GETHSEMANE: “He was crushed for our iniquities…” Mark 14:32-36

GETHSEMANE: “He was crushed for our iniquities…”

Mark 14:32-36

Introduction: We’ve been looking at Mark for quite some time, if I stay on track, we should get to the resurrection for Easter! Remember that this Gospel has been called a “narrative of the passion with an extended introduction.” As we came to chapter 14, we moved into the climax of the story, the passion of Christ. We’ve looked at the Gospel so far through the prism of three questions, which once again come front and center in the purposes of the writer: 1) Who is Jesus? 2) Why did He come? And 3) What does it mean to follow Him?  (By the way, I hope you see those questions as a discipling tool that can guide you through this gospel, perhaps reading it with someone else, and talking together about the answers to those questions). We’ll come back to the third question next week, but today as we look at Jesus in Gethsemane, to prepare our hearts for communion, I want to focus on the first two questions. How do these verses teach us about who He is and why He came?

       Jesus is revealed here, in powerful and dramatic terms, as the God-Man, the Son of God and Son of Man. He is the Eternal Word who was made flesh, He is the Last Adam who came to undo the Fall. And that leads us to the second question, “Why did He come?” Here we see the sinless Son of God, perfect humanity in union with undiminished deity, face-to-face with what He came to do. We’ll be reminded again that salvation is a free gift, received by grace through faith, it is free to us because Jesus paid the price that we could not pay. We get a glimpse of the cost as we see Jesus praying in the Garden.

       Let me preface our look at this passage with this: Jesus is not simply recoiling from death, or from the torturous suffering He must soon endure, as horrible as that was.  He has said multiple times and in diverse ways that it had to happen. There was no avoiding it. It was written. It was the plan established in the council of the Godhead in eternity past. What does Jesus mean when He prays, if it is possible, that this “cup” should pass from Him? What was this “cup” that Jesus was faced with drinking?  He had told the disciples about His impending betrayal, desertion, and death. As we enter the Garden of Gethsemane (literally, “The oil press”) we are on Holy Ground.  

       I’ve taught this passage before, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it justice. We see the sinless humanity of Jesus in unity with His Deity, as the Son of God comes face to face with the unimaginable task that He came to accomplish. Jesus, the God-Man, anticipated taking our sins, and He steeled himself to satisfy divine justice, by drinking the cup of the wrath of God so that we could receive the cup of blessing and life. We are going to look at this scene for two weeks. This week, as we prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Table, I want to focus on what this story teaches us about Jesus and the work He came to do. Next week we’ll return to this passage, and shift our focus to the disciples, and to us, as we consider again what it means to follow Him.

The Maine* Idea: The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

I. Support: The Encouragement of the brethren can be a source of strength in a time of crisis. Though the disciples fail, they will be His witnesses (32-34).

³² And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  ³³ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.  ³⁴ And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." 

       The Place: Gethsemane, “the oil press.” The disciples went from the upper room to the Mount of Olives, and then, in v.32, came to a place called Gethsemane. From the other Gospels we know this was a place frequented by Jesus and His disciples, at the base of the Mount of Olives. The name appears to derive from an Aramaic term meaning “the oil press.” The olives would be harvested and then the oil crushed from them. Its hard not to see some symbolism in that, when we consider the language of Isaiah 53:5, “…he was crushed for our iniquities…”

       The Passion: “…greatly distressed and sorrowful… my soul is very sorrowful, even unto death…” Consider the description here, both by the narrator of the Gospel (v.53) and Jesus himself (v.54). In the place of the Olive Press Jesus is being crushed by the weight of the sins of humanity, as He anticipates satisfying the justice of God on our behalf.

