Let This Cup Pass

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This sermon focuses on the words of Jesus as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and crucifixion. This message provided a review of a familiar account for celebrating the Lord's Supper.

Written Excerpts:

Matthew 26:39 (NKJV) He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

Introduction:

The verse of Scripture I’ve read from Mt. 26:39 is one that has captured the interest of many people down through the years. Over time, I have heard different discussions and thoughts offered about what Jesus was really asking in this prayer. On this Sunday when we are celebrating the sacrament of communion, I want to point out some of the views offered regarding His prayer and then share some observations about it as we remember His sacrifice for our sins.

I.          Some views about the prayer’s intent.

I suppose that many of you have wondered about the actual meaning of Jesus’ prayer just as I have. 

With all the previous statements by Jesus about the purpose He came into the world and about His own death and resurrection, it may seem a little odd that He would pray for “this cup to pass.”

A. I’ve heard preachers in the past speak about the possibility that this is just an expression of His human desires even though He was also divine.

The explanation offered encourages us to remember that even though He was the Son of God, yet in His humanity He experienced the same normal temptations that the rest of us do, and He would have naturally wanted to avoid the suffering like any person would.

However, in contrast, we also have heard and read reports of various saints of God who rejoiced and seemed to welcome the opportunity to suffer for Christ. In comparison, it would almost seem that they do a better job facing the prospect of suffering than Jesus did.

John N. Oswalt – …what about all those people down through the ages who faced equally terrible deaths with a song on their lips? Why didn’t Jesus “bear up” better? (email devotional)

So, it must go deeper than just the fact that He experienced normal human temptation to avoid suffering and death, especially after He had already talked so much about it.

B.        A second view I remember hearing many years ago. A preacher presented a viewpoint that I’d heard from no one else.

I don’t remember the preacher’s name or where I even heard him preach, but I do remember that he had been a physician. He tried to describe from a physician’s point of view the physiological conditions Jesus must have been experiencing when He is described as “sweating as it were great drops of blood.” He concluded that the emotional and physical agony Jesus was experiencing right there in the Garden of Gethsemane had the potential of killing Him before He ever got to the cross. His take on this passage was that Jesus was praying for the Father to take away the “cup” of dying before He made it to the cross, but ultimately was willing to die that way if God willed.

Matthew 26:38 ^(NKJV) Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."

“even to death” can be understood as the result of his grief and agony, or it could be the cause of the grief. (Tyndale Commentaries)

I had never heard this explanation before but I admit that it did seem to avoid the conflicting image of the Son of God hoping to avoid the cross after claiming many times that it was the reason He came into the world.

Matthew 16:21 ^(NKJV) From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

C.        A third explanation I have come across lately ties in more closely with other Scriptures.

I receive frequent devotionals by email from Dr. John Oswalt, an OT scholar that I have quoted in various sermons and Bible studies. Recently he sent out a devotional about this text in Matthew. I saved it so I could refer back to it for this communion message.

Dr. Oswalt and others have linked Jesus’ use of the word “cup” to several OT passages where the judgment of God is described as being poured from a cup.

One clear example is: Ezekiel 23:31-35 ^(NKJV) You [i.e. Jerusalem] have walked in the way of your sister [i.e. Samaria]; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.' ³²  "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'You shall drink of your sister's cup, The deep and wide one; You shall be laughed to scorn And held in derision; It contains much. ³³  You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, The cup of horror and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria. ³⁴  You shall drink and drain it, You shall break its shards, And tear at your own breasts; For I have spoken,' Says the Lord GOD. ³⁵  "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, Therefore you shall bear the penalty Of your lewdness and your harlotry.' " 

The direct wrath, fury, and judgment of God that includes intense suffering was clearly the meaning of the word “cup” in these OT references.

But in the case with Jesus, it means more than intense suffering. 

He had already acknowledged that some of His own disciples would drink the same cup of suffering as He was. See Matthew 20:22-23 ^(NKJV) But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." ²³  So He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father."

However, their “cup” of suffering was for cause of Christ, not for their own sins or the sins of the nation.

His “cup” of suffering was not for His own sins, but it was for the sins of the whole world. He was to experience the fury and judgment of God for the sins of all humanity.

1 John 2:2 (NKJV) And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 

II.        Some observations worth noting.

A.        Jesus’ position – He “fell on his face…” This is the only time we are told that Jesus prostrated himself. Thus indicating the heavy burden and emotion that he experienced. (Tyndale Commentaries)

B.        Another observation ties in with one thing I mentioned earlier regarding the difference between Jesus’ cup of suffering and the disciples’ cup of suffering.

I already mentioned that His “cup” was different in the fact that He was suffering the consequences for the sins of the whole world, while they would be suffering for their testimony of Christ. 

There is another major difference besides this.

While they suffered for Christ, they experienced the presence of Christ.

But when He suffered for us, He suffered all alone, even including the abandonment of His Father in heaven.

I praise the Lord that Jesus my Savior was willing to drink the cup of all my judgment for my sins.

Conclusion:

As we close the message today, I just want to remind you that the “cup” that was staring Jesus in the face in Gethsemane was the cup we deserved. It was the cup of our judgment.

Here are more of Dr. Oswalt’s devotional comments:

Those consequences are pictured by the Hebrew prophets as a cup filled to the brim with the most ghastly brew: all the hatred, all the tragedy, all the loss, all the missed opportunities, all the petty nastiness stemming from our determination to have our own way. And we will drink it; those consequences can no more be escaped than can the loss of fingers when we unthinkingly reach across a running circular saw for something on the other side.

Yes, the “cup” must be drained. But suppose someone else – Someone else – were to drink it for us? The “cup” could be taken out of our hands, and put into his. Now all of a sudden the agony of Gethsemane makes sense. Jesus was not agonizing over the circumstances of his own death, terrible as it was. He was agonizing over the hideous thought of having to drink the devil’s brew in our cup, the cup of all humanity: all the hurt, all the grief, all the terror, all the evil of all time, and in the end, for him who is Life alone, the Death of us all. Who in their right mind would willingly do that? Only one who was motivated by a bottomless love, a love for his Father whom he lived to please, and a love for the poor, pitiful creatures whom he had made for love.

As we prepare to share the elements of communion, let’s sing Blest Feast of Love Divine.