The Agony Preparation of the Lamb

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The Agony Preparation of the Lamb
...He suffered died and was buried...
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The AgonyPreparation to Pain
The Agony the preparation of the Lamb
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..Jesus went out with his disciples across the
Kidron Valley. There was a garden there, and he
and his disciples entered it.John 181
Kidron Valley
Site of Last Supper
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As it looks today
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The Agony A Little Supposition

• Anguish over what was to come Jesus did not
  live in a vacuum. He knew what a crucified
  victim went through. He had to have seen
  crucified victims at some time in his life.
• He may not have ever actually witness a
  scourging, but He had to know what one was all
  about he may have even seen a scourged victim
  during his lifetime he knew what was in store
  for himself.
• And He knew that He would be all alone his
  friends would abandon, deny, and even betray Him

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"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point
of death." (Matthew 2638)
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The Visions of Anne Catherine EmmerichWhere Were
the Apostles?

• Jesus told eight of them to remain in the Garden
  of Gethsemane while he went on to pray
• He took with him Peter, James, and John and going
  on a little further entered into the Garden of
  Olives
• He then had the three stay in the Garden of
  Olives while he went a few steps to the left,
  down a hill and concealed himself beneath a rock
  in a grotto about six feet deep

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The Beginning of His Anguish

• About 9PM when Jesus reached Gethsemane, he said
  My soul is sorrowful unto death
• he beheld sufferings and temptations surrounding
  him on all sides and drawing nearer and nearer,
  under the forms of frightful figures borne on
  clouds
• His sorrow and anguish of soul continued to
  increase and he was trembling all over when he
  entered the grotto to pray

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Overwhelmed with Sorrow

• He fell on his face, overwhelmed with
  unspeakable sorrow..
• adorable heart.was flooded with anguish and
  overwhelmed beneath the weight of so many
  abominable crimes
• Satan brought forward innumerable temptations
• He reproached him with the faults of his
  disciples, the scandals which they had caused,
  and the disturbances which he had occasioned in
  the world by giving up ancient customs

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Satan Points the Finger

• Satan blamed Our Lord for the following
• having been the cause of the massacre of the
  innocents
• as well as of the sufferings of his parents in
  Egypt
• with not having saved John the Baptist from death
• with having brought disunion into families
• For protecting men of despicable character
• For refusing to cure various sick persons
• For having deserted his family
• and squandering the property of others

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The Agony

• ..his soul became terrified at the sight of the
  innumerable crimes of men, and of their
  ingratitude towards God, and his anguish was so
  great that he trembled and shudderedhe trembled
  at the prospect of death
• he fell from side to side, clasping his hands
  his body was covered with a cold sweat
• was about half-past ten oclock when he arose
  from his knees and, bathed in a cold sweat,
  directed his trembling, weak footsteps towards
  his three Apostles (Peter, James, and John)

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With the Apostles

• the terrible visions never left him, even while
  he was thus seeking his disciples. When he found
  that they were asleep, he clasped his hands and
  fell down on his knees besides them, overcome
  with sorrow and anxiety
• in his overwhelming sorrow, he remained with
  them nearly a quarter of an hour (until about
  1045), and spoke to them again. He then
  returned to the grotto, his mental sufferings
  being still on the increase.

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A Vision of His Upcoming Passion

• After Jesus returned to the grotto, ..his soul
  had to sustain a second interior combat, which
  lasted three-quarters of an hour (until about
  1130). Angels came and showed him in a series
  of visions, all the sufferings that he was to
  endure in order to expiate sinthe signification
  and essence of all the sufferings entailed by
  concupiscence
• No tongue can describe what anguish and what
  horror overwhelmed the soul of Jesus at the sight
  of so terrible an expiation his sufferings were
  so great, indeed that a bloody sweat issued forth
  from all the pores of his sacred body

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Bridgets Vision

• ..But you may ask How did a bloody sweat issue
  from my body? As the blood of the sick man is
  dried and consumed in all his members, so my
  blood was consumed by the natural fear of death.

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Scripture

• in his anguish he prayed with all the greater
  intensity and his sweat became like drops of
  blood falling to the ground.Luke 2244

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The Sweating of Blood

• Why do you think Luke was the only one to mention
  the sweating of blood?
• Luke was a physician and this would be of
  utmost importance to him.
• The sweating of blood hematidrosis a very
  rare occurrence

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How Does Hematidrosis Occur?

• Caused by extreme physical and or emotional
  stress, the capillary blood vessels feeding the
  sweat glands rupture releasing small amounts of
  blood with the sweat
• There was enormous pressure on Jesus that night.
  His anguish led him to cry out to his Father
  asking if possible, to take the cup away.

Thy will be done!
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My Soul is Sorrowful Even to Death

• "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you.
  Take this cup away from me, but not what I will
  but what you will."

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The Effects of Hematidrosis

• Sensitizing the skin - Whenever hematidrosis
  happens to a person the skin becomes very
  sensitive and the slightest touch is painful.
  Other effects that hematidrosis has on the body
  are
• weakened condition
• Possible shock

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Satan Returns

• Satan displayed before the eyes of our Lord the
  enormity of that debt of sin which he was going
  to pay, and was even bold and malicious enough to
  seek faults in the very works of our Saviour
  himself
• Jesus asked himself the tremendous question,
  and what good will result from this sacrifice?
  Then a most awful picture of the future was
  displayed before his eyes and overwhelmed his
  tender heart with anguish
• he beheld the ingratitude of mankind!

