The Agony in the Garden

Secular presentation

The first sorrowful mystery

If you agreed that the first picture in this series showed strong elements of design and style, then I'm sure this one won't disappoint either.  It tells a story in three parts, all visually inter-linked by the fence that runs around the garden where Jesus had gone to pray late one night.

I said previously that prayer is often subtle, but here it is shown in an energetic and immediate way.  Jesus is praying, half kneeling half falling to the ground, with His hands raised to heaven.  He knows that His time of testing is close at hand, and how extreme it will be!  He pleads with His father in heaven for some other way out.  At the same time He doesn't want to fail in what His father needs him to do.  Jesus is so stressed by this, almost torn two ways, and his fear of the coming torture so great, that the bible says His sweat ran down in great drops 'like blood'.  Perhaps then it's apt that the artist shows Him in a red tunic: some aspects of Church tradition hold red as a colour of suffering and martyrdom.

As your eyes follow Jesus' hands raised to heaven they come to the hand of the Father in a triangle.  The triangle is a symbol for God (because of the Christian mystery which reveals Him as three persons in one God).  The hand in heaven is shown blessing Jesus, giving approval for what He will do.  The triangle is in a curved aura of 'Divine light' and as your eyes follow the curve they come to the Angel, sent to strengthen Jesus at this lonely hour.  The Angel's head is positioned near to the heavenly light, for Angels like this are said to always look upon the face of God.  The Angel is shown strong in flight, focusing its attention on Jesus who is surrounded by darkenss.  The Angel bows its head in respect, but its hands are upon Jesus, to give Him support in this lonely time.

And so having circled this heavenly scene our eyes are drawn again to the hands raised in prayer, from where we can easily go up and around again, or down - to descend the line of Jesus' body right down to His feet.  If so, we pick up the garden fence which takes us to the second scene.  Jesus' followers lie still in blissful sleep, unaware of what He is about to face.  Jesus asked them to pray with Him, but they were too tired.  He'd appointed them to help Him preach, teach and win people over - in His words, to be 'fishers of men'.  But for now, see how the artist shows them lined up like fish on a frying pan?  Not so much fishers of men now, as fish that have been caught by someone else altogether.  Yet still the hand of the Father gives His blessing - for Jesus must face this test alone.  The circular arrangement of the followers helps emphasize their detachment.  But as our eyes circle around them, another purpose is served as well: with the help of the vertically pointing shrub, we pick up the curve of the fence above and the line of the window on the right, both and either of which take us to the third scene..

The red faced man is Judas, one of the followers.  Judas grew tired of listening to Jesus and took his own initiative - he has turned against Jesus.  Judas brings guards ready to arrest the innocent man he once looked up to.  Why is he red faced?  Is it to point to the suffering that he brings to Jesus?  Or is it because he brings shame upon himself?  He clutches a bag of sliver coins, the reward for his actions, which soon he will reject in remorse.

But for now, Judas acts in determined fashion, doing that which he thinks he must do.  The three sleeping followers do what their tired bodies tell them they must do.  And Jesus prepares to go through with that, which He would rather not do - but which the hand in heaven asks of Him.