Thursday, March 25, 2010
Luke 22:41-42 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
MOMENTOUS WORDS TO THE FATHER
Didn't Jesus know what God’s will was? Did He not realize that God's plan included His suffering and dying for sin? Jesus most certainly understood, for He said earlier (John 10:17-18): "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
Was Jesus getting cold feet? No. Let's not understand these words as an expression of unwillingness. These are the words of an obedient son, who knows that with God all things are possible (Mark 14:36). These are like the words of an obedient son, who knows that the medicine will taste awful, yet will gladly take it if the Father says it is best.
What is this "cup" that Jesus is talking about drinking? We can understand the expression if we think of a cup as an allotment, an amount of drink. Instead of giving Jesus an amount to drink, He gave him an amount to suffer. He was to drink the cup of God's wrath over sin. Jesus referred to His suffering as both a cup to drink (John 18:11) and a baptism on another occasion (cf. Matthew 20:22-23).
Jesus was human and experienced dread at the thought of this suffering, and yet He accepted the Father's will unconditionally (cf. also John 12:27-28; John 4:34, 5:30, and 6:38). It was His first desire to do the Father's will, even if that meant His own death. He was willing to die because He so loved the Father and each one of us.
It was because the God-man was willing that the Apostle Paul could later write (Romans 5:6-9): "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."
