When Judas left the upper room, no one save he and Jesus knew the reason, Jesus then led the disciples out of the house where they had been breaking bread together, across the brook Kedron, and up the slope of the Mount of Olives. The crowded city of Jerusalem took up the entire western mountain, with houses stacked almost one on the other. Therefore the wealthy could not have gardens in the city itself, but across the brook Kedron, across the valley, on the slopes of mount olives, they had their beautiful gardens. Jesus often went there, through the hospitality of a friend this particular garden was open to him. As they walked the disciples seemed to sense an unusual heaviness and anxiousness about their master. They said nothing and they offered nothing. They were not sure where He was going, but they knew that often He would retire to a place of prayer in the Mount of Olives for communion with His father. Even as the psalmist cried out,"....... When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (61:2). Jesus sought refuge in this prayer place near the city. He and those who were closest to him had a great need to be separated from the questioning, demanding crowd. He went inside the gate of the garden, some eight of his disciples remaining there - not so much to keep intruders out, for they were soon asleep. The three who were closest to Him went on a little farther and he asked them to wait there, He was to have with His father that night. The scripture says that He went a stone's throw farther and fell on His face. (Lk: 22:41). He was nearer to His hour than ever before was He praying that God would save Him from it, He did not come to the place apart as though He would hide from death He came rather that He might prepare for death.

There are somethings we ought to know concerning His prayer, first of all, we ought to consider the principalities. Satan had hounded Jesus from the very beginning, ie from waters of Jordan to wilderness for some forty days. Immediately the tempter came to Him with a series of temptations, the first was an appeal to the flesh, because he was hungry. Then upon a great mountain on the pinnacle of the temple itself, still Jesus turned away from the tempter.

Now, as Jesus came to His final hours, all the forces of hell were arrayed against him. In the group who came that might to take Jesus was Judas, among the group were Roman soldiers empowered to make an official arrest. At the sight of them, even His own disciples fled from fear. The present powers of this world, the principalities of darkness--there were the things that the master dealt with in the hour of his betrayal.

Even among his own disciples there was indifferences, already they had slept as he went alone to pray. Some thing happened again scripture say that they knew not what to answer him (Mk: 14:40). When we look further at Jesus prayer, we will have to call it a perfect prayer. Great crises of life always seem to come us when we are alone. Bible has said that there is a solemn loneliness. Sin always has its loneliness, and Jesus, because He became sin for us, had to tread the winepress alone. There came a time when there was taken from Him that which has never been taken from us, the presence - and the consciousness of the presence - of God - before that there were time's when He walked utterly alone, humanly speaking, with no one at His side and no one to comfort Him.

The disciples might have thought among themselves, after He was buried in the tomb, that had they been at the cross they would have given Him water instead of gall, would they? They were not even there. They were asleep when He would have appreciated their sympathetic human ministries - even a - handkerchief when he come back from His prayer place. The Bible says that as He prayed there came great drops, as of blood, from His body, which indicates that already the physical functions of His heart wore affected. Jesus had come to die, already He was treading the winepress alone. "Father, let this cup pass from Me", He implored was He shrinking only from physical death? Surely not, for Jesus said to His disciples on one occassion......" Fear not them which kill the body.... but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. He recognised that it was not death to die only in the physical body, but he said," Let this cup pass from Me", was it a cup of sin? Obviously He recoiled from it in Aerror. There are times - atleast there ought to have been when you and I in the silence of might wept over our sins.

Certainly he was weeping over the sins of the world. It was a bitter cup, however that contained the betrayal by a friend. It was bitter to be rejected by His own disciples, it was bitter to drink the cup of physical suffering to die the ignominious death of the cross, it was difficult to drink the cup of the sneers and hisses of the crowd, to know that His body would be exposed in a humiliating fashion. All of this Jesus knew, it was in the cup, Jesus prayed to pass the cup was the burden of our sin. He became the great exchange, He was made sin for us. Some of us have sinned so much that we read of His bearing our sins with little reaction, but the sensitive, perfect soul of Jesus had never known sin, had never touched sin, had never even entertained the thought of sin. For Him to become sin was an agony that we could never imagine. 'O Father', He said, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from Me".