After washing His disciples' feet and celebrating the Passover with them, Jesus led them into a familiar garden and "began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed" (Matthew 26:37). Going a bit farther with Peter, James, and John, He said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me" (v.38).

Then, walking a short distance away, Jesus "fell on His face" before God, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (v.39). He did this three times (v.44).

How do we account for such a surge of emotional turmoil? Only by understanding the "cup" that Jesus asked His Father to take from Him. He was about to bear "the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). That "cup" was filled with the sins of the whole world.

The agony of Gethsemane would culminate on the cross in His heart-wrenching cry: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). Jesus' physical pain was nothing compared with Calvary's deepest pain—the awful reality of being abandoned by His Father. God made Jesus "to be sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5:21), so the Father had to turn away from Him.

Praise God for His great love for us!  — Herbert Vander Lugt