Crushed Like Jesus

A few weeks ago, we launched a study on the Book of Mark entitled “Like Jesus.” Thus far, we’ve covered different passages in Mark chapters 1-3. Being that three weeks from today we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I felt that it was only appropriate that we spend the next two Sundays studying some of the events leading up to Jesus’s death. So, beginning with this morning’s sermon we will jump ahead in Mark for the next three weeks and cover passages in chapters 14 and 15.

So please turn with me to Mark 14:32-36.

Here’s what has happened before Jesus’s time in the Garden:

Palm Sunday (Mark 11:1-11): This is marked by Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the people welcoming Him as their King. Remember, some laid their robes and others palm branches on the ground and shouted “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!”

The Cleansing of the Temple (Mark 11:15-19): Jesus entered the temple and ran off merchants who were selling items and desecrating the temple.

Jesus’s Anointing at the home of Simon the leper (Mark 14:3-9)

Judas Betrays Jesus for Money (Mark 14:10-11)

The Passover and Last Supper (Mark 14:12-25): They are together in the upper room sharing in the Passover Feast together. While there Jesus washes their feet, officiates the first communion, and informed them that one of them is going to betray Him. It was a few moments later when the betrayer Judas exits.

Jesus Tells Peter that He will Deny Him (Mark 14:26-31): Jesus and the eleven remaining disciples leave the upper room and make their way to the Mount of Olives. Little did they know that they are making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane where a little later in the night Jesus will be arrested. While on their way, Jesus tells Peter that He will deny Him three times before the rooster crows twice.

Now, we read in verse 32, that Jesus and the eleven disciples “went to a place called Gethsemane.” Gethsemane was located at the base of the western slope Mount of Olives. It was part of an olive orchard. According to John 18:2 and Luke 22:39, Gethsemane was a regular place for Jesus and His Disciples to go for Him to pray.

[Insert Picture of Gethsemane]

In the Hebrew, Gethsemane means “oil press.” So, it’s possible that this portion of the olive orchard was home to a press that extracted oil from the olives. Symbolically speaking, it was in this moment that Jesus found Himself under the excruciating pressure regarding the fulfillment of His life’s purpose as the ultimate sacrifice for all of mankind’s sins.

Mark says that Jesus tells the disciples to have a seat while He goes off to pray. (v. 33) At this point, He turns to Peter, James, and John and tells them to come with Him. This is not the first time Jesus went off with just these three men during an important time in His life.

In Mark 5:35-43, Jesus is confronted by a ruler from the synagogue whose daughter had recently died. Mark records that Jesus only allowed Peter, James, and John to go with Him to the ruler’s house where He brought the girl back to life.

In Mark 9:2-13, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with Him atop of a high mountain where He was transfigured. Mark says that in that moment, Jesus’s clothes became “radiant, intensely white” and that Elijah, representing the prophetical section of the Old Testament, and Moses, representing the law section of the Old Testament appeared along side of Him. The moment symbolized Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies about the coming Messiah and the fulfillment of God’s Law. Then, out of no where, Marks says that a cloud surrounded them and that a voice from the cloud told them “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Obviously, we know that they voice was the voice of God the Father.

So, off He goes with these three men who’ve personally witnessed the best of times with Jesus, but this moment is not a joyous occasion. (v.33b) Mark says that as they’re walking Jesus “began to be greatly distressed and troubled.” In verse 34, Jesus opens up and tells the men, what is going on. He says, “My soul is sorrowful, even to death.” What Peter, James, and John heard Jesus describing to them was a deep sadness. Other versions of the Bible use the term “grieve” or even “deeply grieved.” And why wouldn’t He feel this way? He knows that being the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies and the fulfillment of God’s Law meant that He would soon suffer physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish as He’s brutally beaten, as He takes on the sins of all mankind, and as He is briefly forsaken by the Father. The symbolic pressing of the Olive press on Jesus had started and it was overwhelming.

As this is happening, Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to stay where they are and keep watch. There are two possible meanings behind Jesus’s telling them to keep watch. (1) He may have been telling them to stay awake and be alert for those coming to arrest Him or (2) He’s telling them to pray for Him. Because of the Greek meaning of the word “watch” I tend to believe that, at first, He was telling them to stay awake and remain alert for those coming to arrest Him.

