The Passion of Christ: The Cup, A Path to Redemption

Luke 22:39–46 “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.””

 The Passion of Christ refers to the period from Jesus's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to his death on the cross. This period encompasses Jesus's suffering, trials, and ultimate sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The term "passion" originates from the Latin word pati, meaning "to suffer" or "to endure". Here's a more detailed breakdown:

The Last Supper and Gethsemane:The Passion begins with the Last Supper, where Jesus shares bread and wine with his disciples, and then his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he experiences intense anguish and suffering. 

Arrest and Trials:Following his prayer, Jesus is arrested and undergoes a series of trials before the Jewish authorities and Roman governor Pontius Pilate. 

Crucifixion and Death:Jesus is ultimately condemned and crucified on the cross, enduring excruciating pain and suffering. 

Significance:The Passion of Christ is a central theme in Christian theology, representing God's love and sacrifice for humanity. It is believed that through his suffering and death, Jesus atoned for the sins of the world, providing a path to salvation and reconciliation with God. 

The Cup: A Path to Redemption

The Man | The Place | The Cup | Redemption

In vs 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”” This sets the stage as to whom is speaking from the pronoun “he came out”. This is a man like no other. The One who had been born of a virgin Matthew 1:23. Who had lived a perfect life Matthew 5:48. Who Peter said 1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Who the Apostle John said 1 John 3:5 “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” And who Paul said “2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Matthew 1:21 “his name is Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” Luke 1:32–33 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”” He is a man like no other.. The Son of God whom the Father sent to save us from our sins.

The Place

This is the he that “came out and went, as was his custom, ” Jesus often withdrew to pray. Listen as I read a few verses teaching us his custom. Listen for he went to pray.

Mark 1:35 “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Luke 5:15–16 “But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

Luke 6:12 “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”

Matthew 14:23 “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,”

Mark 6:46 “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”

This time he withdraws to the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane and his disciples followed him.

The Time

It had been an evening of the passover. Passover is a huge holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians. It would be allot like the way we celebrate 4th of July when we as Americans gained our independence from England. The fireworks signifying celebration, victory and national pride. Passover signifies God removing the Israelite from the bondage of Egyptian slavery drawing them so that they could be God’s people and he would save their first born from the angel of death by the lambs blood on their door.

Jesus telling us about the this passover night records in Luke 22:14–23 “And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.”

The disciples were rattled by Jesus statement vs 21“Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table” Matthew 26:22 “And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?””

The Cup

The passover meal was done. Now Jesus “came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”

Why did an angel from heaven have to appear to him, strengthening him? Why is Jesus in agony? Why did he sweat great drops of blood? All these questions can be answered in what is this cup that Jesus asks to be removed yet surrenders his will to the Fathers will. Pay attention for the word cup and we will be able to understand what this cup signifies. Scripture helps us to understand this idea of a cup. Lets take a look at a couple of passages and as we do listen for the word cup.

Jeremiah 25:15 “Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.”

Isaiah 51:17 “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.”

This cup that Jesus was to drink was God very wrath or his displeasure with human beings for their sinful actions. This might seem a little inconsistent with the idea of a God being loving, but the biblical teaching on God’s love cannot be appreciated unless it is seen in contrast with the biblical teaching on his wrath.

In order to understand Gods wrath we have to back up to the beginning and how things were intended to be in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:27 “God created man in his own image” and Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. " God created man is his image and God found the creation very good or complete when he made man. Everything was not only good but very good and Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day but it wouldn’t last long. In Genesis 3 sin enters the world through Adam, and all man kind falls from innocence to the corruption of sin.

The Lord says in Jeremiah 16:18 “But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”” So here we see that sin must be paid for. God is just and loves justice Isaiah 61:8 “For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, ” So for God to be God he must pour his wrath on sin to remain just.

Being made in the image of God means that we share certain qualities or attributes. We have His heart in matters of morality, courage, love, and justice. He is the complete embodiment of traits we only possess in part. He is complete love (1 John 4:16). He is complete goodness (Psalm 106:1). He is complete kindness (Psalm 25:10). And He is complete justice (Isaiah 61:8).

Our morality or our value of what we find as right and wrong, imperfectly helps us to understand why God must punish sin to remain just. If a man were to create an insurrection and murder another human we would out cry for justice and that man to be punished.

