Blood at Mount of Olives

(A little something I pieced together.)

(Luke 22:39-44)
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 
40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 
43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 
44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 

As I meditate on Jesus's passionate prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, his human agony and suffering on full display, I am reminded how often we long for God to provide another way in the face of our own suffering. Whether of the Christian persuasion or not, there are times we simply cry out for intervention. We do not want to follow Jesus down the via Dolorosa. We seek to follow the victorious entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem to be enthroned and crowned the king. We want that kind of victory borne out in our lives as the absence of difficulty. But as author Kim Reisman has noted, "That is not the Jesus way. God doesn't dispense with death. God resurrects us from it. The truth is that the Jesus way isn't about God taking pain away from God's people; it's about God providing us with strength, courage, and meaning, with abundant life, often in the midst of pain."

(extracted from http://www.rzim.org/resources/read/asliceofinfinity/todaysslice.aspx?aid=11117)