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| February 26, 2002 |
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| And when he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:41-44 "A stone's cast." How far can you throw a stone? That is about how far our Lord went ahead of His disciples before He kneeled down to pray. He prayed that the cup might be removed. The prayer for the cup to pass is not due to Jesus' fear of death. Jesus questions the will of the Father as to the necessity of drinking the cup. While this may refer to death (he tasted death), it is more likely that the cup represents the wrath of God against sin, the divine wrath Christ would incur on the cross as man's sin-bearer. In the awful anguish of that moment, the sin of the world was poured on Christ and He became "sin for us." Thus, the Righteous One dies a substitutionary death for guilty mankind. He committed Himself to His Father's will, although bearing our sins must have been repulsive to Him! Only the Book of Luke tells us that the Lord sweat great drops of blood. The Lord showed a tremendous physical reaction to the agony and conflict that confronted Him. However, we do know that He shed His blood upon the cross! He shed His blood there for us ~ and we should bow in reverence and worship! Christ's heart was broken because of our lost condition. He bled and died for our eternal liberty. He said, ". . . I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). He loved a lost world so much that He went to the very depths of hell itself to offer it salvation. And the world spurns the Holy One of God, the spotless Savior who was made sin for us! Are we truly grateful for what Jesus has done for us? Stand in the hush of Gethsemane and listen . . . Do you hear the sob of His soul? Do you hear the falling drops of blood? Look yonder in the garden by an olive tree and see, bending low in agonizing prayer, the Savior who took upon Himself your humanity and mine. Look at the cross! Can you see it? May God grant you a vision of Gethsemane with Jesus praying there ~ for you, and for me and all of mankind. Love in Christ Jesus, Sandy |