To Take The Cup And Drink It

And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Luke 22:44

Aside from the crucifixion itself, Gethsemane was the darkest hour of Christ’s life.

Friends misunderstood him; armed soldiers came to arrest him; one of his own followers betrayed him; he agonized in the garden alone.

And while three of his trusted disciples slept, he went to his Father in prayer.

Jonathan Edwards describes the prayer that showed the full extent of Jesus’ love.

WALK WITH JONATHAN EDWARDS
“When the dreadful cup was before Christ, he did not say ‘Why should I go to plunge myself into such torments for worthless, wretched worms that deserve to be hated by me?’

“ ‘Why should I who have been living from all eternity in the enjoyment of the Father’s love, cast myself into such a furnace for those who never can pay me for it?’

“ ‘Why should I yield myself to be crushed by the divine wrath for those who have no love for me, and are my enemies? They do not deserve any union with me, and never did, and never will.’

“Such, however, was not the language of Christ’s heart in these circumstances.

“On the contrary, he resolved even then, in the midst of his agony, to yield himself up to the will of God, and to take the cup and drink it.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
A real battle was fought and won in the agony of Gethsemane.

If anyone had the right to sidestep undeserved suffering, Jesus had that right. Yet he prayed above all for God’s will to be done.

To die an undeserved death for undeserving men and women—no one can fully comprehend such love.

But any grateful heart can respond in praise and adoration. A heart, for example, like yours.