Jesus kneels to pray, saying, "Father, if it is Yourwill, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, bedone."
Thenan angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, Heprayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood fallingdown to the ground. When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples,He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do yousleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Twice He tells themto pray that they avoid falling into temptation and listening to the lies ofSatan and doing what he wants rather than what God would want.
Matthewtells us that He took these three men with Him into the garden. He said tothem, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here andwatch with Me." Matthew's gospel provides more detail about whathappened as Jesus was with these disciples in this time of prayer in the gardenbefore He was arrested by the crowd that came with Judas.
“Hewent a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "O MyFather, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, notas I will, but as You will." Then He came to the disciples and found themsleeping and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with Me one hour?Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,but the flesh is weak." Again, a second time, He went away and prayed,saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless Idrink it, Your will be done." He came and found them asleep again, fortheir eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away again and prayed the thirdtime, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them,"Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and theSon of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.See, My betrayer is at hand." (Matthew 26:36-46)
Thisis a powerful passage of Scripture, reminding us of Jesus as He would drink “thiscup” in Gethsemane. The question for many has been: what does this cuprepresent? In my mind, this cup represents the cup of the sins of the world. “Thiscup” represented Jesus receiving and taking sin upon Himself. The Biblesays in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For God made Jesus to be sin for us, whoknew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Inother words, Jesus was at this hour where He would literally take upon Himself thesin of all the world. He became that sin. The sinless Son of God, the pure Sonof God, the holy Son of God, was now going to take the sin of the world. Wecan't even fathom what and all of this means, but Jesus took that sin. Hebecame that sin, and of course, His holy divine nature would say, "Please,I can't even begin to comprehend taking this sin."
Yet,Jesus never said, "Take away the cross and it’s suffering." No, Heknew He came for this hour. This was the hour that He would pay the price forthe sins of the world. We see this is the cup of suffering spiritually,emotionally, and physically. “This cup” of sin that Jesus says,"Take from Me, but not My will." In other words, He learned obediencethrough suffering as the Scripture says in Hebrews. Philippians 2:8 says, “Andbeing found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient tothe point of death, even the death of the cross.
Jesuswas obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Why? Because Hehumbled Himself. He laid aside His divine powers. The angel came andstrengthened Him. These are powerful passages reminding us what Jesus did foryou and me.
Itrust you'll take them into your heart and live a life of thankfulness,gratefulness, and service to Him as you meditate and think about “thiscup” and what Jesus did for you.
Godbless!
