Agony

“Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’ ... He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.’” Matthew 26:39, 42
It pains me sometimes to read of the agony that Jesus endured in the Garden of Gethsemane, even before He went to the cross. In fact, when He was on trial and even as the soldiers were crucifying Him, He was calm and at peace. This is because the battle between His will and the will of the Father was concluded in prayer, in the garden.
Luke’s account tells us how Jesus sweated blood. This is a known medical condition and points to the sufferer being under acute stress. This was no ordinary prayer.
God certainly heard what His Son was saying. And He answered... yet Jesus still went to the cross and died there. What does this tell us? If there was another way for us to be saved, God would have pulled the plug and said, ‘That’s enough.’ But the fact that God allowed Jesus to go through with it, shows that the death of Christ is the only way we can be saved.