The man at Gethsemane…
Included in my comments today are some observations by pastor Jimmy Evans, some excerpts from gotquestions.org ministries, along with my own remarks. First though, pay attention to one detail of this verse “on the tree”. I want to do a full study on this at some point, but having difficulty finding the evidence I need to make a viable argument. I believe that the cursed fig tree of Nathaniel (see Mark chapter 11), was cut out by the roots, shaped to hold the “parabellum” (Greek for beam) from which has been translated to cross, taken to Mt Moriah, and upon which Yehshua was then crucified. I cannot fully prove this yet, but when I complete this study I will immediately share.
Moving on to the verse from image above: Take the time to empathize for a minute, over the last few hours of Yehshua’s life. There was never a question in his mind that he was sent to be the Lamb of God. But in the last days and hours, he prayed that God would find another way to redeem mankind. There is an account of the time the disciples where Yehshua was in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before He was arrested. In the garden Yehshua prayed to his Father three times, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will”—the KJV says, “Let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). A little later, He prays, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). These prayers reveal His mindset just before the crucifixion and His total submission to the will of God.
The “cup” to which Yehshua refers is the suffering He was about to endure. It’s as if He were being handed a cup full of bitterness with the expectation that He drink all of it. Yehshua had used the same metaphor in Matthew 20:22 when prophesying of the future suffering of James and John. When He petitions the Father, “Let this cup pass from me,” He expresses the natural human desire to avoid pain and suffering.
Yehshua is fully God, but He is also fully human. His human nature, though perfect, still struggled with the need to accept the torture and shame that awaited Him; His flesh recoiled from the cross. In the same context, Yehshua says to His disciples, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mathew 26:41). In praying, “Let this cup pass from me,” He was battling the flesh and its desire for self-preservation and comfort. This human struggle was intense: Jesus was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38), and Luke (who was a physician) observed that Yehshua was sweating blood—a sign of EXTREME anguish (Luke 22:44). If anything shows that Yehshua was indeed fully man, this prayer is it.
He knew of what was to come (see Mark 8:31). The agony He faced was going to be more than physical pain; it would be spiritual and highly emotional, as well. Yehshua knew that God’s will was to crush Him, to allow Him to be “pierced for our transgressions” and wounded for our healing (remember Isaiah 53:5–10). Yehshua loves mankind, but His human aspect dreaded the pain and sorrow He faced, and it drove Him to ask His Father, “Let this cup pass from me.”
Yehshua's prayer to “let this cup pass from me” contains two very important qualifications. First, He prays, “If it is possible.” If there was any other way to redeem mankind, He asks to take that other way. The events following His prayer show that there was no other way; Yehshua the Christ is the only possible sacrifice to redeem the world (John 1:29; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 10:14; Revelation 5:9). Second, Jesus prays, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Yehshua was committed to the will of God, body, mind, and soul. The prayer of the righteous is always dependent on the will of God (see Matthew 6:10).
In Gethsemane, Yehshua conquered the flesh and kept it in subjection to the spirit. He did this through earnest prayer and intense, willful submission to God’s plan. It is good to know that, when we face trials, He knows what it’s like to want God’s will and yet not to want it; to act out of love yet dread the pain that often results; to desire righteousness and obedience, even when the flesh is screaming out against it. This conflict is not sinful; it is human! Our Savior was “fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God” (Hebrews 2:17). He had come “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), and He accomplished His mission, even though it meant drinking the cup of extreme suffering to the bitter end.
When we are faced with painful decisions that in our heart we know are the will of God, try to empathize with Yehshua’s intense mental anguish at the very end when reading these verses. It will enhance our appreciation of the absolute perfection accomplished in the crucifixion, and propel us to the fullness of blessing that awaits us in the total glory of the Most High God.