The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ: Episode 66

Rev. Sun Myung Moon: The Life and Mission of Jesus Christ
Chapter 6: Jesus’ Last Week in Jerusalem, In the Garden of Gethsemane, Page 166

In the Garden of Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

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.” 

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

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.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” (Matthew 26:36-46)

 

Jesus prayed at Gethsemane: “Father, let this cup pass from me. Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” When he prayed that, his attitude was that of a Son who loved only his Father. On the cross he loved even his enemy and prayed for him. There had never been such a man in all history previous to him and there has never been such a man after him. That is the sign of his having loved the whole of mankind. That is what made Jesus the greatest.

The Formula for God’s Providence
December 14, 1971

We should be aware of the lonely situation in which Jesus prayed alone at Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39) This situation is not confined to Jesus. Furthermore, the situation in which Jesus was crucified, embracing sorrow, also is not restricted to Jesus alone. His situation is our situation and one in which humankind has to participate today.

The reason Jesus prayed and felt sorrowful was not because he was to die; nor was it because of his fate of having to cross the hill of lamentation. Worried about his responsibility to successfully achieve the destiny of history, he embraced the heartbreak of heavenly love. Jesus looked at his followers, who were to usher in God’s love upon the earth, and considered: how could he, who was sent representing God’s love, transform them into the substantial beings of God’s love? He also knew the fact that should he die, humankind would be fated to cross a hill of grief. We should understand that Jesus was not a man who felt sorrowful only for his own sake or experienced heartbreak only on his own behalf.

Jesus Who Is to Establish Heaven’s Love
February 24, 1957

 

The deepest sorrow in God’s heart in all of history was Adam’s becoming a fallen man. Next to it was the death of Jesus. Jesus’ subsequent resurrection made it possible for the Christian faith to bring salvation, but even this was in the spiritual area only. Jesus prayed three times in the deepest anguish, almost on the verge of death. He said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; but not as I will but as thou wilt.” Many theologians explain this by saying that this was an expression of human weak- ness because, though he was predestined to die on the cross, Jesus was still a human being. If that is true, he should have courageously and joyfully faced the situation.

The New Messiah and You
March 20, 1972

Jesus appealed alone before God in tears in the Garden of Gethsemane, without being accompanied by even his own disciples. He was totally sinless, without any wrongfulness, and he only hoped to live as the Son of God. We should feel the heart of Jesus, who walked the path of bloody tears.

Today at the point when we hasten to bring a victory to heaven, we should reflect upon whether we are truly ready to climb the same hill of universal tears with Jesus, which he has already climbed. Ever since humans left the bosom of God due to the Fall, human history continued in tears. To be freed from this, we should walk a path of tears. This does not apply only to the course of God’s providence, but also to a people or a nation.

We call someone who sheds tears for a nation or its people a prophet. A nation does not come about automatically. It comes about through a history of tearful, trouble-filled stories made by such prophets. Similarly, unless you too climb the historical hill of tears, you can never receive a day of victory. Jesus shed bloody tears while walking on the path of Golgotha, the path of a pioneer, after having climbed hills of tears for 30 years. Today, if you are to be the ones who would take responsibility to fulfill the will of God and liberate Jesus, you should shed bloody tears that no one recognizes, springing from the bottom of your heart.

If there are disciples who are shedding tears for brothers and sisters and the world, and further, if they are unceasingly shed- ding tears for heaven without being able to stop, a condition for victory will be made. Once Jesus looked down at Jerusalem and could not help but shed tears, yet no one understood his heart. Because he did not have even one friend who could cry with him when he wept in sadness, Jesus had to die on the cross.

…Do you love your family? If so, you should sweat for the family. If you love your people, you should sweat for the people. If you love the world, you should sweat for the world. We should also take after the example of Jesus, who prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for all of humankind, building an altar alone while others did not know about it. We should become a second Jesus who can shed sweat and tears for all of humankind.

Let Us Be a Victor for God
June 30, 1957