“Then Jesus *came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:36-39 (NASB)
On the night of His arrest, why was Christ grieved “to the point of death”? What was it that He knew would come to pass that literally caused Him to sweat drops of blood on the ground of Gethsemane? Some speculate that it was the physical punishment that Christ would endure at the hands of the Romans, the intense and unrelenting pain of the crucifixion. Some have suggested that Christ was burdened by the knowledge that He would be rejected by His own people, betrayed by His own disciple Judas and denied 3 times by Simon Peter. What was the “cup” that He prayed might pass from Him, yet was nevertheless willing to drink? The cup was the anger and wrath of God. Christ would drink for His people the entirety of God’s hatred of and punishment for their sins. Christ was unmoved by the prospect of physical pain, He was not troubled by the rejection of men, instead He was grieved that for the only time in all of eternity, Jesus would experience the anger and rejection of the Father as He took our sin upon Himself on Calvary’s cross.
Questions for application…
What was the “cup” that Jesus dreaded drinking?
What caused Christ to be so deeply grieved?
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