The Agony of Love; Mark 14:32-42; 4th Lent; 4 of 7 in “Al for You” series; 3-26-06; The Promise; Darryl Bell
The Bible says, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard be-cause of his reverent submission (Hebrews 5:7).We look today at the supreme example of that. Jesus prayed in agony to be delivered. And God delivered him, not from death, but through death. The amazing aspect of this experience of Jesus is his willing surrender. He submitted himself to his Father’s perfect will, becoming an example of submission for us as well.
This is the fourth in our series of messages, “All for You,” focused on all Jesus did for you in the last few days of his earthly life. It comes from the last three chapters of the gospel of Mark.
They went to a place called Gethsemane. It was on the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem. Here is a picture of it seen from the Temple area. On the lower slopes of this big hill were thousands of olive trees. “Gethsemane” means “olive press,” the place where oil was squeezed from the olives. There was a garden there, a place familiar to the disciples be-cause Jesus often went there. The Romans cut down most of the trees when they invaded Palestine in AD 70 and put Jerusa-lem under siege. Today there are olive trees there again, some as old as 1,200 to 1,400 years.
Jesus asked most of the disciples to sit down while he went and prayed. Then he took three of them, Peter, James and John, along with him a little farther. These three were the inner circle of the disciples. They were present when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from death. They were there when Jesus was transfigured. And now they’re with him again at a key moment in his life.
Interestingly, each of them had pledged special loyalty to Jesus. You’ll remember Peter had boasted, just minutes before, that even if all the others deserted Jesus, he never would. Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never disown you (Mark 14:31). And back in chapter 10 James and John had come to Jesus and asked to have the seats of honor beside Jesus in glory. Jesus answered, You don’t know what you are asking… Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? (10:38). He was referring to his suffering and death. And they boldly claimed, We can. Now, in a sense, Jesus gives them a chance to back up their hollow claims, and of course, they fail.
As I studied for this message I was really moved by what Jesus went through that night. This was really the beginning of his suffering for us. The English words in verse 33 don’t begin to convey the depth and strength of the Greek. It says He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. This refers to the greatest possible degree of horror and suffering. It was psychological anguish. Jesus’ emotional and spiritual suffering began before the physical. David McKenna says, “sheer terror strikes his soul as he faces the reality of unchecked evil.” (The Communicator’s Commentary: Mark) Up to now Jesus had accepted theoretically the responsibility for bearing the sins of the whole world, but it was “out there.” Now as he confronts it face to face, he sees what it really means to carry the sin of the world. William Lane says, “Jesus came to be with the Father for an interlude before his betrayal, but found hell rather than heaven opened before him, and he staggered” (Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, Eerd-mans, p. 516)
Verse 34: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said. “This is more than I can bear.” We might even translate it, “This is killing me.” We use that phrase so flip-pantly. “This sliver in my finger is killing me.” “It just killed me to be the butt of that joke.” But for Jesus here there’s no exaggera-tion. People have died from grief, and he was close to it. He told the three disciples, Stay here and keep watch. Keep watch.
He went on just a little farther to pray. The usual posture for prayer was to stand with one’s head up and arms raised. And people prayed aloud. But in this case, Jesus fell flat on the ground and he pled with God that the hour might pass from him. That is, he didn’t want to go through with what lay ahead. He anticipated the horror of it, and he prayed an amazing and awe-some prayer. It wasn’t polished and polite and scrubbed and formal. It follows the pattern of laments in the Psalms. In a la-ment people would pour out their emotions and complaints and even recriminations to God. They didn’t hold back. This wasn’t a sign of disrespect, but of trust that God heard and cared even in their worst moments.
