Jesus is troubled. Does that trouble you? Jesus is troubled. Upset. His suffering has already begun. He knows what He faces. And there's a way out. He could ask. He could bail. He could abandon ship and escape before it's too late. He's that troubled. BUT...That's why He came. He can't leave it. He came to do it. “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour?' But for this purpose I came to this hour.” What purpose is that? To be the grain of wheat that dies to bear fruit. To be the Lamb who is sacrificed for our sins. To be the Savior who suffers horribly and has it all topped off by being crucified. To be the object of wrath and the curse of the Father as He bears our sin. To be the fulfiller of the Law and the Prophets. To be the God who dies for His creation. To be your Savior. Your Lord. Your Lamb. That's the purpose for which He came to this hour.
He came to be troubled because we are not. We live in an age where we can fight wars around the world and they're hardly mentioned on the news. We live in a world where as long as things are working out for us, there's not much reason to be troubled. We live in a world which teaches us not to be troubled over our sins and so we aren't. We daily despise God and His Word. We daily pick and choose whom we'll love and whom we'll ignore and have nothing to do with and acting that way doesn't really bother us, does it? And if something does go wrong, we may be troubled but only because in our selfishness, we think whatever is wrong is the end of our world. When it comes down to it, we are not so troubled by our sins. We aren't even really troubled by Jesus' death. If our eyes glaze over to the tragedies we see far away on a new broadcast, how much more do we not get worked up about Jesus death for our sins?
Repent of not being terribly troubled at your sins. But more than that, recognize the reason Jesus is troubled. It's not just because He's going to suffer a whole lot of pain and He's not looking forward to it. Our Lord is troubled by our sins. He takes them as His own and feels their guilt upon Him. He makes our sins His own and suffers the weight of God's judgment upon those iniquities and transgressions. We ought to be troubled by our sins, but only in the sense that we realize how bad they are: They killed God Himself in the flesh. But then hear Jesus' words again: “It is for this purpose that I came to this hour.” You can't get Jesus off track. He came to be troubled by our sins, to be crushed and bruised and stricken, smitten, and afflicted for us. His one entire purpose was this: to be troubled for you. In your place. On your behalf. And having taken the trouble of our sins upon Himself, He trades it for a pure and clean conscience. Washed clean at the font. Fed and strengthened at the altar. The grain of wheat goes to die. It fulfills its purpose by dying and then producing a plant. The Lamb goes to His purpose. To His sacrifice. The Savior goes to His cross. To his suffering and death. To make what was yours, His, your sins and death. And to give you what He has for you: forgiveness and life. Jesus doesn't ask the Father to save Him from this hour. Rather, He goes to His hour, to His purpose, for you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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