Fears

So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: "You are My Son, today I have begotten You."  As He also says in another place: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek"; who, in the days of  His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
Hebrews 5: 5-8 NKJV

It is difficult for one today to know the experience that Christ Jesus went through as He was tortured and crucified by the Romans at the insistence of the Jewish leaders.  One thing that brought these events home for me was the film "The passion of the Christ."  I remember watching this film and for the very first time knowing the anguish Jesus must have felt.  Of course, we will never truly know the anguish which Christ Jesus endured, but we have the witness of scriptures to attest that these events are true.  I have no doubt that Jesus knew the very path which was set before Him, yet He did not flinch in His obedience to follow the plan set forth by His Father in heaven.   He was tempted by satan, scorned, ridiculed and lived the life of a common man, all the while being God in the flesh.  From such humble beginings came forth the savior of all mankind.  I have often wondered just how this flesh of Jesus reacted to the life which He was born into.   For we know that Jesus exhibited anger, sadness, tears and happiness on His path to the cross.  However, we also must keep in mind that Jesus also exhibited the fears of His flesh as well.  We do well to remember that those very same emotions which we ourselves have experienced in our life, were also experienced by God in the flesh.  For Jesus was the perfect balance of holy God and the flesh of man.  For without the flesh of Gods creation, the world may have never known this man Jesus.  For the realm from which Jesus originated is not physical but spiritual.  Indeed, Jesus was the very image of God wrapped in human flesh.  As with ourselves, that flesh of Jesus was nothing more than a vessel to hold His spirit.

And he took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."
Matthew 26: 37-39 NKJV

It is in the garden of Gethsemane where we see another side of the flesh of Christ Jesus.  As Jesus enters the garden with His disciples, He reveals "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death."  One can only imagine the flood of emotions carried by this man who in a few short hours would be scourged and brought before the authorities of the day.  Make no mistake, Jesus knew His impending fate, and it is here where we first see that fear He exhibits as His hour draws near.  This is the flesh side of Jesus, that which so much exemplifies our own emotions.  However, it is in the very next moment where Jesus must have realized His response of His flesh.  In the face of His fears, Jesus prays to His Father "Not as I will, but as You will."  Jesus denies the fears of His flesh as He realizes that the very hour which is appointed for Him was appointed by God.  The perfect plan which God had set in motion from the begining of time would not be derailed by the flesh of man.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.  Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.   Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4: 12-16 NKJV

We may feel like there is nobody who can sympathize with whatever it is I am going through, pain and disapointments are real and personal to all who experience them.  I think of my Lord Jesus, how He must have felt in those hours leading to His crucifiction.  Much worse than the fears of the unknown must be the fear of ones impending death.

~Scott~