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We’re in our second week looking at the Passion week of Jesus Christ.  Last week we looked at the Last Supper, tracing the history of the Lamb, and this week we follow up on that by following Jesus as he goes out to pray in a Garden called Gethsemane:

Matthew 26:36-46 – 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."  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."  ⁴⁰ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not 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 body 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.  ⁴⁵ Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  ⁴⁶ Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

Gethesemane is a garden in the Mount of Olives, and Jesus takes his three closest friends with him as he goes to pray to His father.  As I read this passage, I see some things that are encouraging, and others that are troubling.  I’m encouraged by how human he is.  We believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and he is never more human than he is here in Gethsemane.  He asks his friends to keep watch with him, he is in agony at what is to come, and he asks the Father to not bring the suffering that is going to come if at all possible.

However, it is also a little troubling, almost embarrassing, looking at how badly Jesus is handling this.  Jesus is “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”, as he puts it.  Why, when there are accounts of so many martyrs who die well, is Jesus going through so much agony at the thought of death?  The phrase “overwhelmed with sorrow” comes from the Greek word “áäçìïíåéí”, which is used to denote the most extreme anguish which the soul can feel—excruciating anxiety and torture of spirit.  And in Luke’s account of Gethsemane, in Luke 22:42-44, we find this:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."  ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Jesus is in such agony that he is sweating blood!  Why is Jesus experiencing such sorrow?  What could this mean?