Gethsemane and the Atonement

1. Gethsemane and the Atonement LDS Extensions “Teach of Me” April 19, 2009

2. Time for a Quizzical!!! • Alma: “[the Atonement] must be an infinite and eternal ___________ .” • In what garden did the Atonement take place? • Which disciples were near Jesus during the Atonement? • How many times did Christ appear before Pilate? • True / False Because of the pain He knew He’d have to bear, Christ avoided visiting the garden prior to the Atonement.

3. Time for a Quizzical!!! • Extra credit: Which two disciples were brothers, and who was their father? • Extra credit: How far away was it described that the disciples were from Jesus during the Atonement?

4. Atonement

5. How did it feel to Christ during the Atonement? How did the Atonement work? How is it possible that he could take upon the sins of the world?

6. Preliminary Thoughts… In some mysterious, incomprehensible way, Jesus assumed the responsibility which naturally would have devolved upon Adam; but which could only be accomplished through the mediation of Himself, and by taking upon Himself their sorrows, assuming their responsibilities, and bearing their transgressions or sins.

7. Preliminary Thoughts… In a manner to us incomprehensible and inexplicable, He bore the weight of the sins of the whole world, not only of Adam, but of his posterity; and in doing that, opened the kingdom of heaven, not only to all believers and all who obeyed the law of God…

8. Preliminary Thoughts… …but to more than one-half of the human family who die before they come to years of maturity, as well as to the heathen, who, having died without law, will through His mediation be resurrected without law, and be judged without law, and thus participate, according to their capacity, works, and worth, in the blessings of His atonement. John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, 148-150

9. The Atonement • We do not know how it was done • It involved all pains, not just suffering from effects of sin

10. Preliminary Thoughts… Thus, in addition to bearing our sins-the required essence of the Atonement-the "how" of which we surely do not understand, Jesus is further described as having come to know our sicknesses, griefs, pains, and infirmities as well. Another "how" we cannot now comprehend!

11. Preliminary Thoughts… Jesus thus not only satisfied the requirements of divine justice but also, particularly in His Gethsemane and Calvary ordeals, demonstrated and perfected His capacity to succor His people and his empathy for them.

12. Preliminary Thoughts… The agonies of the Atonement were infinite and first-hand! Since not all human sorrow and pain is connected to sin, the full intensiveness of the Atonement involved bearing our pains, infirmities, and sicknesses, as well as our sins. Maxwell, “Not My Will, But Thine,” 51

13. “Agonies of Atonement were infinite and first-hand…” • Alma 34:9 • Must have an atonement or we will perish • verse 12 & 14 • What is the “last sacrifice”? • infinite atonement by infinite being (Jesus) • Christ suffered for each of us individually in turn, one by one

14. A Need for an Atonement:Process of Creation • D&C 29:31-32 • How are things created? • first spiritually, second temporally then second spiritually, then temporally Why?How is this possible?

15. A Need for an Atonement:Process of Creation first spiritually, second temporally then second spiritually, then temporally • Pre-existence  Spirit bodies  physical bodies • Death  spiritual bodies  Resurrected physical bodies

16. A Need for an Atonement:Process of Creation • Resurrection needs the Atonement • Being born again, spiritually begotten and resurrected with spiritual blood • We are not done being created until exalted • Before Resurrection is possible, overcoming death must come first. This is only possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

17. The Gospels and Gethsemane John 18 Matthew 26 Mark 14 Luke 22

18. John 18:1-2 Gethsemane, near the brook Cedron, was a place where Jesus often went to find solace and retreat He spent some of this best hours and joys there, and is now ironically going to experience the most pain and darkness there from Atonement.

19. John 18:1-2 • He who enjoyed a fullness of the spirit was now devoid of the spirit • He who was sinless became, as it were, sin for us • He who deserved least of all to suffer suffered the most • He who brought life, the abundant life, was subject to death and darkness

20. Matthew 26:36-46 • Gethsemane = “garden of the oil press” • Olive Oil  Food, medicine, fuel • “If it be possible…let this cup pass…” • Is he trying to get off? • Did he think there was another way instead of Atonement? • yes, He knew there was no other way Let’s look in John….

21. Submission or Succumbed? • John 12:27; 18:11 • “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” • “Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” • “There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of Heaven and let us in.” hymn#194 • Both Son and Father submitted to the plan!

22. Jeffery R. Holland I am a father, inadequate to be sure, but I cannot comprehend the burden it must have been for God in His heaven to witness the deep suffering and Crucifixion of His Beloved Son in such a manner. His every impulse and instinct must have been to stop it, to send angels to intervene—but He did not intervene.

23. Jeffery R. Holland He endured what He saw because it was the only way that a saving, vicarious payment could be made for the sins of all His other children from Adam and Eve to the end of the world. I am eternally grateful for a perfect Father and His perfect Son, neither of whom shrank from the bitter cup nor forsook the rest of us who are imperfect, who fall short and stumble, who too often miss the mark. Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 1999, 14–15

24. Look again…Matt 26:40 • Disciples fell asleep • Ignorance? • Wanted support, but his friends were not there. Christ had to endure it all, at times without the Spirit or friends, that He may know how to fully succor us today. • Why isn’t there more written about the Atonement?