Jesus said, Abba. This is the intimate Aramaic word for father. We could translate it “Daddy.” No Palestinian Jew of the time would have called God “Daddy.” This shows the special relationship with God that Jesus had. It was closer, more inti-mate, than anyone had ever known. Jesus had been so strong when he talked to his disciples about his coming suffering and death. But now, facing its reality, he comes as a child who is overwhelmed, throwing himself into his daddy’s arms. Abba, Daddy, everything is possible for you. He affirms God’s sover-eignty and power. He knows nothing is impossible for God. And there is, therefore, that slim sliver of hope that there might be some way out of this. Take this cup from me, he prays. In other words, “I don’t really want to go through with this. Is there any other way? Father, can’t you fix it so I don’t have to do this?” The “cup” is a common Old Testament image for God’s right-eous wrath against sin. Drinking the cup of God’s wrath is a pic-ture of judgment on sin and evil. And as Jesus prepares to suf-fer for the sin of the whole world, this cup is looking bigger and deeper and more horrible than even he had imagined. Father, take this cup from me. Can’t you find another way?
Yet, as difficult and horrible as the prospect of his suffer-ing is, Jesus submits entirely to the Father’s will. Not what I will, but what you will. “As much as I’d like it to be some other way, Father, I’m willing to do this if it is what you choose for me.” It’s an incredible choice as Jesus says, “I’m willing to go through with all of this if it is what you want, Father.” Doing the Father’s will is more important to him than anything he wants for himself. We might compare that to ourselves and ask how often we set aside what we want in order to do what God wants. It isn’t just commitment to God. It’s surrender to God. It’s turning one’s life over to him.
No doubt Jesus prayed more than just the few words re-corded for us here. It may have been an hour or so, but these words are the gist of his whole prayer. As he took a break from his prayer to check on his disciples, he found them sleeping. Imagine his dismay. Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?
This harkens back to something he had said to his disci-ples just a day or two before. In Mark 13 he was talking about the signs of the end of the age. He said, No one knows the day or hour… Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come…. Therefore keep watch, he says, because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” (Mark 13:32-37).
He had called for that same watchfulness here in the garden. Stay here and keep watch, he said. But the disciples had fallen asleep. They were so exhausted and confused and distressed that they couldn’t keep their eyes open. What an aw-ful feeling that is to know you should stay awake, but you just can’t. You’ve no doubt been there. You just can’t help it. Your eyes won’t focus. Your mind won’t stay engaged. You just can’t fight it off any longer.
Jesus challenged them, Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. But he also understood their struggle. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
Mark tells us he went away and prayed a second time. Again, when he came back, they were sleeping. Mark says, They didn’t know what to say to him. They were speechless. It’s the same response they had when they saw him on the moun-tain of Transfiguration. They didn’t know what to say. No doubt they felt terrible about falling asleep. They had no excuse. They just couldn’t stay awake.
So he went and prayed a third time. Again, they were asleep when he came back. But now the time has come. Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Remember, he had prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. But now he knows it can’t and it won’t. There’s no es-caping it. He has to face it. The hour has come. The garden was located close enough to the city, that he could have seen the torches of the arresting party winding their way down the hill and across the valley toward him. Look, he says, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer! And those are Jesus’ last recorded words in Mark that are addressed to his disciples.
What can we learn from all this? What does this story really mean for us? I want to note three significant lessons we can draw from this.
First, Jesus endured this agony for love of you. He was innocent. There was nothing in his life that deserved this suffer-ing and death. He is the only person who didn’t deserve it, and he willingly stepped up and endured it for all of us. Max Lucado tries to capture the depth of Jesus’ love in that scene with these words: “He’d rather go to hell for you than go to heaven without you.”
The Bible says, Christ… suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God (1 Peter 3:18). He was innocent. We are guilty. Yet he paid the price that sets us free.
1 John 3:16: We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. His Father didn’t compel him. He didn’t have to do it. But he decided to go ahead with it because of his love for you. Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He went on to clarify. No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily (John 10:11, 18 NLT). He did it for love of you.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:6-8 NLT). While we were ignoring him, or even spit-ting in his face, he was heading for the cross. Jesus endured this agony for love of you.
Second, Jesus opened the way of salvation for love of you. This to me is a powerful insight. I haven’t seen it argued anywhere else, or read about it. But it seems compelling to me. Many people challenge the idea that Jesus is the only way of salvation. It seems so arrogant and exclusive that it’s almost distasteful to make such a claim. Doesn’t it discount and de-mean all the world’s other religions to make such a claim? How can we even suggest that Jesus is the only way to God? It would be a lot easier in our world today to say it doesn’t matter. Whatever religion you choose is fine. You can have your way and I’ll have mine, and we’ll all agree that they all are equally valid ways to God.
