glascar & donaghmore presbyterian churches

Good Friday 2nd April 2021

Welcome to our Good Friday online message.

Our passage is from Luke 22:39-44.

Let’s read that together:

Luke 22:39-44   

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.  On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."  He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."  An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.  And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

 

When you read the bible it becomes apparent that we are extremely valuable to God! And nowhere is this more apparent than in the Garden of Gethsemane. As Jesus contemplates his coming crucifixion he is in an agony of despair. Falling on his face before God he prays, 

Luke 22:42  

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; 

And yet so great is his love for you and me that he goes on to say, 

“yet not my will, but yours be done."

We will never understand the depth of His love until we understand the nature of this cup. What was this cup He agonized over? 

There are three possibilities.

Possibility 1: it was the cup of physical agony.

When Jesus spoke of this terrible cup, some people believe he was referring to the physical agony of the cross. There is no doubt that the cross, and the events leading up to the cross, involved excruciating pain.

Scourging was called, “the little death” because often the victim died of the terrible beating. Having your flesh literally torn from your body one lash at a time was agonizing. Crucifixion itself was the one of the most painful forms of death that had ever been invented. 

And yet as terrible as it was, I do not believe that was the cup Jesus feared. Jesus physical and moral courage throughout his public ministry had been indomitable. To think that it failed him now is ludicrous! Besides that, it’s ridiculous to think that Christ failed where his followers would later succeed.

Go back with me to that lonely figure in Gethsemane, prostrate, sweating, overwhelmed with grief and dread. Are we to suppose that while the martyrs rejoiced at the thought of suffering and death that somehow the son of God could not do so? Were they braver than Jesus? 
No. We must look for another answer. It was not physical suffering that caused Jesus such dread.

Possibility 2: it was the cup of emotional distress.

There was suffering and distress at the cross that was not physical. There was emotional anguish, too. 
Some of His beloved disciples were there. We know John, the disciple who Jesus loved, was there. Can you imagine the heartbreak in John’s eyes? Can you imagine how he must have begged Jesus? “Jesus, come down. I saw you heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. I know you are God’s Son. Come down!

Mary, His mother was there. Can you imagine how she must have wept and begged? “Son, come down. I know you could if you wanted to. Come down! You are all I have left! Come down!”

According to the gospels there was a group of women who had followed Jesus. Can’t you see the emotion in eyes, and hear it in their voices? Weeping, they said, “Come down Jesus! We have trusted you.. believed in you.. supported you. Come down!” Can you see them as they leave the cross, their hopes dashed into a million pieces?
There was enormous emotional suffering at the cross. It was a place of anger, anguish, and tears!

Perhaps that is what Jesus dreaded! Perhaps He dreaded those He loved watching and agonizing over His death!
And yet... Jesus knew that in 3 days He would be returning. He knew that in 3 days their sorrow would be turned to joy. He knew that once they realized what had happened, they would understand His plan was ever so much better than what they had desired! 
Whatever it was that He dreaded so much, it couldn’t have been merely the tears and scorn of the cross.

Possibility 3: it was the cup of spiritual identification.

If it wasn’t the physical pain of flogging and crucifixion that He dreaded, nor the emotional suffering of seeing those He loved devastated and having His own people reject Him… what was it? The Bible indicates it was dread of bearing the sins of the world, and of having God’s full judgment poured upon Him for those sins and being cast out of God’s presence.

It was not by accident that Jesus referred to the cross as His cup. In the OT a “cup” was regularly used as a symbol of God’s wrath:

In Job 21:20 a wicked person is said to, 

“drink of the wrath of the Almighty.”

In Ezekiel 23:32, God warns Jerusalem that she will shortly be destroyed just like Samaria had been by saying, 

“you will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep…” 

Isaiah 51:22 says, 

‘I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, the dregs of the cup of My fury, and you shall no longer drink it.” 

What Jesus dreaded was becoming totally identified with our sin, and then having God pour out upon Him the judgment for those sins. 

But did you notice in our text what Jesus prayed? 

“If it be possible… not My will but Yours be done..

There was no other way for a just God to forgive us. The debt had to be paid. He was separated from his father so we can live eternally. We all know how separation feels at the moment, think of how Jesus must have felt to have been separated from his Father?

Tonight we gather virtually to remember the shed blood of God’s Son Jesus shed for the life of the world. He went through the wrath, so we wouldn’t have to he had to undergo a distancing from his father that we need not ever have too! Amen.