Jesus Knows Our Sorrows
Thank you to Vern Fein for finding this poem, “Descending Theology: The Garden” by Mary Karr. As you read this poem and reflect, know that Jesus relates to our struggles, knows our pain. May you feel the deep love of Jesus for you this week, and always! –Melissa Logsdon, NCF Associate Pastor
“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” –Jesus (Matthew 26:38)
Descending Theology: The Garden
We know he was a man because, once doomed,
he begged for reprieve. See him
grieving on his rock under olive trees,
his companions asleep
on the hard ground around him
wrapped in old hides.
Not one stayed awake as he’d asked.
That went through him like a sword.
He wished with all his being to stay
but gave up
bargaining at the sky. He knew
it was all mercy anyhow,
unearned as breath. The Father couldn’t intervene,
though that gaze was never
not rapt, a mantle around him. This
was our doing, our death.
The dark prince had poured the vial of poison
into the betrayer’s ear,
and it was done. Around the oasis where Jesus wept,
the cracked earth radiated out for miles.
In the green center, Jesus prayed for the pardon
of Judas, who was approaching
with soldiers, glancing up—as Christ was—into
the punctured sky till his neck bones
ached. Here is his tear-riven face come
to press a kiss on his brother.
Poem: “Descending Theology: The Garden” by Mary Karr from Sinners Welcome: Poems. © Harper Collins Publishers. Reprinted with permission.