God’s Word for You
Mark 14:35-36 The brave act
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, January 21, 2024
35 Then he went on a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 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.”
“That the hour might pass… take this cup.” Solomon said, “No man knows when his hour will come” (Ecclesiastes 9:12). Ancient Christians comforted one another: “The Lord will supply every need in its hour.” And perhaps thinking of this hour of our Lord’s suffering: “Examine yourself. In the hour of visitation you will find forgiveness.” This moment, this hour or night and coming day of suffering, was not something anyone would want to face.
This was the cup of his suffering, the cup the prophets described for many sinners: “The cup in the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you; and complete disgrace will cover your glory” (Habakkuk 2:16). “On the wicked he will rain down fiery coals and sulfur. A scorching wind will be the cup given to them” (Psalm 11:6). “You have drunk the cup filled with the Lord’s wrath from his hand. You drank it. You drained the chalice, the cup that makes you stagger” (Isaiah 51:17). And again: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath” (Jeremiah 25:15). That last was the cup for the punishment of all the nations, and now Christ himself was going to drink it, along with all the rest of it. Himself, and no one else.
“I don’t want to be in pain. I don’t want to be whipped. I don’t want to be beaten up, hit, spit on, mocked, and tortured by soldiers. I don’t want spikes driven through my hands and feet. I don’t want to hang naked and bleeding on a cross; I don’t want to drown in the water of my own lungs as breathing and exhaling becomes harder and harder until it just isn’t possible.” His prayer was not because he didn’t want to save us, but the flesh and the soul of Christ were sorry, overwhelmed with sorrow, over just how painful that was going to be. Just what hell means—not earthly punishment, mind you, not that alone, but hell. Eternal pain suffered by Christ in our place. He was being forsaken by God, he who is God, who was with God from the beginning, who always will be God. He was entering into that one place in all of creation where God and God’s love does not go and is not present. God is everywhere in heaven. God is everywhere on earth and all throughout our created universe. But hell is the dungeon, the prison, the pit of Sheol, where God’s love does not reside. And that is the pit into which Jesus was now staring and shrinking back in horror. It couldn’t be helped (his grief, his sorrow, his terror).
He cried out in his prayer, “Abba,” the Aramaic word for “Father.” The word (in any language) was “Father;” it was always the address of the Son to the Father. Where was Father, now? If the Son is condemned, the Father must have turned away.
The unanswerable conditional is asked: “All things are possible with you,” the Son prays with confidence. But if all things are possible for the Father, why does the Son have to do this thing, this terrible, awful thing? The answer is there under the trees in the other Garden, the Garden where the first Adam stood shivering, not from cold, but from terror. His sin had brought death into the world. His sin had opened the second door of hell. Through the first door (these doors are mere metaphors, of course), the original condemned were sent: Satan and his followers, damned forever for their rebellion, with no parole, no possibility of salvation. But Adam’s sin had opened the second door, through which all mankind would have fallen, thrown in by the guards where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The only way to rescue mankind was for someone, someone Divine, to take their punishment for them, to pay the price for them. The Son stepped in. He took on flesh, he became incarnate. He had already made the choice of infinite grace. There was no turning back now without damning the whole race of mankind all over again without hope of parole, without any possibility of salvation.
The Father’s will was to honor the Son’s choice. The Son’s hand may have shook as he took the cup to drink, the terrible, awful, foaming cup of God’s wrath. But it was God’s will to save mankind through that brave act.
Bravery is not a lack of fear, but to act despite fear and grief and sorrow, to mourn for the loss of one’s life and yet do the task that must be done. The bravery of Christ is not something we often think of, but to suffer hell in place of all is not only brave, but a whole string of things: compassionate, gracious, incredible, and more. But it is one thing, I suppose, over all. This brave thing is finally… love.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.