Jesus did not enjoy the prospect of the cross.  His heart was troubled.  At a human level, His desire was to be saved from the agony, but He could not make that desire His prayer because He was fully committed to the purpose for which He had come to earth (Matthew 26:36-42).  Jesus knew He must die on the cross so that sinners might be saved and receive eternal life (John 3:14-15).

To pray that Father God would remove the cross made no sense.  It would be like a king avoiding his coronation or a pregnant mother avoiding childbirth.  The cross was the eternal focus of God’s plan for the salvation of all who will believe (John 17:20).  It’s shame and pain were inevitable if Jesus is to “bring many sons and daughters to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).  
 
The salvation of sinners was not the ultimate purpose of His incarnation; that was just a part of a much bigger plan. Jesus’ life and death was certainly a wonderful sacrifice which enabled sinners to be saved from hell, but that was not His final purpose.  He knew that His mission was to bring glory to the Father by His obedience to be the sacrifice for sins for ever (John 17:4; Hebrews 10:12).  When Jesus made His Father’s glory the centre of His prayer, all heaven was stirred.  An audible voice affirmed, “I have glorified my Name and I will glorify it again”.
 
Our sinful nature is so self-centred that we can easily reduce the gospel by saying that ‘Jesus came to earth for me’.  While that is true, it is not the whole truth.  Our personal salvation is a part of the greater glory of God which will also be demonstrated in a new heaven and a new earth - and the uninterrupted, undiluted supremacy of God for all eternity.  In other words, all who have eternal life have a responsibility to join with the angels and all creation in bringing glory to God.  That is the ultimate purpose of all He has made and will recreate. The ‘glory perspective’ is essential to stop us seeing our salvation as God ‘worshipping me’ (by serving my needs).  Instead, without His salvation we cannot even begin to bring glory to Him, appreciate His grace and give Him thanks.  Without His salvation we have no power to live in such a way that people are drawn to worship His glorious majesty.  Bringing glory to God was Jesus’ purpose and must be ours as well.