Thought from today’s Bible reading from Matthew 26; Mark 14.
Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His betrayal. Some have interpreted His prayer to mean that Jesus was praying that He might be able to avoid the cross. Notice what Jesus said as it was recorded by Matthew:
“And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will’” (Matthew 26:39).
Some read of this desire for “this cup” to pass from Him and conclude that Jesus, in a moment of weakness, desired to escape the cross. In other words, though Jesus came to this world to save sinners, when the time was near for Him to offer the sacrifice, in an act of human weakness He wanted to abandon the mission. Can this possibly be true of our Lord?
Mark, in his gospel, offers us an inspired commentary explaining what Jesus’ words meant:
“And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, ‘Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will’” (Mark 14:35-36).
When Jesus prayed for “this cup” to be removed, He was not asking that He might be able to avoid dying on the cross. Instead, He was praying that “the hour might pass Him by.” In other words, He was praying for the time of His sacrifice to be completed. The “cup” was not the cross, but the hour.
Jesus had already declared His willingness to lay down His life (John 10:17-18). He also had already said He would not ask the Father to save Him from this hour (John 12:27). If Jesus truly wished to avoid the cross at this moment of weakness, He had “twelve legions of angels” at His disposal to deliver Him (Matthew 26:53). If Jesus wished to avoid the cross, He would have avoided it.
Jesus’ death on the cross was part of God’s “predetermined plan” (Acts 2:23). As the hour drew near, Jesus did not pray for an escape, but for the Father to be with Him as He completed His mission. May we have the same determination to obey the will of the Father today.
Tomorrow’s reading: Luke 22; John 13
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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