Last time I wrote about Adam.
The first man.
The blueprint.
The short term man who couldn’t make a stand. But thankfully the story doesn’t end with Adam, it’s just the beginning. God’s plan is for the whole of creation to be restored, to be redeemed. But for that to happen he needs a new Adam, a long term man, whose very life and death are the ultimate stand. One of the Bible contributers, Paul, describes Jesus as the last Adam. Paul sees Jesus as this new Adam, the trueprint. Like Adam, Jesus was to be tempted, unlike Adam, Jesus wouldn’t bow to his own desires.
Just like Adam, Jesus is in a garden. But this isn’t like the garden of Eden, this is not a place of freedom, life and laughter, it’s a garden of death, sword, betrayer’s lips, and savaged ears. Jesus is no fool, he knows what’s coming, that within hours he will be beaten, mocked, humiliated and nailed to a tree, and he is praying – praying so hard that one account tells us that drops of blood fell from his brow. And what is this last Adam, this trueprint praying at the time of his greatest test? He is praying for a way out. Yes you read that right. ”Father this burden is too heavy, it’s too much surely you can’t expect me to? There must be an out, a plan b?” Jesus? Praying for a way out? An escape?
It’s understandable really, he’d spent three years teaching these people how to live a better life, and none of them really got it, not even the ones he was closest too and now, right as he was praying some of them were arming themselves, gathering the local hired thugs to come and force him to his death. And his friends? The ones he needed in his darkest hour? Oh they were catching up on their beauty sleep – know who your mates are? A Carling advert this wasn’t.
It’s very easy to skim over the significance of this prayer, this request for God’s plan to be changed, to think of it as a minor blip in an otherwise perfect life, a slip in the heat of the moment, a quickly uttered mistake even more quickly forgotten. But it is in fact none of these. It is the real and heart felt emotion of a man who loves life and who really doesn’t want to lose his. Jesus repeats this prayer three times. Three times he begs and pleads with God that there be another way. Three times he asks that his life be spared.
But, there’s always a but, that’s not the whole story. You see in order to keep your attention and to draw out the suspense, I have omitted a small but important line from Jesus’ prayer. A line that means this Adam succeeds where the first Adam did not, a line which is long term as opposed to short. A line which takes responsibility, a line which saved your life.
‘Enough about me, Father Your will be done Your way.’
Previously published on Ebs and Flows …
