When we read Matthew's account of Jesus' state of mind and prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see a man who is extremely agitated and distressed, even apparently fearful. In fact up till this point in His life, I would hazard to say that we have not yet seen Him in such a condition of emotional stress. If you are anything like me, in going through this passage you have assumed that Jesus was afraid of the prospect of all the physical pain, the humiliation and the death He was about to undergo, and that is why He prayed the Father to "let this cup be taken from" Him. But is that really a satisfactory explanation for the depth of distress that we see our Lord experiencing?

That He was deeply moved cannot be denied. In Matthew 26:37 we are told that as soon as Jesus was alone with His inner circle of three disciples He "began to be grieved and distressed". We must not think that He had not experienced any grief or distress before this point in the evening, knowing as He did that one of His disciples would betray Him, and that they would all desert Him, Peter even denying Him three times. But now it is as if He lets go of the self-restraint He had been exercising up till that time – He lets His disciples see His great agitation. Then in verse 38 He lets them know exactly how He feels, perhaps seeking some understanding and sympathy from His closest associates. He was, after all, human as well as divine. Therefore, in His hour of greatest trial, He sought the company and warmth of fellow-feeling of His friends. However, it did not stop there. He wished them there while He earnestly sought His first and greatest source of refuge and help in prayer, namely His heavenly Father. Just how earnestly can be understood from the language of the text. It says He "fell on His face and prayed". He did not simply fold His hands and pray.

In His prayer we discover what was the source or cause of His grief and distress – "this cup". What cup could that have been – the physical suffering and death that were approaching? But it says that He was grieved and distressed, even deeply grieved, to the point of death. He felt as though His physical frame could not survive the burden of sorrow that He was presently carrying. Jesus clearly was in an agony of soul that was almost unbearable. The word translated 'distressed' can also mean 'to be troubled, or full of anguish'. The word that Mark uses in the parallel account (Mark 14:33) indicates that there was also an element of horror and astonishment in Jesus' distress. It is variously translated 'greatly amazed, sorely dismayed, astonished'.

Must He Drink this Cup?⤒🔗

So, what are we to make of this state in which we observe our Saviour? What are we to make of His prayer asking for His cup to be removed from Him if at all possible? It is as if Jesus is asking the Father, "Is there no other way to redeem the elect than to drink this cup?" How do we understand our Lord's sorrow and dread, His grief and distress, His terrible agony of soul in the face of His approaching ordeal? For surely it is not possible that He should have faced physical suffering and death with greater distress and dread, than that of many others before and after Him, who have faced similar sufferings. Many Christians throughout the history of the Church have suffered the most excruciating torments and torture in death, facing them with greater calm of soul than did Jesus. Many martyrs even went to their deaths singing psalms and hymns.

How could Christ, our Saviour, Lord and example face physical suffering and death with greater display of weakness than His followers, if that were the only contents of the cup? It is not possible! The answer lies in the fact that there was far more to "this cup" than the physical ordeal and the humiliation. Infinitely more! In a sense, the physical aspects of Christ's suffering were nothing in comparison with the torment of soul He was about to go through. This is not to belittle or minimize His physical pain at all, but rather to show how great was the spiritual agony.

The vital question is: what was in the "cup"?

Certainly physical suffering and death. But they were really the outward manifestation of something else that was taking place. What was happening there in the Garden of Gethsemane was that the guilt for the sins of millions upon millions of people was being laid upon Jesus, and He began to be overwhelmed by it. He was becoming a curse for us; He was being made sin on our behalf as Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:21. However, the most horrific thing about it was that Jesus Himself knew no sin. The spotless One, the One who was absolutely righteous and perfectly holy was being covered with the filth of the guilt of our vile sins. Consequently the curse of God was being placed upon Him.

Jesus in the garden began to feel the shame and sorrow of our guilt and He began to sense the frown of an offended God Almighty. Certainly He saw it coming. Is it altogether understandable that He would be grieved and distressed and that He would be sorely amazed and dismayed? He had always obeyed the Father perfectly. He had always pleased the Father and had always experienced the Father's pleasure, love and full acceptance.

