I have to admit this contemplation troubles me. When the Savior said, “It is finished”, I think that’s what He meant. While He may suffer sorrow and disappointment for our failing to come unto Him and help others come unto Him, I do not see Him still suffering in Gethsemane or the cross. That was a specific type of suffering which none of us will ever replicate, even infinitisimally. We do not bow in Gethsemane nor ascend the cross like mini-Saviors. We suffer the consequences of our own sins and we feel sorrow for the suffering of others, but I would not try to equate that with Gethsemane and Calvary. Further, in this time of celebration, I don’t think of the Lord forever in agony. It was a one-time infinite atonement applying to all time and people. Like C.S. Lewis pointed out in The Great Divorce, if Satan can hold heaven’s joy hostage to sin, then Satan has won the battle.
I’m not trying to be disrespectful here. I understand the point of view of this essay and its intent, I just don’t want to equate myself or any other mortal to the Savior, nor do I want to think of Satan winning the battle by holding the Lord hostage to sin’s agony. I believe that in ways we cannot understand, in spite of our mortal failings, heaven is joy itself.