In Gethsemane
37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
“‘Not your will but mine’ changed Paradise to desert
and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane.
Now ‘Not my will but yours’ brings anguish to the man who prays it
but transforms the desert into the kingdom
and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.”
(D. A. Carson)
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. Matthew 26:37-44 NIV
“Reader! one drop of this cup would bear down thy soul to endless ruin;
and these agonies would annihilate the universe.
He suffered alone: for the people there was none with him;
because his sufferings were to make an atonement for the sins of the world:
and in the work of redemption he had no helper.”
(Clarke)
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On Golgotha
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 NIV
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
“Jesus went to his death knowing that it was his Father’s will
that he face death completely alone
as the sacrificial, wrath-averting Passover Lamb.
As his death was unique, so also his anguish;
and our best response to it is hushed worship.”
(D. A. Carson)