“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’.” (Matt. 26:39)
How powerful is this passage? Let us just take a few minutes to take in all that is going on here. This prayer from Jesus to His Father is referenced in each gospel, except that of John, and I cannot think of any single scripture in the entire Bible that is more impactful to me than this one. I mean, when I think of the Son of God praying to His Father, asking Him to remove the cup that He is about to bear, I am not ashamed to admit that I am overwhelmed!
Belief is certainly an abstract concept, the same with faith. But all I can say is if you claim to “believe” and you can read this passage without being brought to tears, I have to question whether or not you know the Lord and live with His Spirit! I happen to believe that whether or not this passage does bring a tear to your eye, could determine whether you truly understand and believe the full Gospel message.
Seriously, how could the suffering that the Son of Man endured at the hand of His own Father not move you to emotions if you really believed this to be true? Without an understanding of that reality, you will not be able to grasp why Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) Anyway, I know that there are plenty of scriptures that “believers” today don’t know, understand, or for that matter even agree with, but putting that problem aside for a moment, I want to ask all those who claim allegiance to Christ to simply open your heart to hear and understand what Jesus is going through in that moment. God so loved us, that He demonstrated that love by sacrificing His One and only Son so that you might have Life! And Jesus so loved His Father, that He demonstrated His love by being obedient to death on a cross! (John 14:30-31)
To grasp the weight of this you must put aside Christ’s deity for a second and consider the “all man” component of the Person, Jesus Christ. You must understand (and believe) that Jesus was created to be fully human in every way, “born in the likeness of sinful flesh”, in order for Him to experience pain and be able to relate to human suffering so that He may be able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb. 2:14-18) This is a vital component of biblical truth that is not understood, nor does it seem to be considered often in the minds of most Christians today. Why does this matter? If you do not consider the humanity of Jesus, then His obedience means nothing, and His perfection provides absolutely no value to your walk at all! What inspiration or encouragement can one’s perfection (obedience) provide if you do not appreciate the suffering that their obedience demanded? (Heb. 5:8-9)
Understanding this reality means everything regarding your salvation! (John 8:51) If you don’t grasp this concept, then you can’t fully understand how your obedience to His commands demonstrates your love for God (John 14:15-17). Meaning, if you view Christ’s perfection in a manner such as to say, “Yeah, of course, He didn’t sin, but He can’t relate to the temptation, pain, and suffering that I am going through. If I were God, I wouldn’t sin either” then you demonstrate your ignorance of God! If you view Christ’s sinlessness and His obedience as something that His humanity had no part in, but rather view His perfection simply as a consequence of His being the great I AM, then you miss the entire point of the Gospel message and will not experience the power of God that His Spirit can bring! Believing that Jesus lived a sinless life while in the flesh is one thing but failing to consider all that He suffered to do so essentially provides an excuse for your life of sin. Let me explain. If you believe that God would ask something of us that He did not do Himself, then you do not know the Lord! The reason that Jesus is justified in asking perfection from us (Matt. 5:48), is because He Himself was perfect and obedient to God in all that He suffered for the Father. There is a huge difference between these two views of Christ’s sinless, perfectly obedient, life:
- He lived free from sin because He is equal to God and cannot sin.
- He lived free from sin because He loved His Father and chose not to sin!
One of these two views removes the entire point of Jesus coming to earth in the flesh, and one provides the very example that a disciple of Christ is to model their life after. If you consider Christ’s humanity and credit the love for His Father as the reason for His obedience through all that He suffered, then you believe God. If you discount the humanity in His obedience, then you believe Satan and think that Christ cannot understand or relate to your struggle against sin because He was not “all man”.
Understand that “drinking from His cup” is a metaphor for living a self-denied life for Christ. That metaphor may apply to any number of different sins that one must turn from or deny yourself of but being obedient to Christ is to “drink from His cup”! This is what it means to pick up your cross daily, to bear your own! As that metaphor relates to the sacrifice of your own will (independence), you must understand that Christ, too, gave His life for us. So, we see that God does not ask anything of us that He did not do Himself! But what we often do not understand is that what He did, He commands the same from His disciples! And perfection is to be our goal! The question that a disciple of Christ must ask himself to effectively “work out his salvation with fear and trembling” is: “Am I obedient to Christ?” If “sinning” demonstrates your spiritual obedience to Satan, and obeying the Lord’s commands demonstrates your spiritual obedience to God, then why do “believers” take such a cavalier approach to sin today? (Rom. 6:16-18)
If ‘it is enough for students to be like their teachers” (Matt. 10:25a), then we know that there is no shame in asking God to “take this cup from me”. However, asking God to remove the cup by His will is one thing; but going ahead and sinning just to serve your will when He does not remove the cup is another thing entirely! Once God makes clear that He will not remove the cup, you must be obedient and do what He says! So, what about you? Will you drink from His cup? Jesus was obedient, without sin, His entire life! As a result of His obedience, His blood serves as forgiveness for the past sins of all those who believe… those who agree with God about sin and repent (permanently turn from sin). But for His blood to cleanse your past sins, you, too, must drink from His cup. You, too, must die with Christ to sin, in order to be raised with Him in Spirit! (Rom. 6:1-7, Col. 2:11-12, Gal.2:20)
So, let us go back one more time and look at the scripture detailing how Jesus is literally sweating blood at the thought of what He is about to suffer for you…
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not as I will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) Wow! But praise God, Jesus was obedient to His Father, amen? Again, the sacrifice of His One and only Son is how God demonstrated His love for us. (Rom. 5:8) And Jesus demonstrated His love for His Father by being obedient to His commands, even humbling Himself to the point of death on a cross! (John 14:30-31, Phil. 2:8) And His Word says that if you truly love Him, you also will obey His commands. (John 14:23-24)
“But if anyone obeys His Word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know that we are in Him. Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:5-6) What sin is it that the Lord is calling you to repent of and surrender to Him today? (Heb. 12:4) Whatever that sin is, you cannot willingly hold onto it and be welcomed into His family! (Luke 13:3) If you want to be received by Jesus, you must drink from His cup! (John 8:31-32) You must give your life to win Life! (Luke 9:23-24) Fear the Lord! Lay this life down (abandon your will to serve His) and receive the victor’s crown! (Rev. 2:7)
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The most comforting words are “Me too”. Coming from Christ is life changing.
Amen. Thank you for your comment, Carol!