In a more perfect sense because God created us and he is the owner or ruler over us and He can say how we should or shouldn’t live and does through His word. He shows us how we have sinned and transgressed or crossed the line in they way he calls us to live.

Alister Begg, in describing the words used in the New Testament for sin says: “Taken together and set in their New Testament contexts, these words describe human beings as out of step with their Creator through both willful rebellion and unintentional failure. They reveal humankind as corrupted in their hearts and minds so that they do not seek to do good. And they remind us that in such a state, each of us has already defaulted on the debt of good works owed to our Creator and so deserves His just punishment.

The just punishment or wage for sin is death Romans 6:23. Not just the physical death as we might like to think when a body returns to dust as in when we die we and just stop existing but eternal death or eternally being separated from God.

Being eternally separated from God means that those who shake there fist at God will no longer have any chance of access to the Father and will be placed in a place called hell. You might think of it like this. As long as God has rule and reign there is light, if Gods rule and reign is removed all you will have is darkness. Hell is that place of darkness where those out of step with God will be placed for eternity. Absent from God and any goodness that God brings. Given over to their own corrupt will and the will of others who’s will is as or more corrupt than their own. How are you walking in all this? Are you instep with your creator or are you out of step doing your own thing?

Redemption

Continuing in Romans 6:23 we see “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This leads us back to the Mount of Olives where Jesus is praying and back to our questions:

Why did an angel from heaven have to appear to him, strengthening him?

Why is Jesus in agony?

Why did he sweat great drops of blood?

Jesus praying Luke22:42 says “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Never the less not my will, but yours, be done.” As we have learned from Jeremiah and Isaiah this cup is filled with God’s wrath. The very punishment for the sins that those who would trust Him and have faith in him would commit.

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, “

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

By Christ bearing our sins in his body, God shows his love for us because Christ died for us. On the Mount that night the cup of wrath began to be poured our for the sake of those who knew him or would come to know him paying the full price for every sin that they would ever commit past, present and future. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ then he has done this for you!

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

This grace or free gift was beginning to come to fruition as Jesus willingly accepted the Lords will to pour the cup of wrath that you and I deserve but yet cannot pay on the second person of the trinity, the Lord Jesus. Jesus submits his will to the Father when he says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but your, be done.” What mercy we see the Father exhibiting in allowing the Son to pay the cost of our sins. And as the cup begins to pour he sends the help of an angel to strengthen and “being in agony he prays more earnestly.”

I cannot imagine the agony he felt even just for my sins. The idea Luke is trying to show us in this word agony is in great anguish or extreme distress of body or mind. A couple of other passages may help us to better understand this idea of agony that Christ felt.

King Jehoram stirred the anger of the Lord and 2 Chronicles 21:19 his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. "

John speaking of the woman who would bear a son in Revelation 12:2 makes use of the word agony referencing child birth.

Revelation 12:2 “She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”

As I said earlier, I know my sins and I cannot imagine the agony Christ felt for just them let alone every believer. He did this for every person who has or would ask Him to forgive them. And unlike our examples of agony we looked at, God sent an angel to strengthen Him because God knew the weight of the burden he would bear. This weight doesn’t argue with Christ omnipotence or how powerful he is but rather shows us how enormous the weight of sin is.

If your honest with yourself your know the burden of your sin and its contribution. Christ would bear all the weight of all the sin of those who would repent and believe in Him and it would continue even to the cross where Jesus Matthew 27:46 “cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” Jesus says this because God turns his face away from Christ as he paid the just price for our sins.

This cup was ment for you and I, Jesus would bear not only your sins but the sins of all those whom he would receive as Children of God John 1:12 .

Do you know him? Have you put your trust in Him? He came and lived a perfect sinless life. He was perfectly obedient to the Father in every way. He is the only one who has lived in the flesh who has not earned the wage of sin but He died the death that we all deserve. God allowed him to be the substitute and pay the wage of the sin of those whom the Father would draw. He was raised on the third day proving that death and sin have been defeated.

Is this the Jesus you know? Who drank the cup that was meant for you making away for you to have a relationship with God? If not then Romans 10:9 “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If you know him does your life bear witness that you know him? Are you honoring him with your life and being conformed to his image or are you being conformed to the world? Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Redemption comes at a great cost. That cost is the death of the very son of God through his life, death and resurrection. He drank the cup of the Fathers wrath all the way to the dregs so that we wouldn’t have to. He died in our place to draw us to his space so that we can live and have life abundantly!