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The Folly of it All

• Our Lord beheld
• all the future sufferings of his Apostles,
  disciples, and friends
• after which he saw the primitive churchdisturbed
  by heresies and schisms breaking out among her
  children
• he saw the tepidity, malice and corruption of an
  infinite number of Christians, the lies and
  perceptions of proud teachers, all the sacrileges
  of wicked priests
• the fatal consequences of each sin.of those
  ungrateful human beings whom he was about to
  redeem with his blood at the cost of unspeakable
  sufferings

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The Struggle and Anguish

• The Son of Man struggled and writhed as he fell
  on his knees, with clasped hands so violent was
  the struggle which took place between his human
  will and his repugnance to suffer so much for
  such an ungrateful race, that from every pore of
  his sacred body there burst forth large drops of
  blood, which fell trickling on to the ground
• Jesus, in his anguish of spirit, raised his
  voice and gave utterance to several cries of
  pain.

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The Fiends of The Serpent

• The odious serpent led forward countless legions
  of the enemies of Jesus
• an awful sight for they heaped upon him the
  most fearful outrages, cursing, striking,
  wounding, and tearing him in pieces
• Jesus was as much wounded and bruised as if
  their blows had been real. I saw him stagger
  from side to side, sometimes raising himself up,
  and sometimes falling again

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What Jesus Witnessed

• He saw the open contempt, abuse, and most awful
  sacrileges the worship of worldly idols
• Children led astray by following teachers and
  parents filled with the love of the world and
  forgetfulness of God
• The atrocities of soldiers during wartime,
  desecrating churches and the Holy Sacrament

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The Agony Continues

• He witnessed neglect everywhere and the worship
  of God either inwardly profaned or outwardly
  dishonored
• Indifference, sloth, preoccupation with vain
  earthly concerns egotism and spiritual death
• Pastors and congregations feeding on the wealth
  of the world churches deserted, priests despised
• The souls of the faithful, unprepared and
  un-cleansed when our lord was about to enter

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Continuing Hematidrosis

• Blood flowing in large drops down the pale face
  of our Saviour, his hair matted together and his
  beard bloody and entangled
• His appearance was that of a man covered with
  wounds and bending beneath a heavy burden and he
  stumbled at every step
• He returned to his three apostles for a short
  while and then about a quarter past eleven, he
  returned to the grotto

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Consolation

• He then witnessed the vision of Limbo and the
  release of souls who had been awaiting him
• The band of future saints passed before the soul
  of our Lord as the gates of heaven were opened
  once again

This must have given Jesus great joy, yet sadness
that there were not more souls entering heaven
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The Return of Pain A Preview of His Passion and
Death

• Every scene of his upcoming passion was vividly
  displayed before his eyes he beheld the hatred
  of man as they beat, spit upon, scourged, threw
  mud at, etc. and he accepted his fate
  willingly, because he loves us so much
• He felt the sufferings endured by his mother
  during the passion

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Departure from the
Grotto

• After viewing his passion and what tortures were
  before him, he returned to his three apostles
  pointing out to them, at some distance in the
  valley on the other side of the Brook of Cedron,
  a band of armed men, and who were advancing with
  torches
• It was now a little after 1130 PM
• He had been agonizing for two and a half hours

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The Kiss of Betrayal
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Just Who Was Judas

• More learned than the other apostles more of a
  scholar
• Hailed from Kerioth in Idumea ish Kerioth means
  man of Kerioth and from ish Kerioth came the
  slang Iscariot
• The bible cities by the name of Kerioth, one in
  Judah and one in Moab the Judean Kerioth was
  located 14 miles S of Hebron and 16 miles W of
  the Dead Sea
• He most probably descended from Esau and resided
  in Idumea (Latin for Edom) located South of the
  Dead Sea. His fathers name was Simon
• The treasurer of the apostles

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The Origin of Judas
Idumea
Kerioth
NEGEV
The other 11 apostles came from Galilee
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The Treasurer

• Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he
  that was about to betray him, said 'Why was not
  this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and
  given to the poor?' Now he said this, not because
  he cared for the poor but because he was a
  thief, and having the purse, carried the things
  that were put therein (John 124-6).

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The Initiator

• Scripture indicates that Judas initiated contact
  with the high priests to betray our Lordno one
  coerced him into doing so
• What were his motives in contacting the high
  priest?
• Money
• He did not believe Jesus was God
• Anger with our Lord for rebuking him
• He believed Jesus mission was a political /
  military one and that Jesus could figure in
  removing the Romans from the territory

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Scripture

• "Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It
  would be better for him if he had not been born"
  (Mark 1421)
• In his despair Judas sought forgiveness from the
  high priests and found no solace. Had he truly
  believed that Jesus was God and had he believed
  in the words of our lord, he would have realized
  how forgiving our father is.

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Into the Hands of the Wolves

• From the moment Judas kissed our Lord, he became
  property of Annas, Caiphas, and the other
  malicious Jewish leaders
• Into the hands of these Pharisees and their many
  archers, he would be led from the garden on the
  way to his destiny

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Many of us downplay the importance of how the
agony contributed to Our Lords upcoming
sufferings
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Recap of the Garden

• But when Jesus was escorted from the garden, He
  felt
• Complete exhaustion
• Total abandonment from his friends and betrayal
  by one
• Physically and emotionally weakened
• Mentally fatigued and wondering if all would be
  worth it in the end very saddened by the number
  of souls who would never appreciate and benefit
  from his sacrifice
• Mortally terrified of His upcoming fate
• Skin sensitized to pain from the slightest touch
• And probably a little bit thirsty