On the night before His crucifixion, Christ faced something in Gethsemane that none of His own have ever faced or will ever face. It is something that was completely unknown to Himself.
Jesus «prostrated himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, that hour would pass from Him. And he said: “Abba, Father! For You all things are possible; Take this cup away from Me, but not what I want, but what You want”» (Mr 14:35-36). We do not know how long Jesus was pouring out his heart before God in prayer, for later he reproaches Peter for not having been able to watch with Him for even one hour (v. 37). But this was the essence of his request: that if possible he would not have to go through the experience of drinking the contents of the cup before him.
In the Old Testament, the cup was a metaphor for God’s wrath on humanity’s sin. In Psalm 75 we read that there is a cup in the hand of the Lord, from which all the wicked of the earth must drink (v. 8). Isaiah refers to that cup as the cup of his wrath (Is 51:22). Jeremiah speaks of her as the cup of the wine of his wrath (Jer 25:15). Therefore, it was not the expectation of the physical suffering of the cross that filled the human soul of Jesus with dread. Instead, it was knowing that in a few hours he would have to bear the weight of God’s holy wrath that His own had accumulated through all the centuries.
The Holy One of Israel, who never experienced in Himself the bitterness of sin, the feeling of guilt and shame for transgressing God’s moral law; for the first time in his life he was going to experience the abandonment of his Father. He was to experience the breaking of his fellowship with Him by becoming a sin offering and a curse for us (2 Cor 5:21).
If Christ had not drank that cup of wrath to the last drop, heaven would have been empty and hell full.
Every crime, every blasphemy, every disobedience, every sinful motivation or thought of all those He came to save would be unloaded on Him on the cross of Calvary. Christ was going to suffer literally thousands of hells concentrated on that cross, the hell that we all deserve, suffered in an instant. When Christ arrived in Gethsemane, he was overwhelmed by the reality that he would soon be crushed by wrath without mercy to make it possible for believers today to enjoy mercy without wrath.
But didn’t Jesus know that that hour would come sooner or later? Of course yes. But it is not the same to have a theoretical knowledge of something that will happen in the future, than to suddenly see yourself on the threshold of that experience. Keeping the distance, it is like the case of women and childbirth. Every pregnant woman knows that the time to give birth will come at nine months. But it is not the same to have that knowledge at the beginning of the pregnancy than to start experiencing contractions. As Jonathan Edwards says:
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus had a close view of the furious furnace into which he was to be thrown; he stood before the door so that he could see it, so that he could observe the strength of the flames and the intensity of the heat, so that he would know where he was going and what he was going to suffer.
As you think about this, don’t forget that Jesus is as divine as the Father, and as human as you and me. That is why he implores and pleads “with a loud cry and tears” (Heb 5:7), with audible groans, that that cup pass from Him if that were possible. His human soul, broken into a thousand pieces, looks for some other alternative to fulfill the mission entrusted to him, without having to drink that drink. Although many may be surprised to read Jesus asking for something like this, we should not expect anything else from Someone as pure as He. As John MacArthur rightly points out:
Jesus’ plea was not a sign of weakness, but the fully expected response of one whose pure and sinless character necessarily and rigorously recoiled from the thought of bearing the sin and guilt of humanity, and of suffering the judgment…of God. . If he had not reacted in this way, doubts would have arisen about his absolute holiness (, p. 589-590).
«Abba Father!», exclaimed Jesus —this is a term of great intimacy and affection— «For you all things are possible; remove this cup from me” (Mark 14:36). Yes, theoretically all things are possible with God, but what Jesus is asking for as a man was not possible. In order for God to show us his mercy without overlooking his justice, the Son of God had to suffer the punishment we deserve for our sins. There was no other way.
In Gethsemane, the human will of Jesus was perfectly aligned with the will of God
If Christ had not drank that cup of wrath to the last drop, heaven would have been empty and hell full. There would be no salvation for anyone, because we would all have had to face God’s just punishment for each of our sins. That is why we should be eternally grateful for the ending of this sentence: “But it is not what I want, but what You want” (v. 36). In Gethsemane, the human will of Jesus was perfectly aligned with the will of God. That was the result of his prayer.
Under no circumstances would Christ abort the mission entrusted to him. You know why? Because of the love he had for his Father and for all those he came to save. His immediate desire, as a human being, had to be subordinated to the superior desire to do God’s will out of love for us. Horrible as the suffering was, no obstacle was big enough for Jesus to keep him from continuing on the path of obedience. “Do not do what I want, but what you want, because you are the God of my trust despite how I feel at this moment.”