Why Did Jesus Pray "Remove This Cup” In The Garden Of Gethsemane?

With Passover in mind, Jesus was not praying to avoid the cup but rather to take on as much of it as He could and, if it was God's will, to let Him drink every drop as deeply as possible.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that "the cup" Jesus would drink from was the wrath God would pour out on the Cross or even that it would be appeased. God’s wrath against sin was not satisfied on the Cross. The Father did not punish Jesus on the Cross for the sins of humanity. Jesus became the sin bearer and delivered those who would repent of their sin and receive Him as Lord and Savior from the wrath that is still to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The Father received this sacrifice and accepted it (Isaiah 53:10-12). Jesus described His own death as a ransom, and not the way God would take out His wrath. His death was the payment to the Father to redeem us from the enemy (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).

The Cross is not an experience for Jesus alone (John 14:8-11). The Father and the Holy Spirit were with Him and never rejected Him. God did not pour out His wrath or turn His back on Himself (John 8:29; 16:32). God the Father did not break His relationship with God the Son on the cross in order to punish Jesus. It is fallen human beings who rejected Him (Isaiah 53:3-5). There was no transfer of wrath onto God, the Son, Jesus.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV)

Jesus said the Father would be with Him in His suffering (John 16:32). Contrary to much humanistic teaching on the subject, God's wrath is not some divine child abuse or an angry, vindictive, temper tantrum of a deity who didn't get their way so that fire and brimstone must be poured out as punishment on a wicked world. Instead, it is God's reaction and resistance to sin.

The Cross was not about human sacrifice to Him, but His sacrifice to humanity. It is the focal point of everything and the lens through which all else can be seen because it is the wisdom and the power of the Triune God, who is love (John 3:16; 1 John 14:8). It is the centerpiece of His plan for all creation because it is the glorification of Jesus and reveals what true endless love is (John 12:23).

The Cross was the highest and ultimate revelation of love that God took the shame and corrupting power of death into Himself and did away with it. When people look at Jesus on the Cross, they see God, the Father, in Jesus revealing His merciful love and pouring out forgiveness on the entire world for their salvation (Zechariah 12:10; 1 John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3). There is no hope for anyone apart from the Cross. The ultimate magnitude of God's love is manifested in the Cross, where Jesus experienced wrath on behalf of everyone who has, is now, or will ever live in this world.