Next, Jesus separates Himself from the three disciples, goes a short distance, falls to the ground and begins praying. In verse 35, Mark narrates what happened and then in verse 36 He gives us a direct quote from Jesus. First, in verse 35, Mark says that after Jesus was alone, “he fell on the ground . . .” Have you ever seen someone so grieved that they literally can not stand on their own? That without the assistance of other people or something to hold them up, they would just fall down. I believe Jesus was so grieved in His soul about what He was about to endure that He could not stand up. So, He falls down on the ground. We know that Jesus didn’t fall on His knees, but instead fell face down on the ground.

Matthew says, “And going forward a little he fell down on his face . . .” (Matt. 26:39).

As He laid on the ground, He’s overcome with such a deep grief about what’s to come that Jesus begins praying. His emotion is so overwhelming that He begins crying out to God. The Hebrews writer say, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears . . .” (Heb. 5:7).

And what does He say? Well, Mark sums up Jesus’s quote by saying “if it were possible, the hour might pass from him” (35c) and then gives us the direct quote in verse 36, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 4:36).

I want us to spend the remainder of our time together breaking down Mark’s summation of what Jesus said, and actually what Jesus said.

First, notice the intimate way Jesus begins His prayer. He cries out “Abba, Father . . .” The term literally means, “My Father.” It was common for Jewish children to call their fathers “Abba” because of it conveyed familiarity and intimacy. In our day, I would liken it to when we hear a child call his Father “daddy.” The title just feels more intimate.

But, when Jews read or heard that Jesus used this Aramaic term to address God the Father, it would’ve surprised them because it was considered inappropriate to address the Father in such an intimate and familiar way during prayers. But, while it’s likely that hearing Jesus uses the term to address the Father was unique to the Jews, chances are, it wasn’t the first time Jesus referred to the Father in this way.

We do know that it is the only recorded time that Jesus refers to God as “Abba, Father” and its only used two other times in the New Testament, both times by Paul. But, Jesus’s reason for using it, was to convey His intimacy with the Father.

Next, let’s connect Mark’s summary of Jesus’s prayer in verse 35 to the actual prayer in verse 36.

Possible: We cannot take Mark’s use of the phrase “if possible” to suggest that Jesus was in some way have doubts of whether or not all things were truly possible for the Father. He knows that all things are possible for God.

In Matthew 19 Jesus has an encounter with a Rich Young Ruler. During the encounter, Jesus tells the young man that if he truly wants to inherit eternal life, he must go and sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. Jesus goes on to tell him that after he does this, he should return to Jesus and follow Him. But the ruler can’t bring himself to do what Jesus says and he goes away sad. Jesus turned to His followers and said, “Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, if is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:23-24). After witnessing this encounter, the disciples were perplexed and asked Jesus that if the rich young ruler couldn’t be saved, then who could? Jesus responded to them with the following statement, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).

Therefore, Mark’s summation statement of “if it were possible . . .” should not be mistaken for Jesus doubting the Father’s ability to do anything. Mark makes that fact clear when He reports Jesus’s actual statement, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you” (Mark 14:36a).

Hour and Cup: What Jesus is referring to here is the specific period of time that He and others predicted would come and the suffering that He would experience. The “cup” is a metaphor for suffering or punishment that was often used in the prophets.

David, talking about God’s wrath on those who oppose Him, says, “Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup” (Ps. 11:6).

Asaph, one of David’s Priests, writes “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs” (Ps. 75:8).

The Prophet Jeremiah says, “Thus the LORD, the God Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them” (Jer. 25:15-16).

Ezekiel writes, “Thus says the Lord God: “You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much; you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord God” (Eze 23:32–34).

There are several times during Jesus’s life when He refers to a specific moment in time that is coming, but has not yet arrived:

In John 2, when Mary asks Jesus to turn the water into wine, He says, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (Jn. 2:4).

During the Feast of the Tabernacles, Jesus says “My time has not yet come . . .” (Jn. 7:6).

After Jesus started teaching and the Jewish authorities were looking for ways to stop Him, John says, “they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come” (Jn. 7:30).

Again, after Jesus’s teaching upset the Jewish leaders, John says, “These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no on arrested him, because his hour had not yet come” (Jn. 8:20).

But once Jesus entered the Passover week, He knew His time was now. He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn. 12:23).

When He was reclined with His disciples in the upper room, John tells us that “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father . . .” (Jn. 13:1).

During what we call, the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus says, Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you . . .” (Jn. 17:1).

And here, in the garden called Gethsemane, Jesus’s hour has come. Look down at verse 42 where He tells the disciples, “the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us being going; see, my betrayer is at hand” (Mark 14:42).

