“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Mark 14:36

This Sunday we looked at Mark’s account of Jesus’ suffering in the garden of Gethsemane. I said that my hope was that as we thought carefully about this account, it would help us to say, “Oh how he loves us” while in our own Gethsemanes.

Mark makes it clear that Jesus was facing not only physical death but the wrath of God for all sin. Jonathon Edwards said that Jesus was having terrible and amazing views and apprehensions.

Mark gives us a picture of Jesus “losing it” in response to these views of the wrath of God. We are given a picture of Jesus in more agony in the garden than on the cross. The emotional stress alone was about to kill him (14vs34). Jesus falls down (14vs35). Jesus asks for a way out (14vs36). He references “the cup.” The cup was the Old Testament image for God’s judgment against sin.

What do you think when you see Jesus stressed out? How do you feel when you see Jesus rolling in the dirt? What do you think when you hear Jesus asking for a way out of the very purpose that he stated was his reason for coming? How do you feel when Jesus says that he doesn’t want to drink the cup of the wrath of God?

I don’t think enough on the wrath of God for sin that Jesus faced. Can you imagine what it would be like to stand before God and to answer for every sin, crime, evil act, and injury in the history of the world that has been done against the millions of people that he created in his image and loves?

He tasted this in the garden and stayed to drink it all. He tasted the wrath of God that was going to come down on him at the cross. This makes going to the cross even worse. We know this. Think about a difficult or painful experience where you have said, “Wow, that was harder than I thought. I don’t ever want to go through that again.”

In response to all of this, Jesus said to his Father, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Oh, how he loves us!

LET’S PRAY TOGETHER
Holy Spirit, give us power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. Assure us that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus. In our suffering, comfort us with this love. Strengthen our resolve to do what Jesus wants no matter how difficult, no matter what the cost, and no matter what kind of response we receive from others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.