Jesus prayed "Let this cup pass..."

[Dane Gjesdal]

The cup - Matthew 26:36-39

Matthew 26:36-40
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, " My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will."

42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." NASU



Many people have viewed the “CUP” that Jesus was praying about as relating to the cross. I had the privilege of serving under Jim Johnson in the Wesleyan Church. He felt that the “CUP” that Jesus was referring to was not the cross, but was the very moment he was in, that is, under attack by Satan to keep him from getting to the cross. I like how the "Passion of the Christ" portrayed this moment with Satan and Jesus doing battle in the garden.

Notice that Jesus was under so much sorrow he was at the “point of death”. I think we read pass this when in fact Jesus may well have felt he was literally dieing and that his prayer was that this “cup of suffering” would pass; that Jesus wanted his Daddy to see him through this attack from Satan himself.

Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

There is no other time that we find Jesus battling with Satan after the forty days of fasting. This may have been that “opportune time”.

This interpretation puts Christ prayer about the cup of suffering in a new light. It does not place Jesus in the position of asking God to let the cross pass, but just the moment of death or suffering he was in to pass so that he could make it to the cross. Jesus knowing that God’s will would be done and that is how Jesus closes his thought.

What do you think? Interesting? Weak? Unfounded? I personally have no problem with either interpretation.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

The cup - Matthew 26:36-39

Many people have viewed the “CUP” that Jesus was praying about as relating to the cross.

Personally, I think John's perspective on this same line of thinking sheds light on the prayer Matthew recorded. They were in different settings but the theme certainly overlaps:

John 12:27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

I certainly believe Satan was trying to take advantage of this "opportune time." (You said, "There is no other time that we find Jesus battling with Satan" but that simply means that no such cases are recorded. I believe Jesus was tempted relatively constantly, sometimes more intensely than others--just like us!) In this particular case, however, I think the cup was the cross (physically and theologically, that is with regard to taking our sins, etc.) and not simply the temptation to avoid the cross.

Wilson

[Randy Wise]

The cup - Matthew 26:36-39



Many people have viewed the “CUP” that Jesus was praying about as relating to the cross. I had the privilege of serving under Jim Johnson in the Wesleyan Church. He felt that the “CUP” that Jesus was referring to was not the cross, but was the very moment he was in, that is, under attack by Satan to keep him from getting to the cross. I like how the "Passion of the Christ" portrayed this moment with Satan and Jesus doing battle in the garden.

Notice that Jesus was under so much sorrow he was at the “point of death”. I think we read pass this when in fact Jesus may well have felt he was literally dieing and that his prayer was that this “cup of suffering” would pass; that Jesus wanted his Daddy to see him through this attack from Satan himself.



There is no other time that we find Jesus battling with Satan after the forty days of fasting. This may have been that “opportune time”.

This interpretation puts Christ prayer about the cup of suffering in a new light. It does not place Jesus in the position of asking God to let the cross pass, but just the moment of death or suffering he was in to pass so that he could make it to the cross. Jesus knowing that God’s will would be done and that is how Jesus closes his thought.

What do you think? Interesting? Weak? Unfounded? I personally have no problem with either interpretation.

The verse below seems to suggest it was the coming suffering that was termed "cup".
John 18

11Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

Randy

[Bob Jones]

Have any of you noticed a parallel outline of topics between the "red letters" and "black letters" of Matthew?

If the pattern is real, and not imposed, it has a surprising answer to the question being discussed.

To give you a head start here are some hints:
Matt 5:1 Matt 8:1 - mountain
5:3 8:2 - poor in spirit
5:5 8:5 - meek
5:6 8:11 - who are they?
5:7 8:14 - kindness
5:8 8:16 - cleaning house

I see the pattern from 5:1 through the end of the book.

(actually I refer to them as red and black letters, because that's how I first noticed them. In reality I see three blocks of parallelisms that span red and black)