       The Petition: Not His prayer to the Father, but first, a request to his disciples, the inner circle, to “remain” and “watch.” There were a few other occasions in Mark where Jesus invited a small group of followers to come a little further, to see and to hear a little more. In Mark 1, in the house of Simon and Andrew, James and John joined them in the room where Simon’s mother-in-law lay desperately ill. They saw the miracle of healing that Jesus did, as he took her hand, and she immediately got up and began to serve them. In Chapter 5, Peter, James, and John went with Him to the house of Jairus, and saw Jesus raise his daughter from the dead. They also were invited to go up the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, where they saw Him transformed before their eyes, and heard the voice of the Father, “This is my beloved Son, hear Him!”  Now as Jesus felt the weight of the mission that He alone could fulfill, begin to come down on him, in His perfect humanity, without sin, without doubt, He asks these three men, perhaps those He was closest to on earth, to “remain” and to “watch.” Did He know they would fall asleep? I think He did, just as surely as He knew they would all desert Him. But if that is true, why did He call them apart? He was still teaching them, and they would be His witnesses (more on that next week!). You remember His counsel to them as they descended the Mount of Transfiguration? We read in Mark 9:9-10,   

⁹ And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.

At a later time, they would be witnesses to what happened on the mountain. And likewise, at a later time, they would bear witness to this painful struggle, the hour of darkness that descended on Jesus in Gethsemane. So, now the One who was without sin, who came to undo the Fall and make it possible for sinful humans to be reconciled to Holy God, faced the moment of testing. Another man, without sin, at least at the start, faced a time of testing in a Garden. But the first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

II. Struggle: The horror of what lay before Him was such, that the sinless Son recoiled from it, asking the Father if it had to be (35-36a).

³⁵ And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.  ³⁶ And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me…

       Let’s not try to explain away what is being described here. And we dare not take lightly the struggle that is going on. This was not just a time alone, praying to the Father. You can’t miss the struggle, the passion, of what is being described here. He “fell on the ground and prayed…” Jesus, the Son, exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death, distressed and burdened, is on His face, crying out to the Father. Luke the physician, in His account, tells us that as He prayed, He sweated great drops of blood. Dr. Cain told me that under extreme duress that this has been reported, hematidrosis. We cannot imagine what He endured that for us!

       Have you been with people in moments of such intense grief and pain that they just cry out? Know that we have a high priest who really can sympathize with us in our weakness, in those most distressing and overwhelming moments of life. He understands. But what drove Jesus to such sorrow, crying out like this to the Father? Was it the prospect of death? He had told his disciples, multiple times that He would soon die. And also promised that He would be raised. As tortuous as His scourging and crucifixion would be, I think there is much more going on here. H.A. Ironside got it right when he said,

“It was in anticipation of drinking the cup of wrath which our sins had filled that He prayed in agony that if it were possible that hour, and the cup, might pass from Him. His holy soul shrank from the awfulness of being made sin upon the tree. It was not death, but the divine anger against sin, the imputation to Him of all our iniquities that filled His soul with horror. There was no conflict of wills. He was in all things submissive as He prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take this cup from Me: nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”

He prayed specifically in v.36, “Abba, Father… all things are possible for you, remove this cup from me…” To what is Jesus referring?  The word “cup” is used in three general ways in the Bible. Of a literal cup, as a glass of wine on the Passover table as we saw earlier in the chapter. It is also used metaphorically as a symbol of the blessing of God, as in Psalm 23, “…my cup is over-flowing…”, and then finally, in the sense of judgement of sin, the cup of the wrath of God… Let’s look a a couple of references.

Psalm 75:8  - For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Isaiah 51:17  - Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

More than a dozen times the Scriptures use this picture of the cup of God’s wrath against sin (So also Jer 25:15,17,28, 49:12; etc.).  Ezekiel 23:33 refers to “…a cup of horror and desolation…” It is the wicked who are to drink this cup of wrath in judgment for their sins. This usage of the “cup” would seem to fit with Jesus’ revulsion, His recoiling from what lay before Him, His shock, and “sorrow unto death…” He was sinless! And so, He prays, “If it is possible, take this cup from me!” Jesus has been telling his disciples for some time what would happen, what had to happen, during this Passover trip to Jerusalem. It is clear this is not merely the “cup” of suffering and death. It is that, but remember why He came: to satisfy divine justice, to be our substitute, our sin-bearer. Cursed is the one who hangs on a tree! Perfection, sinlessness, and he took the curse so we could be blessed!

