Anguished
-
Anguished: feeling extreme pain, distress, or anxiety (Merriam-Webster)
Being anguished has many faces that are fairly sudden.
Being anguished can also be something that goes on and on for a long period of time.
Anguish Scale
1 5 10
Minor Moderate Massive
What is your anguish score?
What is your biggest source of anguish?
Mark 14:32-42 (GNT)
Luke 22:44 (NIV)
The etiopathogenesis according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe is that multiple blood vessels which are present in a net-like form around the sweat gland, constrict under pressure of stress. As the anxiety increases, the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands, which push it along with sweat to the surface, presenting as droplets of blood mixed with sweat. The extravasated blood has identical cell components as that of peripheral blood. The severe mental anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system to invoke the stress-fight or flight reaction to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the vessels supplying the sweat glands into the ducts of the sweat glands.
Jesus’ anguish was the most extreme level a human being can experience.
So what can we learn about living with anguish from Jesus.
When you are feeling anguished,
1) Invite others to be with you
Mark 14:32-33 (GNT)
Jesus goes to a place near Jerusalem called Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane means “olive press”.
Zabadi olive press
Jesus – The Last Prayers of Gethsemane – talk of Jesus .com
1000s-
70-
12-
3-
The Human Dilemma:
We desperately need other people to be with us.
Other people will regularly let us down.
People will hurt you. Keep sharing your anguish with others anyway. Jesus modeled this for us.
When you are feeling anguished,
1) Invite others to be with you
2) Share your feelings with others
Mark 14:33-34
When you are feeling anguished,
1) Invite others to be with you
2) Share your feelings with others
3) Share your feelings with your Abba
Mark 14:36 (NLT)
“Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Let’s break this simple prayer down into 4 profound parts”
A) Abba, Father--
B) Everything is possible for you.
C) Please take this cup of suffering away from me.
D) Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.
Why was Jesus anguished?
“Abba, Father, I don’t want to do this. Please! You can do anything; then take this cup away from me—Hell is in that cup! Death and damnation are in that cup! My Father, my Father, it will tear me away from you! No, I don’t want to do this! No! Sin is in that cup—and if I drink it you won’t look at me, you will loathe me. I don’t want to drink it! Abba, Abba, take the cup away from me! . . . Nevertheless. . . not what I want. . . what you want.” –Walter Wangerin
For Abba Father to say, “YES!” to you, he had to say, “no” to his Son.
For beginning a relationship with God:
Abba, Father. Daddy God. Thank you for preparing a way for me to come back to you. Jesus, thank you for being willing to die for my sins. I ask you to forgive me for my sins. Teach me how to follow you when times are good and when there is suffering. I will follow you no matter what comes my way. Amen.
For freshly surrendering your life to God:
Abba, Father. Daddy God. Thank you for loving me. I bring my anguished places to you. Everything is possible for you. I ask that you would take this cup of suffering away. However, I relinquish my need to have things my way. Teach me to want your will even more than my own comfort.
