Jesus’ death would be no accident but a wonderful plan for our salvation. Jesus picturing His own death through the Lord’s Supper must have been difficult as it brought home to Jesus the great cost. Yet as He took the bread and wine, which represented His broken body and shed blood, He gave thanks for them (v22-23).

The cup of wine (v24) Jesus says is the ‘blood of the New Covenant’. A covenant is when two parties commit themselves to each other as in marriage. Jesus’ shed blood shows the commitment that God makes to us.

The big mistake of Peter and the other disciples (v27-31) was that they were too self-confident not realising that it is only in God’s strength, that they can be faithful to Christ. The Lord’s Supper teaches that we can only follow Christ by feeding on Him.

Jesus knows that His death is near and He goes to pray for strength. He was experiencing distress of terrible intensity (v33-34) as He is made aware of the horror of the cross. We can see His great concern but also His great desire to do His Father’s will (v36). Here we see Jesus’ great love for humanity as He willingly goes to endure the agony of the cross as there was no other way for salvation to be achieved!

As Jesus goes through this distress in Gethsemane, we see the terrible indifference of the disciples (v37, 40-41). We need to ask how we respond to what Jesus has endured (v38). Let us earnestly pray for greater power to love Christ fully today.