“Jesus knelt down and prayed: ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but Yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground,” Luke 23:41-44.
As Jesus prayed in the garden before HIs crucifixion, He asked God to “take this cup from me.” What was this cup? Was it the pain, the suffering, the humiliation of the cross?
I believe this CUP was separation from God. Jesus had never sinned. He had never felt distance from His Father, yet He knew that He must take the sins of all on the cross. When He took on our sins, God turned away from Him because God cannot look upon sin.
From the cross, Jesus said: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach-thani—which is ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ “
For the first time, Jesus felt the absence of God and became sin so that we can have a path of forgiveness and grace.
Sin separates you from God. It doesn’t matter if the sin is a “little” sin as we look upon sin or a “big” sin in the eyes of others. Sin is sin. But Jesus went to the cross for you. Jesus paved the way for you to lay that sin at His feet and feel forgiveness. You can then feel God’s Holy presence in your life, guiding and loving every day.
Have a blessed day!
In Christian love,
Diane