Gethsemane

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, event to death." Matthew 26:36ff

"It was no hyperbole when Jesus told the disciples that His distress was so severe that it had brought Him to the very brink of death. The agony He bore in the garden was literally sufficient to kill Him...Why was He feeling such agony? It might seem natural to assume He was dreading the physical pain of the cross and the tortures He would suffer on the way to Calvary. But many have suffered crucifixion without sweating blood at the thought of it. It is inconceivable to think that the Son of God would be suffering such measureless agony for fear of what men could do to Him. He Himself had taught: 'Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul' (Matthew 10:28). It certainly was not death per se that troubled His soul so violently. After all, He had come to die. This was the hour for which He had come."

"Here in the garden, however, He prays, 'O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me...What is this cup? It is not merely death. It is not the physical pain of the cross. It was not the scourging or the humiliation. It was not the horrible thirst, the torture of having nails driven through His body, or the disgrace of being spat upon or beaten. It was not even all those things combined. All of those were the very things Christ Himself had said not to fear."

"Clearly, what Christ dreaded most about the cross - the cup from which He asks to be delivered if possible - was the outpouring of divine wrath He would have to endure from His holy Father."

"So when Christ prayed that if possible the cup might pass from Him, He spoke of drinking the cup of divine judgment. Do not imagine for a moment that Christ feared the earthly pain of crucifixion. He would not have trembled at the prospect of what men could do to Him. There was not one ounce of the fear of man in Him. But the next day He would 'bear the sins of man' (Hebrew 9:28) - and the fullness of divine wrath would fall on Him. In some mysterious way that our human minds could never fathom, God the Father would turn His face from Christ the Son, and Christ would bear the full brunt of the divine fury against sin."

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5:21

~quotations taken from The Murder of Jesus by John MacArthur