Mark 14:36, commentary and pictures

In Gethsemane he calls upon God with intimate trust as a Father for whom all things are possible, asking to be spared what lies before him yet yielding fully to the Father's will rather than his own. The cup he asks to have taken away is not mere fear of pain and death but bearing the guilt of fallen humanity and the penalty of its sin, with the iniquity of all laid upon one who knew no sin. It means feeling separated from the Father by sin as by a broad gulf, with God's sustaining presence withdrawn and the dread of being shut out forever from his love, under the curse and wrath against transgression from Adam to the close of time. He meets this final trial as a man who has taken man's nature, without calling on his divinity to escape or aid him, while the destiny of a lost world hangs in the balance and it is still possible to refuse to drink and leave transgressors to perish. The cup is not removed but strength is sent to drink it, and his submission teaches his people to watch and pray so their faith will stand when tested and evil seems to prevail.

Setting in Gethsemane

It was Passover night under a broad full moon in a cloudless sky, while the city of pilgrims' tents lay hushed in silence, when Jesus went slowly with His disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. That garden was His accustomed retreat to brace His spirit for trial and duty by meditation and fervent prayer, where He had frequently spent the entire night while His disciples, after a little season of watching and prayer, slept undisturbed at a little distance until He awoke them in the morning to labor anew, so His going apart to pray called forth no remark. He had often visited it for meditation and prayer, but never with a heart so full of sorrow as on the night of His last agony.

On the way He had earnestly conversed with and instructed His disciples, but as He neared Gethsemane He became strangely silent and utterly sad as they had never seen Him before, perplexing them as they anxiously watched His countenance. His sadness deepened as He proceeded, His form swaying as if about to fall, every step taken with labored effort and groaning aloud as if suffering under the pressure of a terrible burden. Twice His companions had to support Him or He would have fallen to the earth, while the disciples anxiously looked for His usual place of retirement that He might rest.

Upon entering the garden He left His companions to sit while He went yonder to pray, selecting Peter, James and John to go farther with Him into the recesses of the garden to His usual place of retirement. A little distance from them, where they could still see and hear Him, He fell prostrate with His face on the cold ground, heedless of the chilling dews of night falling upon Him. His frame was convulsed with anguish and His pale countenance full of indescribable sorrow, and He prayed with labored effort and groaning and strong cries and weeping until bloody sweat was forced from His pores and fell like drops of blood to the ground.

In that superhuman agony His human heart longed to the depths for human companionship and sympathy, with yearning desire for words of comfort and steadfast faith and refuge in God, and to know the disciples understood His agony and were praying for Him and for themselves. He came back hoping for a word of love to strengthen and comfort Him in sorrow, but they slept while He prayed again, leaving Him to wrestle alone with the powers of darkness. Their sleep was pressed upon them by darkness when love for their suffering Master should have kept them awake, for Satan and his evil angels caused their sleep.

Because they slept they did not hear His voice and missed the scene's spiritual evidence, and their drowsiness kept them from receiving what could have strengthened them for the trials ahead. Watching with Him in His hour of pain would have fitted them to better understand the sorrow pressing on Him, to behold His death on Calvary's cross, to remember what He told them about His suffering and death and rising again, to have rays of hope shine amid gloom, and to have faith strengthened even when Satan and his angels seemed to gain the victory. Angels witnessed His agony, but only one was allowed to strengthen Him, since the betrayal and the plan that had been laid had to go forward.

Meaning of the Cup

The cup he asked to have taken away was not dread of physical pain and death but the suffering of bearing the guilt of fallen humanity and the penalty of human sin. The iniquity of all was laid upon Him who knew no sin, numbering Him with transgressors. Sin appeared so dreadful to Him and the weight of guilt so great that He was tempted to fear it would shut Him out forever from His Father's love, feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression until His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death.

The cup meant being separated from the Father by sin as by a broad, black, deep gulf that made His spirit shudder. He who had walked in the light of God's presence and could say the Father had not left Him alone now seemed shut out from the light of God's sustaining presence. The sins of the world and the Father's displeasure seemed to separate Him from God, and He felt His Father's presence withdrawn and was filled with dread and horror of darkness He had never before known. Overpowered by terrible fear that God was removing His presence from Him, He clung convulsively to the cold ground as if to keep from being drawn still farther from God.

