A Response to Saint Hilary on the Agony in the Garden

A friend of mine approached me after the Monday Bible Study and said he had an ancient quandary.  It came from a commentary on the Agony in the Garden written by Saint Hilary of Potiers.


Why did Jesus Have Fear?

So first let’s look at the Agony in the Garden, then the words of Saint Hilary:

“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” – Matthew 26:36-38

“He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” - Luke 22:41-44

Regarding this, Saint Hilary said:

“I suppose that there are some who offer here no other cause of His fear than His passion and death. I ask those who think thus, whether it stands with reason that He should have feared to die, who banished from the Apostles all fear of death, and exhorted them to the glory of martyrdom?  

How can we suppose Him to have felt pain and grief in the sacrament of death, who rewards with life those who die for Him? And what pangs of death could He fear, who came to death of the free choice of His own power? And if His Passion was to do Him honor, how could the fear of His Passion make Him sorrowful?” - On the Trinity, Book 10, Section 10, 350AD

Saint Hilary begins by saying that there are some who would say Jesus’ agony in the garden is entirely explicable by His fear of suffering and death.  That he finds absurd.

Well, I too would find such a view unsatisfactory.  Rarely is there JUST ONE THING going on with anything Jesus said or did.  Surely this is no exception.  There are probably many profound things going on here aside from mortal fear.

But then Saint Hilary goes to the other extreme.  He asks if it stands to reason that Jesus would fear his down death at all.  He does this by pointing to the fearless demeanor of martyrs who gave their life for the faith.

Consider Saint Stephen, who stood stalwartly before the murderous mob led by Saul.  Or look at the example of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who begged his readers in Rome not to make any attempt to save him from the lions of the arena, saying:

“I beseech of you not to show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body.” – Letter to the Romans, 4, 110AD

How, then, asks the Saint, could we suppose that Christ could not live up to their example?  Why would Jesus show trepidation and fear when His followers would look death in the face and rejoice?

True God and True Man:

The first thing I would note is that the fear of death is a normal human response to danger.  It would be difficult for us to survive as a species without a healthy fear of death.  In fact, when we observe people performing incredibly dangerous feats without any care for their mortality – like free-climbing a mountain – it strikes us as unnatural.

Thus, we cannot suppose that Jesus did anything inappropriate by feeling fear.  Quite the opposite.  If Jesus had not felt fear, future generations may have suspected Him of being human in appearance only.  Perhaps they would think he was in reality some kind of Herculean demi-god rather than a true man.

But the figure painted for us in the Gospels, while wielding great power, was not a stoic superhero.  On the contrary, the letter to the Hebrews points out that taking on all our human frailties was part of the point of the incarnation:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.” – Hebrews 4:15

The dread of mortality is one of the chief fears that all people must deal with.  We try to put it out of our mind, but the brutal truth is that none of us is getting out of here alive.  And if Jesus had not allowed Himself to experience that terrible dread, it might be said that he hadn’t quite fully entered into our weakened state.


Bravery and Fear:

It might also be noted that fear does not diminish bravery.  Bravery means showing fortitude and the will to do what is right – especially in instances when we are right to be afraid.  Bravery means overcoming fear.  The more afraid you are, the more bravery is required for overcoming it.

In this way, I’d say that the bravery of Jesus is magnified by the intense fear he experienced.  A coward may have fled.  But despite His fear, Jesus rose from prayer and said to His Apostles:

"Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?  Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand." – Matthew 26:45-46

Why Did Jesus Reject the Drink?

But now to answer the question posed by Saint Hilary.  Why would Jesus, whose disciples fearlessly suffered torment and death, show fear Himself?  Were these martyrs more confident than the God they witnessed to?

I would reply to Saint Hilary with this question:

Why did Jesus refuse the drugged wine?  

On the way up to the crucifixion, Jesus was offered a wine mixed with a narcotic.  This was an act of mercy which would take the edge off the pain the convicted was about to endure.  Jesus, upon tasting the narcotic, refused to drink:

“And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink.” – Matthew 27:33-34

Why?  Why did Jesus refuse to do this for Himself?

Because Jesus was the suffering servant.  He came to suffer on our behalf.

He Chose to Endure Fear:

Anyone who has seen me before a college exam could tell you I’m usually always a mess.  By the night of the exam, I have lost my appetite, I can’t sleep, and I’m sick to my stomach.  While this cannot compare to the fear of imminent death, I know that this experience of anguish is a potent form of suffering.

So now let’s look back at the agony in the garden.

Jesus, being God, could have relieved Himself of the agonizing fear if He had wished.  He could have given the grace to Himself to feel no fear.  But He didn’t.  Rather, this mental suffering was part of the Passion which He offered to the Father for our sins.  The Bible says we are redeemed by the blood of Christ.  According to Luke, this anguish is how the shedding of that blood began.

In contrast, the great martyrs were – by grace – relieved of this burden.  The importance of their death was not their great suffering, but their great witness.  So it stands to reason that God would want these Martyrs to march happily into the lions’ den.

That is the explanation I would offer to Saint Hillary.  That is why it is perfectly appropriate that Jesus was afraid, but made His followers fearless.