Jesus went to a place called Gethsemane with his disciples, and said to them, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” Jesus then took Peter, James and John with him and went a little further. The Bible says Jesus was “Sorrowful and troubled.”

Jesus then said to the three disciples, “My soul is burdened and with sorrow up to the point of death. Stay here and keep guard for me.”

From there He went a little bit further and laid His face down on the ground and prayed. He said, “My Father, if it is possible, then take this cup away from me. Yet it is not what I want, but what you want that is essential.” In this statement the “cup” means the cup suffering that Jesus would have to drink. This cup was Jesus crucifixion and the acceptance of all our sins on His shoulders. In this statement Jesus asked God if God would take this responsibility away from Jesus, but He ended the statement by saying that it was what God wanted, and not what He (Jesus) wanted that was important. By saying this Jesus affirmed that He was below God.

From there Jesus rejoined his disciples who were now fast asleep. When He saw them he said, “Couldn’t you keep guard for even an hour? Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation because the spirit is strong but the flesh is weak.” By this Jesus meant that we should always be awake and on our guard against the Devil, and we should pray to God for the power to resist the Devil’s temptation.

He then said that our spirit to obey God could be strong, but our “flesh” would be weak. Our flesh is our human desire to sin, which is at war with the spirit that wants to obey God.

Jesus then went away and prayed again. He asked God, ‘Father if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, then let it happen the way it must.” In this statement Jesus was asking God if He (Jesus) could not go through the crucifixion, but again He said to God that it was God’s decision and that He (Jesus) would do what was necessary.

From there Jesus went back to His disciples where he saw them again sleeping. Jesus then went a way again and prayed the same prayer to God.

After the third prayer, Jesus returned to his disciples where he saw them again sleeping. He said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting. Look, the hour is near and the Son of Man is going to be taken by sinful people. (The “Son of Man” is one of Jesus’ titles.) Jesus then said to His disciples, “Get up! Let us leave! Here is my betrayer.” At this moment Jesus’ disciple Judas had arrived with the soldiers who were to arrest Jesus. Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples, but he was the evil one who left the Last Supper to go and betray Jesus to the men who wanted to kill Jesus. Judas was paid for this.

In Mathew Jesus called His Father “Abba” when He prayed, and in Luke it says that an angel arrived from heaven to strengthen Jesus, and that when Jesus prayed His stress was so much that His tears “fell like blood.”