Under the Curse of God←⤒🔗

Now He began to know what it is like to be guilty in the eyes of God, what it is like to be under the curse of an angry God. He began to experience the shame that you and I feel when we sin. Only He felt it far more acutely than we do, for He had never known shame. We were born with it, but it was totally foreign to Jesus' experience. No wonder He was distressed and astonished!

Jesus the Christ, the holy Son of God, from this time on was going to be treated like a criminal. Until His death He was going to be considered a lawbreaker. He who meticulously kept and upheld all of God's law. He would be arrested, brought to trial, libelled, beaten, condemned by a lawful judge, executed as a common criminal in the company of criminals and in the place of a murderer named Barabbas. In other words Jesus would be considered more worthy of death than a murderer.

All of this was but an outward display or expression of the judicial wrath and punishment of the holy God of the universe being poured out upon the countless sins of the elect, an innumerable host. It was as though an enormous scroll recording all the sins, all the offences, all the rebellious acts, thoughts and words of every elect individual who ever lived and would ever live was placed upon our Saviour's dear head. And God was beginning to deal with Him on the basis of that scroll.

Our Guilt Unloaded←⤒🔗

The horror and amazement of soul He must have felt at having this vile guilt and unrighteousness of ours unloaded upon Him could perhaps best be illustrated by the following scenario: Imagine a man who is incredibly thorough in his cleanliness. He cannot stand to have a single speck of dirt upon him. In fact he never has been dirty, for he is just so painstakingly careful to keep himself clean, scrubbing himself continually and avoiding dirt. But now a robe is brought for him to put on. This piece of rag is absolutely filthy, covered in slime, and almost alive with vermin. The stench coming from it is overwhelming, enough to turn the strongest stomach. This robe is wrapped around the body of this man who is a stranger even to dirt, let alone to the sort of pollution adhering to this garment.

Can you imagine the shock and the horror that this man now experiences as he sees and feels this vile robe against his clean and sensitive skin, as he feels the slime over his body? It is enough to make one feel sick just thinking about it. This is a crude illustration, but how else can we come anywhere near understanding just what our Lord went through in this regard? The shock and horror of the man in the illustration is but a dim shadow of the awful reality experienced by the Saviour of our souls. We cannot even begin to imagine how terrible was His suffering and agony of soul in the Garden of Gethsemane as He faced this ordeal - let alone as He went through it.

Our Gratitude←⤒🔗

How grateful we may and should be, then, that He did go ahead and drink the full contents of that cup to the very dregs! He did it for all whom the Father had given Him to redeem. He did it for you and me who have believed the gospel. His dread and shame spell freedom from fear of condemnation for all who are in Christ by faith. The dread that Jesus experienced was rightfully our dread. Furthermore, our Lord's grief and distress force us to realize just how vile our sins really are. At times we tend to lose sight of their true nature. We tend to view them lightly, so as not to take them as seriously as we ought. But when we contemplate the grief and the horrible agony of soul that our sins caused our precious Lord in the garden, it becomes impossible to think lightly of them. How can one laugh about his sins or the sins of others, as though they are even a bit of a joke in the face of Jesus' ordeal in Gethsemane?

Our sins, every last one of them, whether considered by us as big or small, significant or insignificant, are so vile and revolting that Jesus' holy and righteous soul was racked with grief and amazement as they were placed upon Him. As we look often upon the Lord's deep sorrow unto death we will take our sins extremely seriously – all of them. We will see them for what they really are: horrible filth, the stain of which only the blood of Christ can wash away.

Our Exceeding Joy←⤒🔗

A further way in which this event affects us personally is that Jesus' exceeding sorrow means our exceeding joy. Even as our sins brought much sorrow and distress to our Saviour as they were made over to Him, so conversely His righteousness made over to us brings us much joy and rejoicing. What a happy and wonderful exchange He has made with us. Christ's spotless white robe of innocence and purity has been wrapped around us who were dirty and unclean. What joy and amazement are ours. Even as Christ was grieved and shocked and sorely amazed at His new robe; so we are (or ought to be) surprised, bewildered and overjoyed at our new robe.

Study closely Christ's terrible agony of soul in the Garden of Gethsemane, His awful grief, because our experience can and should be the exact opposite of His – sheer delight and joy inexpressible.