36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. 41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is week."
42 He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"The story of Jesus' prayer in agony is one of the most famous scenes in the gospels. We find Jesus agonizing in prayer while his disciples are unable to keep their heavy eyelids from falling shut. Jesus cries out to God that this cup would be taken from him. Luke's gospel is even more vivid, as it describes how his sweat was like blood falling to the ground. What takes place at Gethsemane is a powerful picture. All through the gospels, never see Jesus so troubled.
Have you thought much about what exactly is was that was bothering Jesus so much?
Of course, Jesus' prayer at Gethsemane takes place in the shadow of the cross. These are Jesus' last hours before he would be arrested, and the next morning he would be taken to Pontius Pilate and sentenced to crucifixion. With the crucifixion waiting for him, Jesus prays that if there is any other possible way, he be spared from having to go to the cross.
But why? Maybe the most common explanation is the surface-level one. Jesus is shrinking back from the physical agony of crucifixion. After all, who wouldn't? Crucifixion is one of the most torturous methods of execution ever created. It is, quite literally, excruciating. I get apprehensive just about going to the dentist, so it's hard for me to even imagine facing something like that. And so, many people think that in Gethsemane Jesus is praying to be spared from the physical pain of the cross.
But I think there's more to it than that. Certainly, very few people are anxious for painful deaths, but in history, we hear about martyrs who joyfully accept death, even painful ones. Do we really think that Jesus would be more apprehensive than these other people?
We need to remember that Jesus' death was unique. No one else has undergone what he did on the cross, because there was more to it than the physical pain. In the crucifixion, Jesus received the punishment that we all deserved for our sin. God's wrath was poured out on Jesus, and the one who knew no sin felt the weight of the world's guilt. Jesus prayed that the cup would be taken from him. Several times in the Old Testament, the metaphor of a cup is used to talk about the wrath of God (e.g., Isa. 51:17-23; Jer. 25:15; Ezek. 23:31:34). So the cup that Jesus had to drink included more than the nails and the thorns. It consisted of God's just punishment of sin.
Jesus was faced with this awful cup, and he chose to drink it. He knew full well what the cross meant, and he submitted to the plan. He had the power to save himself from the cross, but he chose to accept it. And that's absolutely incredible. We can't understand what the effect of the cross was on Jesus, because only he knows what it's like to be divine. Only he knows what it's like to be sinless. Only he knows what God's wrath really feels like. And even though he knew all of this going in, he still went to the cross out of his love for us. In John 10:18, Jesus says that no one takes his life from him, but that he lays it down of his own accord.
So how do we apply this passage. We'll often look at Jesus in Gethsemane and use it as a model for how we too should pray--in total submission to the will of God. I think that's a fair application. But today, as you think about Gethsemane, it would be good to simply allow yourself to be awed by the magnitude of Christ's love. He freely chose to go to the cross to pay the price for our sin. We don't deserve such a gift. We should have been the ones on the cross. We can't look at Jesus praying in the garden and fail to see perfect love. And if that doesn't bring some joy to your day, I'm not sure what will.
David Heffren
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