The Astonishing Agony of the Cup
Download MP3If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 14, as we are continuing our study in the gospel of Mark. It's also there in your worship guide. I can't say I'm just, I'm a little fired up about preaching through Mark. After the last service, somebody came up to me and just said how it's really been through this study as a church that he and his wife have come to know the Lord. He said that he and his lost friends have started listening every week, 2 of them have given their lives to the Lord.
Joel Brooks:And it's just remarkable how the Lord uses His word, to reveal Himself to us. It seems like every year or every other year, we hear some high profile pastor who has fallen. Maybe they've had a crisis of faith, or they've somehow lost their integrity. As a result though, many people within their congregations have their own crisis of faith. I mean, if their leader stumbled like this, well, was anything ever real?
Joel Brooks:Was anything he ever said true? Were you a fool for following such a person? What do you do when somebody whom you think the world of, someone you deeply respect, someone who is stronger than you in every way, what do you do when they suddenly become weak? Sometimes children have to face this when one of their parents suddenly and severely becomes ill. Sometimes companies might go through this if their leader or their founder, suddenly lose his or her confidence, and it throws everyone underneath them into utter confusion.
Joel Brooks:What we're about to read is a story about Jesus completely falling apart. He falls apart in the Garden of Gethsemane, And it makes me wonder how the disciples felt when they saw it happen. I mean, up to this point, Jesus was in control, complete control. Nothing ever surprised him. I mean, this was the one certainty the disciples could count on was that Jesus had a plan and everything was working according to his plan.
Joel Brooks:Nothing ever rattled him. No matter how bad the situation was, he could be in the the middle of a storm, threatening to drown everyone, not rattled. He could be out in the middle of the wilderness with thousands of hungry people around him and no way to feed him, he's not rattled. He could be confronted with a legion of demons or angry religious leaders. He's not rattled.
Joel Brooks:But here, he's rattled. That supreme confidence that Jesus always had, that confidence in which he was just unshakable seems to go away. And now Jesus is shaken to the core as he approaches his death. So let's read these words from Mark chapter 14, beginning in verse 32. And they went to a place called Gethsemane.
Joel Brooks:And he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
Joel Brooks: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. And he came and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep?
Joel Brooks:Could you not watch 1 hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.
Joel Brooks:And he came the 3rd time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking a rest? It is enough. The hour has come. The son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.
Joel Brooks:My betrayer is at hand. This is the word of the Lord. You pray with me. Father, I pray that you would be so kind to us that in this moment through your spirit, you would allow us to see the heart of your son, Jesus. I pray that my words would not get in the way of that.
Joel Brooks:May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but, Lord, may Your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen. The story can actually be a little uncomfortable to read. It's so intimate, it's so full of raw emotion and fear that the early church fathers, they honestly didn't know what to do with it.
Joel Brooks:A story like this, it just made Jesus look so human. This isn't how the son of God is supposed to act, was it? Not only that, but it's not how other great leaders, great human leaders have ever acted when they have faced their death. The Romans and the Greeks at this time, they had many stories about how their leaders face their executions. None were like this.
Joel Brooks:I mean those leaders, they were calm, they were stoic. Often they were even giving words of comfort to those around them. You probably remember in high school having to read the death of Socrates, and how Socrates just calmly drank his hemlock. He still continued teaching his followers. Even when, you know, he would crack little, little wise quips, or funny little ironic quips as his body was beginning to die.
Joel Brooks:He did not have any kind of come apart, if you will. The Jews, they also had their own stories about their martyrs, and how they went to face their death, and they faced their death differently than the Greeks or the Romans did. They weren't stoic, they were full of fire and passion, fearless when it came to the end, loudly praising God up to the very end. But here here you have Jesus falling to the ground, trembling, begging God not to die. What are we supposed to do with this?
Joel Brooks:Well, for those of you who maybe are struggling with Christianity, struggling with believing the Bible, I I would hope one of the takeaways that you can have from this is that you can trust the scriptures, because no one makes up stories like this. No one makes up a story about how the leader of their faith, actually, one who's not just human, but he's also fully divine that this person is so scared, is trembling, full of anxiety, begging God not to be executed. You never make up a story like this. The story is recorded for us this way because it happened this way. I mean, there are a lot of ways that Mark could have actually softened this story for us, but he didn't.
Joel Brooks:Instead, he leaves it raw. It's it's unsettling because that's actually how it happened. In no way does this read like those heroic myths that were floating around at the time. So I hope for those of you struggling with whether you could trust God's word as being true, take comfort in this. This is recorded this way because it happened.
Joel Brooks:And I am so glad that Mark preserved this story for us, because it gives us such an insight into the heart of Jesus. For over 25 years now, I have been drawn to this story. I have often on studied it, and I I feel like I've just barely skimmed the surface, when it comes to the depths of seeing the love of Jesus here. But I want us to dive in as much as we can in the time that we have before us. After having this Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus takes his disciples over to a private garden that was on the Mount of Olives.
