He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” (Mark‬ ‭14‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‬)

These last few days we've been looking at Jesus‘ prayer in the garden. Today I’d like to zero in today on what he felt. His emotional state.

Mark tells us that he began to feel “deeply distressed and troubled” (14:33).

Luke’s Gospel tells us that “being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (22:44). 

But in verse 34 of Mark’s gospel, we see that Jesus didn’t just feel human emotion, but he expressed how he was feeling.He told the disciples how great his agony and stress were: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark 14:34).

Then he prayed to the Father with those feelings.

In other words, our Savior did not try to be a stoic. He did not try to be a tough guy. He did not try to pretend he wasn’t scared. This is something we can learn from. 

You see, Jesus did not just become a human so that he could be our sacrifice. He also became a human so that he could show us what it means to be human.

And part of being human is to be aware of our human feelings and human emotions, and bring them honestly before the Lord.

C.S. Lewis said that ”we should bring to God what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” 

What is in you today? Bring it to God. 

Jesus died so that we could come boldly before this throne of grace with confidence - even when our souls are in agony and we are deeply troubled. 

Another way to put it:

Jesus died as a human so we could have the freedom to be human before God and others.