Gethsemane 6 - Mark 14:36; Luke 22:43-44

When Jesus asks His Father to “let this cup pass from me,” Mark records something interesting and that is exactly how he addressed Heavenly Father. Jesus says, “Abba, Father.” I’ve never understood why that was significant but that’s probably because I grew up being taught “you are a special child of God, he is your Father,” etc. But I don’t think that the generalized Jewish understanding of God at that time was one of compassionate parent, but more of an ill-tempered task master. So imagine that the person you think is in charge is very authoritarian and you call him “sir” or “general” or something like that, then your friend says, “hey dad.” That would give you moment to pause and think, “maybe I had the wrong idea.”
The IM gives excellent perspective, saying, “There is no scriptural record of anyone before Jesus Christ addressing God in this manner. Typical Old Testament ways of addressing God in prayer included ‘O Lord God,’ ‘O Lord God of hosts,’ ‘O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel,’ and ‘O God o our salvation.’ In later years, some people developed a tendency to address God with a litany of titles that paid homage to His sovereignty, glory, graciousness, and other divine attributes. The Savior’s use of ‘Abba, Father’ was a striking contrast to this practice. It was both simple and profound; it indicated a close, personal relationship with a personal Being. The Savior taught His followers to address God in prayer as their Father: ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’”
My mom was the principal of an elementary school for 12 years and for 6 of those years my kids attended her school. The other students at the school were a little intimidated by my mom because she was the principal, she had the ultimate power to disciple then and she didn’t put up with any crap. She embodied the VIP appearance and demeanor of someone who was in charge of them. So imagine the surprise of the other students when the principal came to observe a classroom and the kids straightened up and my kids waved “hi Grandma!” My kids were subject to the same rules of the school that all the other kids were, and even then some, because my mom and I were determined to make sure that no one thought that they were receiving special treatment, so they had to be extra well behaved.
One time we had a problem with one of my kids and my mom let me decide the punishment. I asked, “What would you do if it were any other kid?” My mom said, “I would suspend them for the next day.” I said then she’ll be suspended for the next day. But the next day was a field trip and I said I don’t care, she’ll miss it then. Even my mom said, “well even if it were another kid, I would let them go to the field trip and suspend them for Friday instead.” I said no. So she missed the field trip and she was so upset, but she wasn’t going to receive special treatment just because of who her grandma was.
My point is that my kids were subject to the same exact rules as all the other kids, if not a little bit more, but they never felt oppressed or intimidated by my mom because they knew that Grandma loves them and anything negative that she had to do to them was going to be for their own good. Similarly Jesus was subject to the same exact commandments as the rest of us, maybe even a little bit more, but he never felt oppressed or intimidated by God because he knew exactly who he was to his Father, he knew that his Father loved him and that anything negative that happened to Him would be for his ultimate benefit.
The name “Abba, Father” might be the equivalent of “dad” to us, and the fact that Jesus called God “dad” instead of “Lord God king of the universe,” demonstrates the personally intimate nature of their relationship and also shows that no one else had ever had a relationship with God in the same way that Jesus did, ever in our recorded history. The IM quotes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland as observing, “In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguish cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom he had always sought- His Father… This is not abstract theology now. This is a son pleading with His Father, ‘All things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.’ Who could resist that from any child, especially the perfect Child? ‘You can do anything. I know you can do anything. Please take this cup from me.’… But in the end, the cup did not pass. In the end, He yielded His will to the will of His Father and said,’ Not my will, but thine, be done.’”
The answer to Jesus prayer was “no.” How many times in our lives have we been in unspeakable pain, have we felt discouraged and like there was no escape from the pain? How many times have we “prayed more earnestly” for relief? Is it wrong to pray more intensely at certain times? Or should all of our prayers be equally concentrated all the time no matter what? I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect ourselves to be immersed in prayer to the greatest degree we’ve ever felt at all times. Honestly, it sounds exhausting to me. We just have to do our best at the time and hope for the best. The IM quotes President James E. Faust as teaching, “Prayers vary in their intensity. Even the Savior ‘prayed more earnestly’ in His hour of agony. Some are simple expressions of appreciation and requests for a continuation of blessings on our loved ones and us. However, in times of great personal hurt or need, more may be required than mere asking… Blessings sought through prayer sometimes require work, effort, and diligence on our part.” And sometimes the answer is just plain, “no.”
Answers to prayers can come in many different ways. Sometimes the answer is “yes,” sometimes the answer is “no,” and sometimes the answer is something else completely. In this case, Heavenly Father did answer Jesus’ prayer, but the answer might have been unexpected, He sent “an angel to strengthen Him.” Just like Satan had been there with a chance to dissuade the Savior from performing the atonement with negativity, an angel was also sent to encourage and uplift Him. The IM and Bruce R. McConkie both speculate that the angel sent was Adam, the first man, also known as Michael the archangel.
In “The Infinite Atonement” we are given four reasons why Adam is a safe bet as to the angel’s identity. It says, “First, Adam, who was a joint creator of this earth and father of mortal man, would have had a supreme interest in man’s ultimate destiny. Certainly he had a vested interesting to see that this earth and all its dominions were not created in vain. Second, it seems appropriate that he who triggered in part the need of the Atonement should now be the agent for mankind to assist Him who pled for its redemption. Third, as taught by Joseph Smith, Adam has a presiding role in the hierarchy of divine beings, since all ‘angels are under the direction of Michel or Adam,’ and thus it seems no messenger would be more suited to strengthen and bless than he who was the presiding archangel. Fourth, Adam enjoyed a unique relationship with the Savior. Not only did he join with him in the creation process, but likewise as he led the heavenly forces in battle. Now, once again, Adam might momentarily stand by him as the Savior participated in the most crucial battle of all. Adam could not take the Savior’s place (for the Savior must bear this alone), but what he could do, he no doubt wanted to do.”
The angel couldn’t stop the Savior’s suffering, he couldn’t take it away, he couldn’t make it different in any fashion but he did what he could and it helped. Many times we have people in our lives who are suffering and we can’t take that suffering away, we can’t make it stop or take some of it onto our selves, but what can we do? What did the angel do? We don’t know, it’s possible that the angel was quiet and just provided a peaceful presence as a reminder of the gratitude of the billions of spirits who were being saved at that very moment. Perhaps the angel prayed right along side of Jesus, praying for Jesus to be strengthened. Maybe, he sang to him, or told him jokes, or read the scriptures to him, I don’t know, any of those things might have been helpful. But the angel did what was in his power to do.
We might not be able to change the circumstances of one other person in this whole world, might not be able to ease their suffering at all, but we do have tools at our disposal that can make a difference, just like the angel in the garden made a difference for Jesus. We can be kind, we can pay special attention, we can provide for needs, we can smile, we can be positive, we can read to them, we can tell them jokes, we can pray with and for them. There are so many possibilities to how we can help someone who is struggling knowing that we can’t do much about their individual, specific trial. It made a difference to Jesus at the most crucial hour of human existence, and our efforts can make earth moving differences as well.