We can actually answer the question “What was He thinking?” with some accuracy.  Before His death, Jesus knew His disciples’ hearts were troubled.  He comforted them with a vision of eternity and the promise of the Counselor to come (John 14:1-16).  He also gave them a supper as a memorial of His death to come (Matthew 26:26-28).

After leaving the upper room, Jesus and His disciples journeyed to the Garden of Gethsemane.  He asked them to watch and pray while He found a private place to pour His heart out to the Father.  What was He thinking?  Jesus was thinking the pain of the way to Calvary was nearly unbearable, and in anguish He sweat drops of blood, and made His intentions clear: “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

On the cross Jesus thought about His mother’s security and the souls of people who desperately needed grace.  He was thinking thirst, and at last, “it is finished” (John 19:30).

I feel certain Jesus had many thoughts that are not recorded in scripture.  Do you think He thought of you there?  The most important thing for us to realize is Jesus was not sheltered from His passion.  He wasn’t waiting for a cue from His Father to tell Him His next line.  Instead, He was “very God” suffering in full awareness.  The fact Jesus could have altered events in His life had He wanted, only accentuates the determined, calculated nature of His actions.  Perhaps more than anything He remembered how His Father “so loved the world” (John 3:16).  Had this not crossed His mind in some form, I don’t know how He could have endured.