does nothing for us besides giving us ulcers and shooting up our blood pressure. Meditating on God's word, however, has some benefits. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).
 
Paul, advises us to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). These things that we need to ponder about are all found in God's word, and meditating upon them will help us to follow another sage bit of advice from the apostle: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).
 
Many Catholics are fond of saying the Rosary. The Rosary is a meditative prayer, where we focus on the life of Jesus. Most people just rattle it as though the mere saying of them will grant all our petitions like some magic mantra, but if we pray it as we should, it can bring about a lot of insight and understanding. Let us look at one of the sorrowful mysteries, the Agony of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
 
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:39-44)
 
Let us get into the garden with Jesus and do some meditating there. Jesus is in agony. Why is he in agony? Because he has an idea of what is going to follow—the pain and the tortuous death. Cause enough for mental anguish, but is that it? Surely he knew that is what he came for. Could it be something else? Perhaps. Why does he have to go through the pain? Why does he have to die? Because a sacrifice was needed, one that was permanent; one that would reconcile us to God for all time. How was he going to be that sacrifice? By taking on our sins upon himself. What would that have made Jesus in the eyes of his father? The most loathesome creature on this earth. Jesus had never been separated from the Father for all eternity; to be separated from him now and that too in a manner like this; how would that make Jesus feel? And then comes the insight, the understanding, of what caused Jesus's tremendous agony and the realization that the sacrifice that he made was even greater than we had previously ever imagined .....
 
There is a lot that I wish to share in this series, but as I will be putting my thoughts down in no particular order this series may appear a little disconnected. I will rectify this at a later date when I have some more time on my hands. In the meantime, I hope that you will find something useful in these little notes.