As I watched The Passion of the Christ on Easter, I saw that during Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, how much anguish He was in. He was facing brutal torture and He knew it. The whipping, beating, and mocking were so very hard to watch without streams of tears run down my cheeks. He endured this for me. I had to turn away many times. Mel Gibson did a masterful job of using flashbacks in this movie.
And as much as we want the anguish that Jesus was wrestling with in the garden to be about that, most scholars believe that the true wrestling was over 2 things: the taking on the sin of the whole world from ages past to the end of time upon Himself and become that sacrifice lamb; and then the separation that would have to take place when the Father turned His face away from Jesus as He hung on that cross. I can't even imagine!
Whatever the reason, (and it may be all 3) Jesus agonized for quite a while, so much so that He asked that the Father, "Take this cup from Me." Mk 14:36 But when He had struggled through, He relinquish His will to that of the Father's, "Yet not as I will, but as You will." Mt 26:39 He knew the plan. He knew that He would be the sacrifice. Then with resolve He stood up to carry out that plan.
The thing that got me as I studied it Scripture was that when He went over to the disciples to wake them once more, He said, "Arise! Let us go! Here comes My betrayer!" Mk14:42 He wasn't saying, "they're here, let's get out of here!" No, Jesus headed into the persecution, actually addressing the guards 1st before they had a chance to inquire of Him. And of course, He never denied who He was. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that I wouldn't turn tail and run, especially knowing it all ahead of time.
