This week’s readings focus on the Savior’s suffering at Gethsemane. At his place, the Savior suffered the sins of all people
“At the Place of Suffering,” by S. Kent Brown, from The Testimony of Luke
“Through his divine foresight, Jesus anticipates the shocking intensity of what is coming and admits his anxiety about it all. But by the time he climbs from Jericho to the capital city, he shows his now settled resolve to face his suffering by pushing the pace up the hill. However, even his divine foresight and resolve do not fully prepare him for what crashes down on him at Gethsemane—our sins on a sinless man, our wickedness on a righteous person, our guilt on an innocent soul, all of this in addition to paying the price for the transgression of Adam and Eve—‘In all their afflictions [the Savior] was afflicted,’”
“The Purifying Power of Gethsemane,” Bruce R. McConkie, April 1985 General Conference
“We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane.
“We know he sweat great gouts [drops] of blood from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given him.
“We know he suffered, both body and spirit, more than it is possible for man to suffer, except it be unto death.
“We know that in some way, incromprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justive, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name.”
