“And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” – Matthew 26:39
As we continue to look through the lens of Jesus’ emotions the night He was arrested, we come to an important part of the night. As we have mentioned over the last couple of days, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. He had His disciples wait there while He went to His Father in prayer.
While He was praying, He was appealing to God. Make no mistake about it, Jesus did not want to be crucified, and so He appealed to His Father. And that appeal is recorded in Matthew 26:39, “And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus knew that it was a brief time from Gethsemane to Golgotha, where the overwhelming weight of our sin would be pressed down upon Him with crushing force, bearing our guilt and shame on the cross. Like olives that were harvested and pressed on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, He too would soon be crushed.
The prophet Isaiah, 700 years before that night, described those coming hours in Isaiah 53:4-6, “Yet He himself bore our sickness, and He carried our pains; but we, in turn, regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced because of our rebellion, CRUSHED because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.”
Then in verse 110, he says, “Yet the LORD was pleased to CRUSH Him severely.” When your Bible says LORD in all caps, it is talking about God the Father. This says, YAHWEH God, Father God was PLEASED to CRUSH His Son severely.
Why? Because He knew it was the only way to save you! Aren’t you thankful that Jesus carried through with His Father’s plan? He was crushed so that you could live. He died so that you can be forgiven. I don’t know what you are going through today, but you should rejoice in knowing that you can call God YOUR Father because Jesus was and is YOUR SAVIOR!