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"The Aloneness of Jesus"Thursday evening. From the stuffy, upper room, Jesus led his disciples to a familiar place—the garden of Gethsemane. Out there in the peaceful quiet, the eleven disciples drifted off to sleep. There had been times when Jesus went off by himself to pray, but not this time. This night was different. This time, he needed them. He did not want to be alone…Why?Jesus was facing a level of physical suffering that transcended anything known to man. It was enough to make any strong man quail. But there was something even worse than that. He was facing separation from the Father. He was experiencing unanswered prayer—(“Let this cup pass from me”). In anguish of spirit he prayed urgently, his sweat falling as drops of blood to the ground. It was the ultimate in God-forsakenness; and that alone nearly killed him.So, here in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in the throes of human desperation—needing the companionship of his friends to steel him for what was coming…and they could give him none. What an opportunity they missed. Someone has observed that if women had been included in the Last Supper, Jesus wouldn’t have spent those last hours alone. The same women who kept a lonely vigil at the foot of the cross, wrapped his broken body, and hurried to the grave a break of day, would have knelt with him in the Garden, held his hand, wiped his brow, and shared his agony. But his companions were guys—and they slept while Jesus endured the crucible alone.