Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

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.”

Matthew 26:36 – 39

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Matthew 26:45, 46

The darkest hour!  Who can understand it?  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.”  Agony indeed.  Why this soul-wrenching pathos?  Jesus had no sin. His life with his Father was one of perfect obedience.  He faced the horror of taking on himself the sin of the world, all sin of all people!  He who had no sin had to become sin for us!  That is the drama of holiness.

I think it would have been easier for Jesus to die on the spot than to face what he came to earth to do – die on the Roman/Jewish cross to open the door of salvation to all.  “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”  In that cry, we get a little glance into our sin and into the heart of God who suffers beyond belief to secure our salvation.

Think of it. He was not suffering because of his sin, but because of ours.  That makes it extremely difficult to understand.  Furthermore, unlike Jesus, I cannot even begin to comprehend the consequences of my own waywardness, let alone even thinking of someone else.  Jesus was completely committed to dealing with our sin, not his.

Only in our heart of hearts can we feel even a fraction of what Jesus is feeling. It was more than a feeling but a reality that shatters all pretense.  In this hour of Jesus’ life, we see into the heart of God as never before.  That love has confounded believers through the ages.  May it be so with me today. Love so amazing demands my life, my soul, my all.