Matthew 26:36-46: Our Sorrows He Carries

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”  Jesus in Matthew 26:39

“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.  

 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! 

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.