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Notes and Jottings - page 465.
J. N. Darby.
Luke gives us more of the sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane than any other gospel. Being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly. The more He felt the depths of the dreadful cup, the more earnestly He prayed. The sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. It drew out His soul as man to God. But on the cross we find no trace in this gospel of the agony and sorrow. He had already passed through it all in spirit with God, so that He is above it all. We see, pre-eminently in Luke, the perfectness of Christ as Man. So entirely is He above the circumstances that He is occupied with others. His first word on the Cross is, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Then He can turn to the poor thief by His side, and say, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." And His last word is, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." It is the perfect unclouded consciousness of the perfect Man giving up His spirit to His Father.
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In the Garden of Gethsemane we have a threefold picture of man: -
In the disciples, of man in his infirmity.
In Judas, of man in his hatred and wickedness.
In Jesus, of man in his perfectness.
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The Cross was, morally speaking, the end of the first creation, and thus the scene through which we are walking is a judged scene - it has judged itself.
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In the Cross, I have God perfectly revealed. All that God is has been fully brought out therein.