This blog is a part of our Holy Week series.

Dr. Adonis Vidu

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (Mark 14:32–42)

Hollywood has never really been able to get our heroes right. They are either too perfect and thus impossible to identify with (original Superman), or, more recently, too human and therefore undesirable to identify with (Hancock, Iron Man). But one human characteristic holds true in both types of heroes: they invariably pull through in virtue of something they discover within. We love watching heroic movies because they motivate and empower us. But Jesus doesn’t really fit the heroic type. Consider Jesus’ attitude before his capture and execution. Instead of taking charge of the situation, he frustrates his disciples by his apparent resignation before fate. But this is not an apathetic and suicidal letting go of the desire to live, à la Hancock. His retreat to prayer in the garden of Gethsemane shows a real struggle between his desire to live (“remove this cup from me”) and his desire to be obedient to the Father. Only this time no magic solution is discovered, no deep resource of self-motivation unlocked. Jesus is our hero because of his self-abandonment to the will of the Father. Life still tempted him, as it tempts us. His perfection lies not in an inability to feel temptation, but in overcoming it. And his humanity consists not of giving in to fear, but of throwing himself into the will of God (“not what I will, but what you will”).

Dr. Adonis Vidu is Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell.
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This post first appeared in the devotional, Journey to the Resurrection, published by Gordon-Conwell, April 13 – 20, 2014.