Introduction
We come now to one of the most poignant and important moments
in Jesus’ ministry--his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane,
which immediately precedes his arrest.
Timing
(late at night; after Last Supper & just before arrest) and
location (in an olive grove on the slopes of the Mount of Olives,
just east of Jerusalem). Let’s start by reading the entire
event--read Matt. 26:31-56.
I want to look at
this event from two perspectives--what it teaches us about Jesus’
ministry, and what it teaches us about following Jesus.
What it teaches us about
Jesus’ ministry
Jesus uses two terms in this passage that provide
important information about his ministry: “the hour” and
“the cup.”
Jesus’
“hour” refers to the crucial stage of his ministry,
during which he will either succeed or fail in his mission.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, people would urge him to publicly
reveal himself as the Messiah, but Jesus would refuse by saying “My
hour is not yet at hand” (Jn. 2:4; 7:6,8). Or his enemies
would try to arrest him, but they would fail because “his hour
had not yet come” (Jn. 7:30; 8:20). But now Jesus says
that his hour has come (26:45)--and that begins not with public
coronation, but with private arrest. In fact, in Lk. 22:53,
Jesus says that this “hour” belongs to them (his enemies)
and to the powers of darkness working through them.
If Jesus’
“hour” involved falling under the power of his enemies,
what was his mission in that “hour?” It was to drink
“the cup.” This is a common Old Testament figure of
speech referring to God’s allotted role or task for someone.
As Jesus comes to his “hour” and peers down into the
“cup” his Father is giving him to “drink,” it
is so vile that he gags (soul lethally grieved, recoils in agony,
falls down, breaks out in profuse sweat [Lk. 22:44]). What is
this “cup?”
For one thing, of
course, it involves the excruciating physical ordeal of scourging and
crucifixion. Jesus had seen what this entailed--and now, thanks to
“The Passion,” we know how incredibly painful this was.
But the “cup”
went beyond this to something unimaginably worse. The Old Testament
prophets spoke (15 times) of a specific, terrifying “cup”--
read Ps. 75:7,8; Isa. 51:17b,20b; Ezek. 23:32-35.
This is the “cup” of God’s infinite, burning
judgment poured out on human sin.
Sin is not a
psychological neurosis, or an illusion of the unenlightened--it is
rebellion against a holy God that accrues true moral guilt which God
must judge. And because we have all sinned, we all
deserve God’s judgment.
The amazing thing
is not that God judges sin--but that God has provided a way to exempt
us from his judgment. Although his justice demands judgment for sin,
his love provided a way to satisfy his judgment while still being
able to accept us. God took all of our “cups” of
judgment, poured them into one huge, vile “cup”--and put
it before Jesus to drink. That’s what happened on the Cross.
Jesus actually took our sin and guilt onto himself, and then he bore
the fury of God’s righteous judgment in our place--so we
wouldn’t have to “drink” it.
I am full of
sin--yet when I think of being immersed in the sin of what the human
race has done, it gags me. Imagine how Jesus (who had never known
sin or guilt) must have felt as he peered into this “cup!”
Imagine how Jesus (who had always been in perfect communion with his
Father) must have felt as he contemplated the prospect of
experiencing his wrath! No wonder Jesus recoiled!
What kind of love
must God have for you to send his Son to drink this “cup”
for you? What kind of love must Jesus have for you to voluntarily
drink it (the point of this passage)? God’s justice and love
are both supremely demonstrated on the Cross.
But Jesus won’t
forcibly take your “cup” from you. You must personally
choose to pour your “cup” into his “cup” and
ask him to drink it for you. Have you done this? If not,
why not do so today? Then you will experience God’s
forgiveness, and you will know that you are forever exempt from God’s
judgment because Jesus drank your “cup.”
What it teaches us about
following Jesus
On one level,
then, Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane is unique. But on
another level, it is something that all who follow him can relate to.
The way this passage is written invites us to compare Jesus and the
disciples (and ourselves). Notice:
Both were facing a
serious test. Will the disciples remain faithful to Jesus, or will
they run away to save their own skins? Will Jesus remain faithful to
his Father and drink the “cup,” or will he turn aside?
Both were physically fatigued, afraid, and deeply depressed
(26:37,38; Luke 22:45).
Yet the outcome of
their tests couldn’t be more different. The disciples panicked
and reacted rashly (26:51)--and then ran away. Jesus was
strengthened by angels (Lk. 22:43) and walked into and through
the ordeal with amazing calm and authority.
