As He led them on to the garden, His apostles took notice of their Master's morose behavior, and became increasingly aware that something was amiss. But they could not, at that time, fully comprehend the enormity of the final task that their Master was about to undertake.
When Christ was beginning to approach His preappointed destination within the garden, He instructed His apostles to wait behind and watch before He continued to walk forward, alone, into the encompassing night. He only walked a little further, just out of immediate sight of His disciples, before He kneeled to the ground, and uttered these words:
"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42)
The cup that Jesus spoke of was the Atonement that he was about to make, at that very moment, for the sins of all mankind. This means that in these pivotal hours before His death, the sins of all past, present, and future penitent transgressors would be siphoned away from their adulterated souls, and pressed upon His immaculate own.
This was a labor willingly undertaken out of love, and a task so painful and strenuous that it would cause Him to physically bleed from every pore in His body.
Why then, we must ask ourselves, did He do it?
The Bible enlightens us with this this one simple explanation:
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16) ".. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1John 1:7)
