They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go and pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. And they didn’t know what to say. When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!” [Mark 14.32-42]
There is much more to this account than meets the casual eye.
The text says Jesus "became deeply troubled and distressed." So deeply troubled and distressed was Jesus that He said, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Most people believe the "cross" was what Jesus was wrestling with in the olive grove, but I am not so convinced. I believe Jesus was in the fight of His life with every other possible human solution besides the cross: Jesus was warding off idolatry in that grueling but absolutely essential hour of prayer. Jesus was confirming to the point of death His commitment to God and God ALONE even though God Himself could have designed another option: “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
What we don't understand is that Jesus was fighting within Himself not to die right there in the Garden of Gethsemane before he could even get to the cross. Mark records that Jesus prayed that "if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by." We have mistakenly believed that that "hour" was the cross, but Jesus Himself indicated otherwise: "Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?" He was talking about that hour of prayer - that hour of commitment - that hour of overcoming temptation - that hour of rejecting every possible idol-solution to avoid the cross - right there in the olive grove!
That hour of prayer was so intense that another Gospel writer said:
He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. [Luke 22.44]
In that fateful hour Jesus was fighting off grief to the point of death so that He might proceed to the cross. Jesus was practicing what He had preached over and again:
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]
Jesus would never had gotten to the cross had He not fought unto death the fight to give up His own way - every possible human solution that could have prevented the cross. For starters, Jesus could simply have left Gethsemane before Judas and the mob arrived.
If we can see it, Jesus' request that God take away the cup of suffering was so that He could get past the grief to the point of death in the Garden of Gethsemane so that He could get on to the cross. Jesus didn't even want the option of dying there at Gethsemane to avoid the cross. The cross was the only goal.
It should be understood that Jesus' sleepy and therefore prayerless disciples, forewarned by Jesus about "temptation," ultimately gave in to that temptation - they took the idolatrous option of preserving their own lives:
Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. [Mark 14.50]
Jesus, on the other hand, did not run away. He had prayed. He had overcome temptation (idolatrous options). He had effectively given up His own way. He overcame both "fight" and "flight" self-preserving options so He might get to that cross. It had to happen - Jesus was committed. In that commitment, He was alone... He knew the difference that hour of prayer in solitude would make - it would get Him to His cross.
I never dreamed there could be deeper significance to Jesus' hour or prayer at Gethsemane... But here it is. Jesus wasn't just making Bible-filler when He demanded that His followers must give up their own way, take up their cross, and follow Him. He knew that hour of prayer was coming for Himself - as it comes for each of us. Will we sleep, or will we watch and pray so that we might overcome temptation to seek any other self-preserving way (idol) to avoid our cross?
With Jesus we might pray, “Abba, Father,” ... “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Jesus was not trying to avoid the suffering of the cross. Jesus had engaged the Father in prayer to avoid the suffering of temptation - that battle within every human to reject the idols that incessantly propose options to God's will (which is undivided trust in God ALONE).
Father in heaven, the world and this life offer endless solutions to improve and preserve my life. But this life is not my goal. My goal, like Jesus' goal - is my cross. Otherwise, there is no distinction between my life and the world. His cross is what set Jesus apart so the world might see Him, and my cross is what sets me apart so the world might see Him. May I be found giving up my own way (every temptation to 'self-preserve'), taking up my cross, and following Jesus. So be it.
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