How do we account
for the difference? It isn’t because Jesus was God, while the
disciples were mere men. Jesus was God--but he faced this as
a man, without using his divine prerogatives (26:53). Nor is it that
they were fated to respond in this way because the Old Testament
prophets foretold their reactions (26:31,54,56). God’s
predictions never cancel out our free choices and responsibility.
No, the reason why
Jesus passed his test while the disciples failed theirs was that
Jesus laid hold of God’s strength by praying, while the
disciples (in spite of Jesus’ repeated warnings) slept instead
of praying (“watch” as in 26:41).
If you follow
Jesus, you will have many Gethsemane’s--you will be tested many
times. Jesus has a redemptive role for you to play--but
there are powers of darkness who will do everything they can to turn
you away from this role. They will usually not confront you
directly; they will usually work through other people and
circumstances. They will especially play on your fears by
threatening you, in order to get you to back down from doing what
Jesus wants you to do (WITNESSING OR TEACHING; COSTLY CONFRONTATION;
CONFESSING SIN; LEAVING COMPROMISING JOB OR RELATIONSHIP;
FAMILY/LOVER/FRIEND PRESSURE TO BACK OFF SERIOUS COMMITMENT). Some
of you are in Gethsemane right now.
God will never let
you be tested beyond what you are able to take, and he will provide
you with all the resources you need to pass the test (1 Cor.
10:13)--but you have to lay hold of those resources by praying (not
“sleeping”), and by praying as Jesus prayed. When I have
failed the test, it has always been because I didn’t pray--or
because I didn’t pray this way.
So let’s
look again at how Jesus prayed (re-read 26:39,42). There are two key
elements of his prayer, and both are equally important when we pray
during testing.
Honestly
express your negative feelings to God. “My Father, if it
is possible, let this cup pass from me . . .”
Jesus is amazingly candid in expressing his fears to God. He
protests, “I don’t want to do this” and he cries
loudly as he protests (Heb. 5:7).
Some macho men
(and women) are repulsed or embarrassed by Jesus’ behavior--but
it demonstrates both his psychological sanity (he doesn’t want
to suffer) and his emotional health (he is aware of and able to
express his feelings).
God is not like
your junior high football coach, who was disgusted by your fears. He
is your loving Father, who wants you to share your fears with him.
Spirituality is not stoically repressing your fears; it involves
honestly expressing them to a God who can help you overcome them.
It’s easier
for me to do this because Jesus did it. Sometimes it’s easier
to do this by first confiding your fears to another trusted Christian
friend, and even praying along these lines with them.
Firmly resolve
to follow God’s will in spite of your negative feelings.
But this is not all Jesus did. Even before he knows if there is a
legitimate way to avoid the “cup,” he commits himself to
do God’s will rather than his own (26:39). And once he becomes
clear again that this is indeed God’s will (26:42 “since”),
he actively embraces this path (contra passive, fatalistic
“whatever”).
For most of this,
this is the part we most need to learn. Our culture used to
emphasize repressing your feelings, but now it emphasizes
uncritically following your feelings. Our therapeutic culture
teaches that to say “No” to your feelings and “Yes”
to someone else’s will (even God’s) is pathological. But
it is not. What is pathological is to be so self-centered and
self-absorbed that you can only obey your fallen feelings.
How do you know
what God’s will is? The same way Jesus knew--the Bible. The
Old Testament passages concerning his mission provided the objective
guidance for his decision--no matter how strong his feelings were to
the contrary. In the same way, we need to go to God’s Word
during our Gethsemane’s and make our decisions based on what he
says. If you don’t know what God says, get biblical counsel
from a Christian friend.
The same God who
is your loving Father cares about your feelings and wants you to
express them is also your wise King who knows what is best and
calls you to trust and obey him (1 Pet. 4:19). And it is only
when we align our wills with his (against our feelings) that he
begins to strengthen us to do his will.
Jesus’ decision in Gethsemane here had
uniquely significant consequences for his own life (success
vs. failure), for our lives (forgiveness vs. judgment), and for God’s
plan (redemption vs. ruin). Our “Gethsemane” decisions
are not as momentous as Jesus’ (thank God!)--and because Jesus
drank our “cup” we can be forgiven when we choose wrongly
(PETER). But they are truly significant for us (growth vs.
stagnation), for others (spiritual impact vs. no/negative impact),
and for God’s purpose in history. So make them properly in
prayer like this!
Copyright 2005 Gary DeLashmutt