       I’ve been trying to get my head around this this week, and thought of that scene when Isaiah got a vision of God on the throne of heaven. In that scene in Isaiah 6 the man of God gets a glimpse of the holiness and glory of God, “woe unto me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips…” Isaiah was a sinner, and in the light God’s holiness the filth and the guilt of His sin was unbearable: “Woe unto me! I am undone!” Think about this: Jesus took Isaiah’s sin, and the sins of a billion Isaiahs, past, present and future, (regular people, sinners like you and me) in his own body… He did not sin, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all… and with the sin He willingly drank the cup of divine wrath… Somehow, in Gethsemane, he began to sense the horror of impending divine judgment, the wrath of God against sin. J.C. Ryle, in his revered commentary on Mark, said it well,

Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of a world's sin. It is written that He began to be filled with horror and deep distress. He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death," and that "he fell on the ground, and prayed, that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him." There is only one reasonable explanation of these expressions. It was no mere fear of the physical suffering of death, which drew them from our Lord's lips. It was a sense of the enormous load of human guilt, which began at that time to press upon Him in a peculiar way. It was a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon Him. He was being "made a curse for us." He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows according to the covenant He came on earth to fulfill. He was being "made sin for us who Himself knew no sin." His holy nature felt acutely the hideous burden laid upon Him. These were the reasons of His extraordinary sorrow.

       Derek Thomas preached on this passage and said that the reader needs to hold his breathe for a moment at this point in the story. Jesus, the Son, prayed, 

“Abba, Father, if it is possible, if there could be another way, take this cup from me…” Our salvation hung in the balance. Jesus spoke other words in Aramaic, but Mark wants us to hear the intimacy, the depth of this prayer: Papa, Daddy, its crushing me, is there another way…? By the way, if you are tempted to think the popular idea today that there are many roads to heaven, many names for “God” – remember Gethsemane. Do you really think there was another way, or that it doesn’t matter what we believe? Remember this prayer and the passion of Christ. There was no other way! And so, know that there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. In Christ alone, our hope is found! The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

III. Submission: Knowing the cost, Jesus submitted to the Father’s will, taking the curse so that we could receive blessing (36b).

“…Yet not what I will, but what you will."

       One writer said that “In every war, there is a turning point that changes the course of history. And in the battle for our hearts and souls, I believe the most important battle was fought in Gethsemane. Jesus was yet to be crucified, but I believe the real battle took place that night in Garden.” Jesus wrestled that night. Thank God for the second part of v.36… This is a crushing burden, it is killing me, Abba, Papa, is it possible to take away this cup? NEVERTHELESS, not my will, but your will be done! The first Adam, in another Garden, had a choice. He knew the Father’s will, and instead of obedience, he chose to follow Eve in rebellion. As a consequence, all creation fell under the curse. Every human born after him, was by birth and by choice a sinner. Paul said to the Ephesians “We were by nature children of wrath…” That doesn’t mean angry children. It means we were under the righteous wrath of God, destined for judgment.

       Jesus came to undo the fall, to make it possible for sinners to be reconciled with God. He was without sin. Yet, as we read in Isaiah 53, “The Lord laid on Him, the iniquity of us all…” So, He has…

“…borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him smitten of God and afflicted… But He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace…” (Isa 53:4,5).

Incredibly, 53:10 says, “…it was the will of the Lord to crush Him…” He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. And so, God spared not the Son, but delivered Him up for us all… He gave His only begotten Son…

What is God saying to me in this passage? The first Adam brought death and the curse, the last Adam, Jesus, took the curse for us, so that we could receive blessing and life.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Think of what Jesus did for us. He bore our sins in His body on the tree. He was made a curse for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. “For God so loved the world…” Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

       The price has been paid, and it was horrible, more than we can grasp. This is how God showed His love among us… The wages of sin is death… eternal separation from God… but, because of Jesus, the free gift of God is eternal life! It is received by faith, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

       Just a few hours before this scene Jesus shared a Passover meal with His disciples. He gave them, and us, a reminder, something they could see and taste and touch, of what He came to do for us, a visualization to invite us to remember the Gospel message. He took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and said “This is my body, given for you…” He took the cup and said “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…”   As we share, remember Gethsemane, Jesus on His face before the Father, “…not my will, but Thy will be done.”   AMEN.