“[Jesus] threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.” – Matthew 26:39
Besides the Easter bunny and egg hunts after church, Easter messages often reflect on the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. But the physical resurrection of Jesus was not the core message, since Jesus had already declared His power to overcome physical death with His resurrection of Lazarus. The true message of the Resurrection was that Jesus had overcome spiritual death because He was the only One who could resurrect our spirit to heaven.
God had searched for every possible way to give eternal life to the spirit other than the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. That Jesus Christ was the only Way is evidenced during Jesus’ passionate cry to the Father (Matthew 26:14 – 27:66). Before Jesus was arrested, tortured, and crucified, there was a moment in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was “deeply grieved, even to death.” The true message of Easter was reflected in that passionate plea by Jesus.
Jesus had taken his three closest disciples – Peter, James, and John – to this place of prayer on that fateful night. He said to them,
“My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.’’
Perhaps Jesus, knowing His fate, was wondering if there was some other way except the cross. No doubt the Father and Son had searched for every possible means to save humankind, but no other solution would be possible. Indeed, the future of humankind depended on what would happen next. No other way, no amount of human good deeds, no human striving for perfection would suffice. Only Jesus could redeem what had been lost to sin.
Jesus had relinquished Himself to the need for salvation in saying: “Yet not what I want but what you want.” He pleaded for any other way, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Jesus must have been terribly burdened by the horrific task that only He could do. He was the only cure for the penalty of sin. It was a crucial moment of decision for Jesus that He must have known was a forgone conclusion. But one last search for an alternative by Jesus gave Him the answer that He knew in His heart – He was the only way and the truth and the life, and no one could come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
Perhaps the greatest suffering Jesus felt would be Jesus’ knowledge that He would be abandoned by his Heavenly Father on our behalf while hanging on the cross. Jesus would literally be separated from Himself, alone, and burdened with the sins of all who would eventually confess Him as Lord and Savior.
Even though Jesus asked if the cup, the figurative cup of His sacrifice and atonement, could be passed, He knew the answer – but at least He had to cry out for one more search for some other way to remove the separation between God and His beloved children for eternity. Alas, Jesus knew that He would need to sacrifice himself. There was only one way, and that way led to the cross.
One would think that once Jesus was arrested, his destiny was sealed. But even then, Jesus could have called on legions of angels to save Him. Those armies of angels would be more powerful than the greatest armies of today. But Jesus knew that His fate was sealed through His love for the lost, and no one else could save them. Jesus had counted the cost of His sacrifice.
And that is why Jesus’ time in the garden is so important. Because it reminds us that Jesus did not have to go to the cross. He chose to do this. He considered us more important than His life. Jesus was not a victim. He was a willing martyr. The time of prayer in the garden proved that no other religion, no other belief, and no other way could save humankind. Jesus was the only way toward salvation – all other options were exhausted, and there was no other way but through Him.
Jesus exhausted every other way. No one else could do what Jesus did – no other belief, no other person, no other faith. If there was any other way, God would have found it. Jesus did what no other one could do – and it came through an earnest and passionate search for alternatives.
He didn’t want to be humiliated and tortured in this cruel way. This sacrifice was genuine. Each drop of blood proved it. And that complete love demands our surrender, doesn’t it?
The Crucifixion
Why did the Son of God have to be crucified? Not just die, but die in the most painful, gruesome, horrifying way imaginable? Why was this necessary? Sin had sullied humankind such that no one’s self-righteousness could save humankind. The gruesomeness of sin’s toll on humanity had to be set right. A fallen world required not an animal sacrifice, as was done in the temple, but a sacrifice of God in the flesh. The fall of humanity is so deep, so irredeemable, so perverted, that no redemption could be made by humans. Only God’s divine atonement would redeem such a fallen people.
The world, before the crucifixion, was ruled by man’s ways. Only Jesus, who was without sin, could provide the perfect way. And Jesus alone could drain the swamp of sin to infuse His righteousness to give a spiritual birth to those believers who were dead in their own sins. Our fallen nature could only be redeemed by Jesus Christ. God gave victory to those who would believe in Jesus Christ. God gave those who confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior spiritual life to live for eternity in heaven.
Indeed, that victory came at a great cost: Jesus made our separation from God His own suffering to bridge that separation. There was no other way. The road to eternal life came through the death of the sinless Immanuel. God’s passion for us surrendered Christ’s passion for His life. And this time of remembering Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and redemption demands that we give thanks for the greatest gift ever given – the gift of eternity with God.
Responding to the Gift
But should we respond to this gift? First, we must surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. No one else deserves our surrender. Second, we must worship God. We give thanks for Jesus’ gift in praise and worship.
To acknowledge this gift, we should follow the two greatest commands given by Jesus: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Until our body dies or Jesus returns in His Glory, God has given us work to do. To share with the world what Jesus has done. But also, to grow in Christ each day through prayer, fellowship, worship, and through study of God’s Word. And by repenting for our sins, we continue that walk of faith knowing that we are sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and not by our own works, but through our belief in Jesus Christ (John 3:16), so that our destiny is Heaven because of what Christ did for us on the cross.
In Closing
Jesus did not have to sacrifice Himself for us. When He said, “Father, let this cup pass from me” He knew that His destiny was sealed, but He willingly went to the cross. He prayed in agony. He wept. But finally, he prayed, “yet not what I want but what you want.” “Thy will be done” was the prayer that forgave us and set us free by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Today, we have an opportunity to represent Jesus to the world through our smiles, our helping others, our sharing the Good News, our prayers for those in need, and by loving even those who persecute us, and by forgiving those who have offended us. That takes the power of the Holy Spirit in us, to do the impossible and to love others as Christ first loved us.
Thank you Jesus, for not passing the cup!