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From Series: "Gethsemane"

On the night of his arrest, Jesus spent three hours in anguished prayer. It was now clear the time had come. All the energies and efforts of the past three years had come to this. He had demonstrated a love that was radically wide, and curiously simple. He had taught with an authority they hadn’t heard. He questioned. Called out. He preached the audacious message that the Kingdom of God was at hand. It was here. It was now. And now this One, who not only showed the way, but who was the way, found himself agonizing in a garden, praying about whether there might be some other way. With sweat like drops of blood, he prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” (Matthew 26:39) There, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus embodies the plight of all humanity, as well as its greatest hope. The plight is that there are some cups that we simply must drink; and drink all the way the way down. These cups come in different shapes and sizes. They go by different names. The cups of uncertainty, fear, disappointment, suffering, and sacrifice, just to name a few. What do you do when the cup poured before you is too bitter to taste? At Gethsemane, amid the hour of great trouble, Jesus models what to do. With deep and abiding trust in the Father, he drinks to the dregs the cup set before him. Because in the end, it leads to life. Drink deeply. Trust fully. Resurrection is coming.