⁴² He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” ⁴³ Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. ⁴⁵ Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Three times He prayed, three times they slept. Three times He asked the Father to let the cup pass, three times they were passed out. Three times He wanted them to pray (see Mark 14:40), three times they could not. Human frailty becomes most evident when the need is the greatest. Jesus’ request for the disciples to pray was not for His own benefit, for how could any human intercede on behalf of the Great High Priest. His need was greater than that.

Jesus was entering the conflict that would strain eternity, for the stress of the temptation would penetrate to the very core of God Himself. How is this? The clue is found in what He prayed to the Father, “… if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (26:39). What was the cup He wished to avoid? Was He shrinking back from doing battle with Satan? Hardly, for He had previously dismissed Satan with simply a word, “Go Satan…” (Matt 4:10) and cast out demons effortlessly. Was it the prospect of physical pain? Again, we say hardly would this cause hesitation to the One Who healed the sick. Was it death that scared Him? He who had already raised the dead and spoke of it as “sleep” (see John 11)  knew that death was not the last word, nor the final enemy—in fact, He told people to just “believe.” Many think it was the thought of the absolutely Holy One bearing the load of mankind’s sin, which caused this three-peat of agonizing prayer. However, something far more weighty loomed.

Repeatedly, in the Old Testament God’s anger in its most extreme description is seen as a “cup” being poured out that all under His judgment must drink. “For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it” (Jer 25:15, see Job 21:20; Ps 75:8; Is 51:17, 22; Jer 51:7). Could it be that Jesus, as God, knowing the extreme nature of divine anger, was about to enter something never experienced before: God experiencing His own wrath! What else could possibly cause Jesus, the portal between creation and eternity, divine and human, to wince?

Lord, when I see how You reacted to the wrath that should be against me, I am so thankful You took the full blow in my place.