The cup was the bitter cup of humiliation and agony apportioned to guilty man, the curse of sin and its penalty and the wrath of the Father against transgression. It meant the sins of an apostate world from Adam's transgression to the close of time laid upon Him, all innocent and undeserving, placing Him under the penalty of a just law. The innocent would suffer to save the guilty, paying the price for the human soul.

He met this final trial as One who had taken man's nature, bearing the consequences of man's sin and straining His human nature to bear it. He did not call on His divinity for aid nor exert His divine power to escape, but as a man bore the consequences of sin. He feared His human nature could not endure the coming conflict.

In that moment the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance and the fate of humanity trembled, for if He failed humanity would be lost and Satan would prevail. It was not yet too late to refuse to drink, to wipe the drops of blood from His brow, to cast from His soul the guilt of a perishing world and let the willful transgressor receive the penalty of his own sin and perish while He went back to the Father. He did not make that choice but willed to drink the cup and become the substitute and surety and propitiation of a race that willed to sin, refusing man no further trial and probation.

Submission and Its Call

He calls God Abba, Father, for whom all things are possible, and asks that the cup pass and be taken away from him, yet yields fully with not what he wills but what the Father wills. His prayer breathes only submission even amid overwhelming agony and dread of separation from God, for the cup is the price paid for the human soul. He prays this while his disciples fail to give the human companionship he longs for, praying again while they sleep until his sweat falls like drops of blood.

Three times his humanity shrinks from the last, crowning sacrifice and he prays for deliverance, feeling an agony and horror of darkness never before known as his Father's presence is withdrawn and his sorrow exceeds the final struggle with death. It is not yet too late to refuse, to wipe the bloody sweat from his brow, to let the transgressor receive the penalty of his own sin and perish in his iniquity, and to go back to his Father. Then he sees that transgressors of the law left to themselves must perish, sees the helplessness of man and the power of sin and the woes and lamentations and impending fate of a doomed world, and his decision is made to save man at any cost to himself. He accepts his baptism of blood so that through him perishing millions may gain everlasting life, having left the courts of heaven where all is purity, happiness and glory to save the one lost sheep, the one world fallen by transgression, and he will not turn from his mission but will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. Heaven sends a messenger to comfort him as he faints under the guilt of the world.

Though sinless he is treated as a sinner so that sinful people may be treated as innocent, bearing the sins of the whole world in the greatest suffering ever brought upon a human being. His human nature shrinks from bearing the consequences of human sin and God's wrath against transgression, and his will could have asserted itself to refuse humiliation and the cup, but he surrenders his will to God's and comes to suffer and die as humanity's substitute and propitiation. The cup is not removed, but an angel is sent to strengthen him to drink it. He faces this crisis alone among people, yet he is not alone, for the Father suffers with his Son, and the sacrifice shows the Father's boundless love for humanity.

His experience gives his people the lesson to watch and pray so they do not enter into temptation. He urges his disciples to watch and pray because their faith will be tested and they will need strength to withstand temptation, praying in deep agony with strong cries and weeping while blood gathers on his face and falls to the ground as angels witness but only one is allowed to strengthen him, since the betrayal and the laid plan must go forward. His asking them to watch with him in his hour of pain is meant so they will better understand the sorrow pressing on him, be fitted to behold his death and remember his resurrection, have rays of hope shine amid gloom, and have faith strengthened even when Satan and his angels seem to gain the victory. Watching would have taught them that he came to suffer and die for the sins of the world to set up a kingdom of love, peace and purity in hearts until fitted for heaven, instead of clinging to hope of an earthly kingdom where nations would bow and they would be chief rulers, and would have made them ready and able to bear the scorn and mockery falling on him and not leave him alone in bitter trial. He longs to the depths for their sympathy, for words of comfort and steadfast faith and refuge in God and to know they understand and are praying for him and for themselves, and would have been comforted and strengthened by it while facing the terrible temptation to let the human race bear its own guilt while he stood innocent before God.

The night of agony belongs to the great trial of his betrayal and death which he foresaw and told beforehand so his faithful followers would not be overwhelmed when he was humiliated and abandoned by people who had once followed him. Its image of the cup is linked with the suffering he told James and John they would share, which James understood more fully when imprisoned and sentenced to death. The very sod stained with his sweat drops afterward became the place where repentant Peter, prostrated where his Saviour had been prostrated in his hour of humiliation as the Man of Sorrows, broke in heart over sleeping and denying him through fearful hours and wept blinding penitential tears, and left a converted man fitted to pity the tempted and strengthen his brethren.