It is time for His arrest, His torture, and His execution. It is time for Him to hang on the cursed cross and take on the sins of all mankind. It is time for Him to be separated from the Father, and He is scared. He’s scared enough to ask the One who can do all things, to take this hour, the cup of suffering away from Him.

But, despite Jesus’s fear of the moment, He is going to do whatever the Father tells Him to do. “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mk. 14:36). You’ve heard me say this before, but it bears saying again, Jesus’s entire earthly life was fixated on one passion, and that was to please the Father. Everything He did and said centered around His passionate pursuit of pleasing the Father no matter the cost. If God was not going to spare Him from the hour and remove the cup of suffering from Him, so be it because He understood that the Father’s will was greater than His own. As God’s Son, He knew the Father had the final say, not Him.

Remember, we established earlier that Jesus was as much human as He was God. This means that Jesus experienced the temptations and emotions as us. But something must be made clear, what He wanted was never in opposition to the Father’s will.

John records Him saying, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 5:30).

Again, John quotes Jesus’s words, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:38-40).

So, what are we to learn from Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane?

I. It is Okay to be Scared

Jesus was so scared that He literally sweat blood. It’s okay to be scared. To be a true disciple of Christ means that eventually our faith in Him is going to cost us something. Example after example in the New Testament makes this point clear.

Christian Martyr and Theologian Diedrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” -Diedrich Bonhoeffer

Commenting on Bonhoeffer’s statement, G.K. A. Bell, late Bishop of Chichester wrote “There are different kinds of dying, it is true; but the essence of discipleship is contained in those words.” -G.K. A. Bell

Maybe God is calling you to a new job, where you may not make as much money as you are making now. And while the idea of making less money may scare you, what if the reason He’s asking you to make such a sacrifice is to teach you how to trust Him more. Or, what if there is someone at this new place of work who doesn’t know the Lord, and God has chosen you to reach that person. It’s okay to be scared in that situation.

Maybe God is calling you to walk away from an unhealthy relationship. Maybe you’re scared that you’re never going to find the right person and even though the relationship you are in doesn’t please God, you’re willing to stay in it because you are scared of being alone. It’s okay to be scared in that situation.

I’d go as far as saying that if we don’t find ourselves in moments when our commitment to Christ doesn’t place us in seasons of being scared of what He’s calling us to do, then something in our relationship with Him is amiss.

II. It is Okay to Ask God to Change His Mind

We learn from Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane that it’s okay to ask God to change His mind. Jesus wasn’t the first or the last person to ask God to change His mind.

In Exodus 32, Moses returns from atop Mount Sinai after receiving the Ten Commandments from God to find the Jews had fallen into sin. They had created a golden calf and started worshiping it. God tells Moses that He is going to destroy the people. Moses pleads with God to change His mind and in Exodus 32:14 the Bible says, “And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.”

God honored Moses’s prayer by showing mercy on the people.

So, in those moments of being scared about taking that new job or ending the unhealthy relationship, it’s okay to ask God to change His mind, just like Jesus did.

But understand this, just like Jesus, we must accept God’s decision and honor His will. Which leads us to our third takeaway from today’s passage.

III. In the End We Must Submit to God’s Will

When we commit our lives to Jesus Christ, we give up all rights to make our own decisions. Jesus asked God to remove the cup of suffering from Him, but in the end, Jesus knew He was going to submit to the Father’s will.

Whenever, God calls us to do something, there is a reason greater than ourselves that He is calling us to do it. Again, maybe calling you to that new job making less money is because someone there will connect with you and accept Christ because of your faith and trust in God.

Maybe the reason He’s calling on you to give up that unhealthy relationship is because He has someone else far better in mind for you. Maybe He wants you to be single for a while and return your focus on renewing your relationship with Him. Whatever the case may be, we must understand that when we surrender our lives to God, we surrender our will. But here’s the best part. As His disciples, we will find our greatest joy when we, like Jesus, seek to please the Father no matter what it costs.

Jesus said, “And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (Jn. 8:29).

Everything Jesus did on this earth had one sole purpose, pleasing the Father.

Let me close with two quotes, from the same person this morning:

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.” -- Jonathan Edwards

“God’s purpose for my life was that I have a passion for God’s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory, and that these two are one passion.” -- Jonathan Edwards

Jesus’s sole purpose for going to the cross was to please the Father. This morning we are going to remember the sacrifice He made for us on the cross as we celebrate communion together.

Would you please join me in a word of prayer?