1 Corinthians 16
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.14 Do everything in love.
John 5
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The Sorrowful Heart of Jesus as He Went to the Mountain
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 25, 1959
For whom did Jesus come to the earth? Although he came for the sake of history, the age, the nation and the church, his path was full of pathos. Since he knew that his sorrow would not end simply as his own, but would be expanded as the sorrow of history, the age and the future, he was consumed with anxiety.
For this reason, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane. We should be able to feel sadness about this matter. The place where Jesus, the Savior of all people and the King of Kings, shared his final sorrow was not in the home of a disciple. It was not in a Jewish church nor a palace of the Jewish state. The place to which he went to decide everything in consultation with God was the garden of Gethsemane, where there were no visitors that late night. We should know this.
We believers in the last days should shed tears of sorrow, for the sake of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. We should have a longing heart for the figure of this Jesus. You should know that only in this way can you make a connection with Jesus, who cried with historical sorrow for the sake of the age and the future, who cried three times with blood and sweat, in utter misery.
When Jesus prayed all night, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” (Matthew 26:39) he must have been indescribably indignant and sorrowful. Considering that 4,000 years of history had collapsed, the nation of Israel had perished, the dispensational foundation of the 4,000 years had crumbled, and the Jewish church had fallen, Jesus’ blood and sweat were what connected the distance of history. His blood and tears bridged the gap of history. We should know that the Jewish people then could not even dream of this.
The disciples of Jesus at least made a pledge to follow him wherever he went. Who inherited the sorrowful heart of Jesus? Who made a connection with his pathetic situation of blood and tears? There was no one on earth. You should know that Jesus performed this task alone. There was no one to inherit his Shim Jung.
Hence, confronted with death, Jesus prayed as many as three times before Heaven at the garden of Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, for You all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but what You want.” (Mark 14:36) This plea burst Heaven and earth. This grave word was uttered to prevent the world of darkness from coming with power and authority.
Thus, the prayer at the garden of Gethsemane will never end. Throughout endless ages and centuries, this heartbreaking and blood- stained voice of the final plea should always stay alive in the human heart. God is working hard, hoping for a day when your Shim Jung will resonate with the Shim Jung of Jesus, who cried out, “Oh, Heaven.”
The believers in the last days should inherit the historical and grave Shim Jung of Jesus as he prayed on Mount Calgary and in the garden of Gethsemane. They should awaken the Christians who are in the position of the three disciples sleeping in the garden of Gethsemane. You should know that such an age is approaching. With the same Shim Jung as Jesus, who prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me,” (Matthew 26:39) you should also pray, “Father, if possible, do not let our Messiah be taken to the cross.”