INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: Julius Caesar said “It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.” And Jesus Christ, the Son of God knew that he would offer up the supreme sacrifice for the world and He would have to do that patiently.
Explanation: As we think on these things, there are two images that I want you to put your mind on today.
The Cup
One is a cup; the other is a clock. Jesus figuratively referred to “a cup” in His Gethsemane prayer. In the OT, the cup was linked to God’s wrath (Is.51:17). In His humanity, He did not want to drink that cup. That cup involved extreme suffering. It involved feeling the separation from the Father as Jesus was made sin in our behalf. Nevertheless, regardless of how bitter it might be, Jesus surrendered to God’s will. He drank the cup!
The Clock
While Matthew, Mark, Luke and John use the term “cup” to refer to Jesus’ sufferings, John also used the “hour” motif or the “clock” to express the anticipation of a time in Christ’s life when suffering and pain would have to be endured and separation from the Father would have be experienced. The clock or hour motif serves to remind us that God is not only involved in certain events, but that he also orders their timing.
The Hour – An Allusion to Jesus’ Passion
The Hour
Scripture References in John’s Gospel
Jesus’ hour has not yet come.
2:4 Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My hour has not yet come.”7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.8:20 (Jesus spoke these words near the offering box while he was teaching in the temple courts. No one seized him because his hour had not yet come.)
Jesus’ hour is coming
4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, because an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice…
Jesus’ hour has arrived
12:23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end.17:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you…
Conclusion: These two motifs helps to set up the end of the Gospel stories. In fact, all of the Gospels have been described as “passion stories with extended introductions.” One of the most moving parts of this passion story of Christ is the time in the Garden of Gethsemane when in desperation Jesus turned to His Father in prayer.
Background: For three years he had taught. For three years he had healed. For three years he had tried to make a difference in his world and to point people to his Father. And now it had come down to this. One of his followers had already cut a deal with the enemies and he knew deep within his heart that this was already the beginning of the end.
Text: And with those thoughts racing through his mind, he gathered a few close friends, went to His favorite garden, and he fell to his knees and began to pray.
Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Mark 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Luke 22:41 He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
John 18:11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
Title: The Cup and the Clock
Question: Do you have a cup to drink from this morning? Have you been drinking from a bitter cup and you feel drunk with the pain? Have you endured an hour when life seemed to stand still and minutes seemed like days? Has life unfolded a chain of events that seemed to push you to the precipice of death?
Key Word: We learn several things about Jesus’ Gethsemane experience as He faced the cup and the clock. The first three things set up the last major point that I want to make.
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The first thing we discover in this Gethsemane experience is that…
Jesus Gathered Others Around Him
Notation: Jesus didn’t go it alone. He knew what he was up against and he didn’t try to fly solo. He took the three people who were closest to him with him to pray. There is something about the power of partnership. Even though he had the Father, there was still this practical need to have others close by. As it turned out, they weren’t much help. About all they could do was sleep. But when you’re facing the cup and the clock of betrayal, abandonment and death, you need somebody.
Jesus Prayed to the Father
Explanation: Abba means Daddy or Dad. It is a term of endearment, signifying a relationship that is intensely personal. It’s a term that we use when we’re desperate. Let me show you this.
Illustration: One pastor tells about his sick son. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. They thought that he had spinal meningitis, and the only way they could know for sure was to take a needle about 6 inches long, place it at the base of the spine and draw fluid out and have it tested. The only problem was that if his son moved and the needle hit a nerve, his son would be paralyzed from the waist down. If they did not do it, and it was what they suspected, it would kill him. Either way, the choice was a difficult choice. He chose to have the procedure. They prepared his son for the surgery and before the doctors said he could go in and assure his son that everything would be alright, he walked in and when his son saw him, he began to scream “Help me daddy, help me daddy.” The doctors asked him to leave. The pastor said, “As I walked out all I could hear was HELP ME DADDY. DON"T LEAVE ME HERE. HELP ME DADDY.” He said, “I stood in the hall crying my eyes out because I wanted to just take him in my arms and leave. Oh what pain I felt that day.” Jesus was experiencing something that he had never experienced before in all of eternity. He could feel the separation beginning to take place between Him and His Father. And about all He could say was, “Help me Daddy. I don’t fully understand this.”
Clarification: Jesus was looking into the cup that he was about to drink, and all He could see was the accumulated sin of mankind from Adam forward; He could see suffering; He could see sacrifice; He could see separation. The one thought that brought Him comfort was “Daddy.”
Jesus Recognized the Power of the Father
Explanation: He prayed everything is possible for you. Somehow we need to get our head around the concept that everything and anything is possible for God. In our human free will, we cannot create any situation for God that He cannot handle.
Recapitualation: Because Jesus had the limited support of his friends, recognized the Father as Daddy and that His Daddy was not caught or surprised by His sufferings, Jesus was prepared to do the final thing (this is where the application hits home)…
Jesus Surrendered to the Father’s Will
Quotation: American Poet Richard Cecil made this comment “The history of all the great characters of the Bible is summed up in this one sentence: They acquainted themselves with God, and accepted His will in all things.”
Quotation: A doctor said to a young French soldier in WWI, "I am sorry to tell you that you have lost your arm." The soldier replied, "Sir, I did not lose it; I gave it---for France."
Explanation: That’s precisely what Jesus did. He never lost His life; He gave his life. And because He was willing drink this cup of sacrificial death, he now offers his followers the cup of the new covenant wherein they can be completely forgiven and cleansed from every sin. We drink in communion to remember this. The world drinks to forget this. But drinking the cup of the Father’s will is what we must do. We drink in obedience to the Father and when we refuse that cup it usually means trouble.
Illustration: Think about it, the only thing anyone ever got in the bible by insisting on doing his or her will was trouble. Time and time again it is proved that God is smarter then we are. Think about it. On one hand we have God, the creator of the universe; on the other hand we have us, most of whom can’t program our VCR’s. It’s no contest, and yet time and time again we want to pray to God, “I want my will, not yours.”
Quotation: Perhaps, you’re thinking, “If I just knew God’s will, I would do it. Or, perhaps you’re thinking, “How will I know the will of God?” Good questions. Paul Little says this “Has it ever struck you that the vast majority of the will of God for your life has already been revealed in the Bible? That is a crucial thing to grasp.”
Illustration: Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in ’71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."
Application: We all will face “an hour” or a time when we will have to drink from a bitter cup all alone in some Gethsemane. Then we must pray to the Father, recognize His power, and surrender to His will.
CONCLUSION
Applications: We can take some things with us from Jesus’ Gethsemane experience.
Sacrifice and surrender are never easy. Jesus had a real struggle with it and you will too. People do not want to drink the cup of God’s will or face the crucial hour when obedience is of highest priority. Rather than drink the cup of inconvenience, we have people who terminate life in the womb. Instead of drinking the cup of marital conflict resolution, we have people who are bailing from their families for reasons that are not biblical. Instead of waiting on the clock of God’s will, we have young people who sacrifice the ultimate on the altar of the immediate. So many do not want to drink the cup or hear the tick of the clock of God’s will. JESUS DIDN’T GET WHAT HE WANTED! He got what was best. We don’t always get what we want, but God will always give us what is best.
You cannot do life alone. Even Jesus had to have some people around him. At times, they did more harm than good. But they were there. Ninety-five percent of ministry is a ministry of presence; it’s being there, especially in the critical times.
You need Jesus. There’s no way that you can face what He faced. And the best part is that you don’t have to because He did! In the first garden ’Not your will but mine’ changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now ’Not my will but yours’ brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the glory of God.