25. Sleep – a negative thing? Finite minds can no more comprehend how and in what manner Jesus performed his redeeming labors than they can comprehend how matter came into being, or how Gods began to be. Perhaps the very reason Peter, James, and John slept was to enable a divine providence to withhold from their ears, and seal up from their eyes, those things which only Gods can comprehend. Bruce R. McConkie, Mortal Messiah 4:124

26. Mark 14:32-34 footnote 33a-b: Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, “astonished”! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fullness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1985, 73

27. Mark 14:35-36 In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always sought—His Father. “Abba,” He cried, “Papa,” or from the lips of a younger child, “Daddy.” This is such a personal moment it almost seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the night—together. Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 1999, 16

28. Luke 22:40-46 • Angel (verse 43) • Adam/Michael who brought sin into the world, is helping Jesus who is trying to take sin out of the world and us • The Angel showed compassion. • What is compassion? • Even Christ needed compassion

29. Luke 22:40-46 … Pray Earnestly Now, here is a marvelous thing. Note it well. The Son of God "prayed more earnestly"! He who did all things well, whose every word was right, whose every emphasis was proper - the Son of God "prayed more earnestly," teaching us, his brethren, that all prayers, his included, are not alike, and that a greater need calls forth more earnest and faith-filled pleadings… Bruce R. McConkie, SWBRM 143

30. Luke 22:40-46 … Pray Earnestly Pray moreearnestly greater need calls for more earnest and faith-filled pleadings

31. “Great Drops of Blood” • Blood, or in reality sweat? • Without the Book Of Mormon, people think sweat was like blood Scriptures: • Mosiah 3:7 • D&C 19:18

32. “Great Drops of Blood” – Why? Christ's agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause. The thought that He suffered through fear of death is untenable. Death to Him was preliminary to resurrection and triumphal return to the Father from whom He had come, and to a state of glory even beyond what He had before possessed; and, moreover, it was within His power to lay down His life voluntarily.

33. “Great Drops of Blood” – Why? He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing.

34. “Great Drops of Blood” – Why? No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so. In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, "the prince of this world" could inflict. In some manner, actual and terribly real though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world. Talmage, JTC 613-614

35. Agony and Pain • “Christ's agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind…” –Talmage • “an agony” • Greek phrase  “an agonia”  • “being in a fight”

36. D&C 18 – Worth • How much is a house worth? • How much is a car worth? • How much is education worth? We put a price on materialistic possessions, but what about the worth of a soul? How much is it worth?

37. D&C 18 Why is the worth of Souls Great?

38. D&C 18 – Worth of Souls • Is the worth of souls great in the sight of God, or despite God? • Many believe God has no part in our lives • Is being a good person enough? • Not everyone has heard the gospel • Work to your best ability for what you’ve been given. True effort is the key. • God sent is onlyson to suffer and die for us. A Soul is worth much because of the high cost it took to redeem it • We must be worthy of this redemption and gift

39. Infinite Atonement • Alma 34:10 • What does it mean to be an “infinite Atonement”? • Atoned for before and after time Christ lived • For all of God’s children, regardless of where they live • Even though it is infinite, what must we do to qualify for the blessing of the Atonement?

40. Boyd K. Packer Before the Crucifixion and afterward, many men have willingly given their lives in selfless acts of heroism. But none faced what the Christ endured. Upon Him was the burden of all human transgression, all human guilt. And hanging in the balance was the Atonement. Through His willing act, mercy and justice could be reconciled, eternal law sustained, and that mediation achieved without which mortal man could not be redeemed.

41. Boyd K. Packer He, by choice, accepted the penalty for all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality, immorality, perversion, and corruption; for addiction; for the killings and torture and terror—for all of it that ever had been or all that ever would be enacted upon this earth. In choosing, He faced the awesome power of the evil one who was not confined to flesh nor subject to mortal pain. That was Gethsemane!

42. Boyd K. Packer How the Atonement was wrought, we do not know. No mortal watched as evil turned away and hid in shame before the light of that pure being. All wickedness could not quench that light. When what was done was done, the ransom had been paid. Both death and hell forsook their claim on all who would repent. Men at last were free. Then every soul who ever lived could choose to touch that light and be redeemed.

43. Boyd K. Packer I cannot with composure tell you how I feel about the Atonement. It touches the deepest emotion of gratitude and obligation. My soul reaches after Him who wrought it, this Christ, our Savior of whom I am a witness. I testify of Him. He is our Lord, our Redeemer, our advocate with the Father. He ransomed us with His blood. Humbly I lay claim upon the atonement of Christ.

44. Boyd K. Packer I find no shame in kneeling down in worship of our Father and His son. For agency is mine, and this I choose to do! “Atonement, Agency, Accountability,” Ensign, May 1988, 72

45. You and the Atonement • Nobody could have done the Atonement except for Jesus • The Atonement is for ALL types of healing • He gave Himself up willingly for you • Forgiveness – not forgiving yourself is like rejecting the sacrifice Christ did for you • A video from an apostle…