All on Him & All alone

Public Meeting, Week 3 Semester 1, 2022

Mark 14:32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Let’s suppose you go home today after uni or after work, and you had planned to go to the gym with a friend. You were going to meet at your place then carpool. But work ended a bit late, so your friend’s already at your house waiting. When you get there your friends says to you hey man while I was waiting the postie came and dropped off some letters for you. One of them was already half-open, I guess it got wet somehow. I know I shouldn’t have but I looked at it and it was a bill. I felt bad so I paid it for you.

How would you respond? Well, you’d say depends on the bill. If it was like a $20 Telstra phone bill, then you might say thanks man, dinner’s on me. But what if it’s from ATO telling you that you’ve maxed out your HECs debt and can’t use it for your uni. You’ll need to pay your uni fee up front. How would you respond then?

Where am I going with this? It’s the same when it comes to God. Why do some people seem to enjoy God more or have that deeper relationship with God while some other people just seem to coast along. They sleep when they should be awake. I think a large part depends on the bill. What exactly did God do for us, what is the bill that was paid. That’s what we see in this passage.

In Mark 14, we are given 10 verses about at most a few hours in the life of Jesus. Understanding what happened in that garden on an intellectual level is not difficult. This was the night Jesus was betrayed and he knew he was going to be crucified and on the cross pay for our sins. The language that’s used is in Mark 10:45, even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a random for many. There’s a price that must be paid, a bill that is outstanding, and Jesus did that.

So it’s not hard for us to understanding what’s going on here, with what Jesus is facing. It’s on the emotional level that it’s so hard to truly grasp the magnitude of this passage. That’s the way we are unfortunately. I can tell you that 240,000 people died during the 2004 Christmas tsunami or I can show you pictures of the countless bodies left over once the water receded, or I can somehow take you back in time and put you there on the ground as one of the first responders. Each of those 3 options will tell you that it was a speechless disaster, but one of them can give you PTSD.

The point of our passage is this. Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself by Himself. Look how it starts.

32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 

It should be no surprise to us by now that Jesus knows what is going to happen. Remember last week, he told them he was going to be betrayed and killed. We would be stressed as well, and so Jesus does what we expect. He goes to pray and but not without taking his 3 closest disciples. The 3 who so bravely claimed they would die for him. And he tells them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” Isn’t it ironic that they couldn’t stay awake?

Then we see the nature of Jesus’ distress. Our English doesn’t really quite capture it. We all know this is not like going through a bad breakup. That would suck but really it’s not even life-threatening. Not even like the grief we experience when someone dies. In Luke’s gospel it says Jesus was so in agony that he started to bleed through his sweat. On a scale of 1 – 10, how bad is your pain? Answer: yes. What’s behind it?

Jesus took the wrath upon Himself

35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 

The cup symbolises God’s wrath and judgment because of sin. You can read about it in the Old Testament, especially in Jeremiah. The symbolism of the cup is undeniably clear. Judgment is in that cup. And the OT prophecies tell us that when the time comes for the wicked to drink from the cup, it will be a reckoning. It will drive people insane. But is Jesus in so much agony? Why is he so torn between following God’s will, and holding the cup?

You already know where this is going. The cup is meant for the wicked, not Jesus. He doesn’t deserve to drink from the cup, he did nothing wrong. And yet that is exactly what God wanted. Yet not what I will, but what you will.

It’s even more horrific when you stop and think about it because notice Jesus prays, Abba, Father. Think about whose wrath this is. It’s not some impersonal force or some universal principle of justice. It’s not an unknown deity who is a stranger to you. It’s your own dad. Abba, Father. Jesus took the wrath of God upon himself, and he did it by himself.

Jesus faced the wrath by Himself

37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

There’s no point labouring over this. The disciples have failed him. They were so confident during dinner, now they can’t even stay awake. Peter, James, and John were supposed to be the best of them and they failed. They were sleeping when they should have been awake.

The point we are to see is this. Jesus faced God’s judgment by himself. There was no one there to help him. There’s literally nothing we can do to help in any sort of way. In fact, our sin helped put him there. When you’re asleep, what are you doing? Nothing. There’s no multi-tasking when it comes to sleeping. When we’re asleep we have no idea what is going on around us.

Jesus took the wrath of God upon Himself by Himself. It’s all on him, and him alone. It all happened while we were asleep. If you’re a Christian here today, it’s not because you’ve figured it out or that you finally overcame whatever it is between you and God. Jesus did it all.

Continue thinking:

How can our sins be forgiven because of someone else’s punishment? Even if somehow a third-party paid the cost, is that fair?