And it’s all in the Greek, and the only reason we rarely hear this is because our translations do such a woeful job of the Greek word ekthambeisthai.
Tim Keller, writing in Encounters with Jesus, of Christ’s time in Gethsemane:
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“Matthew indicates that as Jesus was walking away from the larger group of disciples with Peter, James, and John toward the garden for prayer, ‘he began [emphasis mine] to be sorrowful and troubled’ (Matthew 26:37).
This change happens as he is in en route — it almost seems to descend on him in real time. Not only was this mental agony so enormous that he thought he was going to die, but according to Mark he was astounded by it.
Mark uses the Greek word ekthambeisthai, which means to be moved to an ‘intense emotional state because of something causing great surprise or perplexity’.
Some English translations mute the meaning of this term and just translate it as ‘deeply distressed’ (as in the NIV).
I wonder if that is because we have a feeling that if Jesus really is who he says he is — the infinitely preexisting Son of God come to earth — he couldn’t be thunderstruck by anything.
How could the Second Person of the Trinity, who even in human form seems to anticipate every eventuality, be shocked?
But he is.
He’s reeling, dumbfounded, astonished.
As he is on his way to pray, a darkness and horror comes down on him beyond anything he could have anticipated, and the pain of it makes him feel he is disintegrating on the spot.”
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Wow, yes, as Keller says, I’m surprised by that and I think most Christians would be, too.
But if Jesus empathizes with all our suffering, then wouldn’t he also know about the surprise of suffering?
When you’ve been through something terrible and you know that you’re going to suffer it again tomorrow, you don’t necessarily feel better, but it does help to know what’s in store.
But when you think it’s going to be a blue-sky day, and you’re hit with a shocking phone call that your child has cancer, what do you do with that?
It’s both a new and surprising suffering, and that’s the worst kind of all.
Keller points out that the Greek seems to indicate that, although Christ knew he would suffer, he was just starting to truly understand how terrible it would be.
And if you’re going through some new suffering that shocks you, Jesus knows exactly how that feels.
We often use the word “surprise” in a positive way, but surprising suffering is as deep and disorienting as it gets, and the one who loves you to the end knows just what it’s like.
So just pray, “Jesus, you know what this is like.”
And he will nod, and he will stay with you — the parent who never leaves his child’s bedside because that’s where his heart is.
