Mark 14:34

And he saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death: abide ye here and watch.

Jesus did not meet death with the joyful attitude of some of the martyrs, nor in the gay serenity of Socrates, but with overwhelming sorrow, convulsive grief, and with the sweat of blood. Why? (1) Satan was particularly active in the assault upon the Prince of Life (John 12:31), every demonic device in the arsenal of the evil one being employed against the Saviour. (2) Perhaps even more important, there was the burden of human transgression that he bore. God made him to be sin upon our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21). He bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). (3) The Saviour's supernatural knowledge of the fate evil men were bringing upon themselves was complete; and the knowledge that the chosen people, through their leaders, were bringing upon that beloved people the full wrath of Almighty God was a fact of inexpressible horror to Jesus who "had compassion" on the multitudes. Martin Luther said, "No one ever feared death so much as this man!"[3] It was what Jesus knew of death and its cause and consequences that released that awful sorrow within his soul. (4) Before Christ, death involved a separation from God, the most awful part of it for Jesus. In the case of the martyrs, such a separation was no longer a part of death; and as for Socrates, he had none of the knowledge that broke the Saviour's heart that awful night. (5) The temporary triumph of Satan in the act of "bruising" the "Seed of Woman" was also a dreadful thing for Christ. In the wilderness Jesus had met and overcome Satan; but now, Satan had returned with the full complement of his human servants and in his full majesty as the prince of this world. As Barth put it, "The bill was being presented!"[4] In Gethsemane, the prospect of seeing Satan victorious (from the worldly point of view) was utterly repugnant to the Son of God. Strong cryings with tears marked our Saviour's human response to such a repulsive situation (Hebrews 5:7).

[3] C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel according to St. Mark (Cambridge: The University Press, 1966), p. 431.

[4] Ibid., p. 432.