“My Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me…”
Jesus in Matthew 26:39
What are the
burdens you are carrying right now? As I type this, we are bracing for
anti-American protests in our Hungarian city.
Older friends have cancer.
Younger friends have a 12-year old daughter with a large brain
tumor. Yet Christ’s burden was greater than what any one human has ever faced. Christ bore all of our griefs, all of
our sorrows, all of our iniquity and
sin. (See Isaiah 53:4,6). No wonder He
sweated great drops of blood!
“If I had not felt certain that every
additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have
survived my accumulated sufferings.” (Adoniram Judson, as quoted by Eugene Harrison, Giants of the Missionary Trail ,
p. 73; Judson was a missionary
to Southeast Asia in the early 1800s; he buried 2 wives and 8 children
on the mission field)
“It would
be a trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never
sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were
never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight
and quantity.” (Charles Spurgeon, as quoted by John Piper in his biography on
Spurgeon at www.desiringgod.org)
Jesus went with His disciples to a placed called
Gethsemane (v. 36), a garden next to Jerusalem on the Mount of
Olives. There He said to his
disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee (v. 36-37; see 4:21), who were His closest friends even within
the Twelve, he went further into the garden.
He began to be sorrowful and troubled (v. 37). Then He said to them, “My soul is
very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch with Me,” (v.
38). Moody
Bible Commentary calls this verse, “the most vulnerable moment of our
Lord’s life as recorded in Scripture.”
And this verse is certainly a confirmation and fulfillment of Isaiah
53:3 which says that the Messiah will be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief.”
Luke adds
that Jesus withdrew “about a stone’s throw,” (Luke 22:41) and His “sweat became
like great drops of blood,” (Luke 22:44).
Luke the physician (see Colossians 4:14) is describing a medical
condition called hematidrosis, when under extreme stress one literally sweats blood. Luke also says an angel
appeared to Jesus “strengthening Him,” (Luke 22:43).
Leaving
behind Peter, James and John, Jesus goes a little farther into
the garden and fell on His face and prayed, (v. 39). There is a mystery here that finite man cannot
fully grasp: Our Lord Jesus fully prostrates Himself before the Father. The agony of God Incarnate is on
display. Jesus cries, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” (v.
39).
To drink
from a cup is a metaphor signifying to receive the
wrath of God (see Matthew 20:22, Psalm
75:8; Isaiah 51:17, 22; Revelation
14:10, 16:19, 18:6). Sinless Jesus was
about to be made sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:21) and take upon Himself the wrath
of God due us (see Romans 5:9). This cup (v. 39) of wrath is what stared Christ in the face
causing Him great agony. “God shows His
love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans
5:8). “He was crushed for our
iniquities…with his stripes we are healed,” (Isaiah 53:5). Oh, the indescribable love of our God!
In spite of
Jesus’ plea, the Father would not let this cup pass from
(v. 39) Christ. And in that moment Jesus
was sorrowful, even to death (v. 37). Yet God was ultimately sovereign, even though
all seemed to be out of His control.
In the
moments when life is sorrowful and troubled (v.
39) we must fall on our faces before God.
May we lean not on our understanding but on the Lord’s sovereignty. It was Christ “who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross,” (Hebrews 12:2).
The cross was temporary; yet His sacrifice was complete. And His joy and our joy are eternal.
