As we enter the second half of lent, the readings now center on the passion week leading up to the cross. Today’s reading is from Blaise Pascal in which the author centers on what he details as the Divine agony that Jesus goes through. He heals through his suffering and our suffering will be healed through him.
One comparison that intrigues me from Pascal is the garden of Eden and the garden of Gethsemane. Pascal brings it up in this way, “Jesus in a garden, not of delight, like the first Adam, who there fell and took with him all mankind, but of agony, where he has saved himself and all mankind. He suffers his anguish and abandonment in the horror of the night.”
One man enters into a garden of harmony and emerges shamed. The other man enters a garden shrouded in secrecy and sleep, emerging arrested yet ultimately victorious. Adam’s shame is covered by God and He is preserved. Jesus, not because of shame, but because of purpose and love is covered as well and in His suffering provides a redemptive covering available to all.