But think about Jesus in the garden. He is in this horrible agony. He’s pleading with his Father, “I don’t want to do this. Isn’t there some other way? Any other way?” And the Father must be in agony as well as he watches his beloved Son suffer. Jesus prays, Take this cup from me. And there is silence from heaven. “Father, you can do anything. Relieve me of this.” Again, silence. Jesus is desperate for some other way, and the Father is silent. Why is he silent? Because there is no other way.
Would he have allowed his Son to endure this horror and then afterward said, “Well, thanks, Son, for doing that. Now people can choose you as well as lots of other religions to be saved. If people want to come to me by living a good life and earning their way, they can; and if they want to trust you for sal-vation, they can do that.” That’s ludicrous. If there were any other possible way, why would God not have answered Jesus’ pleas for another way? If there is another way, and Jesus was asking for another way, why would the Father have been silent? What an insult it is to Jesus’ suffering to claim that he is one op-tion among many.
This helps me understand Jesus’ claim in John 14:6: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. There is no way to God besides Jesus. Acts 4:12: There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them (NLT).
1 Timothy 2:5: There is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus (NLT). I’m convinced that Jesus is the only way to God.
Now we need to be careful and not be arrogant here. It doesn’t say Christianity is the only way. It says Jesus is the only way. If (and this may be a big if) people from another religion are going to be saved, it is still somehow through Jesus. Jesus is the key.
This prayer of Jesus in the garden is for me a powerful argument that there is no other way. He begged for another way, and God was silent. So Jesus surrendered and went to the cross. He opened the way of salvation for love of you.
Finally, I want us to note that God sacrificed his Son for love of you. We said Jesus willingly surrendered, and that’s powerful. But beyond that, God willingly gave up his only Son for us.
Here’s what Max Lucado wrote. “Consider what God did. He gave his Son. His only Son. Would you do that? Would you offer the life of your child for someone else? I wouldn’t. There are those for whom I would give my life. But ask me to make a list of those for whom I would kill my daughter? The sheet will be blank. I don’t need a pencil. The list has no names. But God’s list contains the name of every person who ever lived. For this is the scope of his love. And this is the reason for the cross. He loves the world. Aren’t you glad the verse does not read: ‘For God so loved the rich . . . For God so loved the famous . . . For God so loved the thin . . .’ It doesn’t. Nor does it state, ‘For God so loved the Europeans, or Africans . . . the sober or suc-cessful . . . the young or the old.’ How wide is God’s love? Wide enough for the whole world. Are you included in the world? Then you are included in God’s love.”
Listen to what the apostle Paul says, If God is for us, who can ever be against us? He means, if God is for you, who cares who stands against you. He says, Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? (Romans 8.31-32) Octa-vius Winslow wrote: “Who delivered Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money. Not Pilate, for fear. Not the Jews, for envy. But the Fa-ther, for love.” Abba delivered his own Son for love, for his love for you. It blew Paul’s mind. “God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so that we could be put right with God.” (2 Corinthians 5.21) It says, “God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin,” “to be our sin.” What awesome love!
Why didn’t God let Jesus off the hook that night in the garden? Perhaps,” as Stephen Pattison says, “because in that garden God was proving beyond the shadow of your doubt, be-yond your shame, beyond your unworthiness, how much he loves you. If you wonder if God really loves you, just as you are; if you wonder whether God still loves you, despite where you’ve been; if you wonder if God can keep loving you as often as you have failed him, remember this: God would rather send his Son to hell for you than bring him home without you. That’s the les-son of the garden.
Jesus endured this agony for love of you. He opened the way of salvation for love of you. God sacrificed his precious Son for love of you. Receive his love.
We’re going to reflect a few moments in silence on our response to God’s love for us as we project some scriptures. Consider God’s love for you…
Silent Reflection with Scriptures projected
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. 1 John 3:16
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep... No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. John 10:11, 18 NLT
God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) Ephesians 2:4-5
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 1 John 4:11
