My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow.
—Mark 14:34
In Gethsemane, Jesus “began to be filled with horror and deep distress” (Mk 14:33 NLT).
He needed companionship in those agonizing hours. He asked Peter, James, and John, to stay close—to watch and pray—as he went deeper into the garden to talk to his Father. When he returned, “They did not know what to say to him” (Mk 14:40), for they had neither watched nor prayed—they had slept.
Betrayed by one disciple, forsaken by ten, and publicly disavowed by another, he was all alone in his final hours.
Alone he faced his enemies. Alone he faced his trials. Alone he faced flogging. Alone he faced taunting. Alone he faced suffering. Alone he faced death.
He faced it all alone so that in life and in death we wouldn’t have to.
He suffered the agony of isolation
so that we never would.