The most sorrowful state

By Heinrich Hofmann – Self-scanned by User:JGHowes from 1945 print published by the Board of Trustees, Riverside Church, New York, NY, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4140919

Reading: Matthew 26:36-44

I used to think that Jesus agonised so much during his prayer at Gethsemane due to the impending beatings, scourging, lashing and crucifixion.  He was after all in human form, with flesh, blood and nerves.  But now I know—and it would also be the most sorrowful state for any of us unless we are reconciled to God.

The most sorrowful state we could be in is to be cut off from God (“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”).  That’s what happened to Jesus when He bore our filthy sins on the Cross, the collective transgressions of mankind from the past to the future.  God is holy, no one can be in His presence unless they are cleansed (“Cursed is everyone who is hanged on…