Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’

-Luke 22:39-45

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

-Luke 22:44

Anguish: Horrified. Shocked.

  

How is that possible?

  

What did Jesus see that overwhelmed Him to the point of death?

‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,…’

-John 3:14

The crowd spoke up, ‘We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?’

-John 12:34

‘As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’

-Matthew 26:2

  

What are the words that got Jesus killed?

Jesus said, God is my Father, and I His only Son.

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ ’He is worthy of death,’ they answered.

-Matthew 26:65-66

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made;…

-John 1:1-3

‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.’

-John 17:25

  

This means: Fatherhood is at the core of the universe.

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

-Psalm 32: 1

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

-Psalm 32: 3-4

   

Our sin causes an existential gap!

   

We develop all kinds of coping mechanisms.

• Do good deeds to justify.
• Get so busy that the voice of God is silenced.
• Deny sin altogether.

But the soul feels its worth and its unworthiness when it is estranged from the Father.

The dreadful sorrow and anxiety out of which the prayer for the passing of the cup springs is not an expression of fear before a dark destiny, nor a shrinking from the prospect of physical suffering; it is rather the horror of one who lives wholly for the FATHER who came to be with the Father for an interlude before His betrayal but found Hell rather that heaven open before him.

-Bill Lane, Commentary on the Book of Mark

‘No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’

-John 10:18

  

Fatherhood is at the core of the Universe, but our fathers are flawed.

  

  

You are wounded because you know this is not the way things were supposed to be.

 

This is when the cross speaks 1,000 words of life and love into your life!

  

The cross means that one day God will destroy evil, pain and suffering without destroying you and me. 

  

First: Don’t become addicted to the wounds of the Father.

If you play the role of victim where your father is concerned, you too will perpetuate the wound and pass it down to the generations to come.

  

Second: Immerse yourself into the wounds of the Son.

‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?’

-Matthew 26:52-53

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.’ ‘You have said so,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’

-Matthew 26:62-64

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, ‘Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?’ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

-Matthew 27: 12-14

There is an undeniable poise, peace, and perseverance in the midst of the worst possible pain, suffering, and evil.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

-Isaiah 53:7

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

-Hebrews 12:2-3

I dethrone God in my heart if I demand that He act in ways that satisfy my ideas of justice. It’s the same spirit that taunted Jesus, ‘If you are truly the son of God then come down form the cross.’ There is unbelief. There is even rebellion in the attitude that says, ‘God has no right to do this. But God is God. And if He is God He is worthy of my worship and my service and I will find rest nowhere but in His will and His will is infinitely measurably unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.’

-Elizabeth Elliot

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

-Romans 8:31-32

  

  

  

  

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