Theologians point to this moment in Gethsemane
as an important turning point.
First of all, we begin to appreciate Jesus’ fears more
when we realize that He was afraid
not only because of His impending suffering and death,
but also–and perhaps more–because of the empty sound.
The “empty sound” refers to the Father’s silence,
to God’s hiddenness,
His apparent distance to sinners.
Of course Jesus was no sinner,
but our of love for us,
He accepted the Father’s Will
to identify with us sinners —
and to identify with us so completely
that He would lose the special intimate sense
of the Father that He had always enjoyed all His life.
From His arrest to His last breath,
the Father would now be hidden from Him.
It could only have been a most terrifying thought,
considering how intimate
this relationship between Father and Son had always been.
But our Lord accepted to enter into the empty sound
out of love for us.
It was one of the many painful sacrifices
that our Lord Jesus had to make
in order to save us.
Such has been the cost of our redemption.
Our Lord embraced this empty sound
in order to save us.