Joel Brooks:It was about a half mile away, it was called the Garden of Gethsemane, which just means olive press. Jesus would often go there, according to Luke's gospel. He would go there often and pray. This is likely how Judas knew to find Jesus there. When they arrive, Jesus tells most of his disciples to just go ahead and sit down, but then he asked Peter and James and John to walk with them further into the garden to pray.
Joel Brooks:And as they went into the garden, we read that Jesus began to be greatly disturbed and troubled. He began to be greatly disturbed and troubled. Some of your translations, like the NIV might say that Jesus began to be amazed. Some of your translations might say, he began to be astonished or even stunned. It's because that Greek word for greatly distressed can be translated all of those ways.
Joel Brooks:It has this idea of suddenly being disoriented or confused. In other words, Jesus walked into this garden, and for the first time in his life, he was rattled. He was caught off guard. What could have possibly disoriented him like this? Let's keep reading on.
Joel Brooks:Next, we read that he was troubled. This is actually a very strong Greek word, and it means to be overcome with horror. So Jesus is caught off guard. He's disoriented. He's overcome with horror.
Joel Brooks:I don't wanna be too graphic about this or or to derail this sermon in any way, but here's the picture I have of this. When I was 10 years old, I went over to my neighbor's house. I would often go over to my neighbor's house, but but this time when I went over there, I found their murdered bodies. It's a 10 year old. And I remember walking in and seeing it in horror.
Joel Brooks:I remember telling my feet to move and they wouldn't. I couldn't move, I had a hard time breathing, everything was spinning, I was nauseated. That that's what's happening here. That's what this greatly troubled means. Imagine driving, and and when you go around a corner, you see a car wreck, and someone you know and love is laying out there on the street.
Joel Brooks:The shock, the disorientation that happens. The message in its translation, it says that Jesus sank into a pit of suffocating darkness. We'll get to the cause of this sudden horror in a moment, but let's first read a little bit more. Verse 34. And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death.
Joel Brooks:Remain here and watch. So whatever distress that Jesus is now feeling in this moment, it's so severe, he actually feels like he's about to die, and he actually is getting close to death. The gospel of Luke says it's at this moment, he begins to sweat sweat drops of blood, which is something that happens under under only the most extreme emotional distress, that if rare cases, it can actually burst your capillaries underneath your skin, and you can begin to sweat drops of blood. Jesus is literally physically, emotionally falling apart here. And when He says that His soul is very sorrowful even to death, he's actually using the language of Psalm 42.
Joel Brooks:I've said this before, but when you poked Jesus, he bled the Psalms. Psalms always gave him the words for his greatest joy for his deepest sorrows. You poke me, different things come out. You poke me, Lord of the Rings comes out. Or, or usually a Seinfeld episode.
Joel Brooks:I have found a Seinfeld episode for every single occasion in life. But Jesus, poke them, and it's the Psalms. Psalm 42. It reads a little different than what we read in Mark just because it's translating straight from the Hebrew. But it's, why are you cast down, oh my soul?
Joel Brooks:And why are you in turmoil within me? Psalm 42 is that famous psalm about thirsting after God. We have that wonderful song about it. You know, it has the deer panteth for the water. You know, you flash back into youth group there.
Joel Brooks:We we grew up, if you grew up in church, you grew up singing that song. As a deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee. It's this really heartwarming song about thirsting after God. The only problem is Psalm 42 is about thirsting after God and not being satisfied. It's about longing for him and yet still being thirsty.
Joel Brooks:The Psalm, psalmist, he cries out, tears have been my food day and night, while people are mocking me saying, where is your God? I say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? So Psalm 42 isn't some heartwarming song about God satisfying us. It's about somebody struggling to find God in the midst of pain. Jesus goes to the garden in order to find God, and He can't find Him.
Joel Brooks:Now as Jesus is beginning to experience all of this, He asked His closest friends if they would just stay near him. That is so human. I mean, it's what we long for when we're going through trials or we're in pain and suffering. We just, you don't have to say anything, guys, but would you just be with me? Next, we read in verse 35 that Jesus, he goes a little further into the garden where he falls to the ground and he prays.
Joel Brooks:Jesus doesn't, nobly just kind of kneel down in the garden. No. He literally collapses, and then he prays. So what's the cause of all of this overwhelming distress? Well, it's not that, Jesus for the first time, knows that he's going to the cross.
Joel Brooks:That's not it. No. Jesus says repeatedly, he's told people it's the reason he's come to this world was to die. He's told his disciples over and over that he was going to the cross. He knows crucifixion's going to be terrible.
Joel Brooks:But that's not the cause of his agony here. We read about the cause of his agony in the very next verse, verse 36. And Jesus said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Jesus is falling apart because of the cup.
Joel Brooks:The cup. Throughout scripture, the cup is the image of God's wrath being poured out upon sinners. Isaiah 51, we read, stand up o Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of his wrath. Who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. Ezekiel 23, you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, a cup of horror and desolation.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is staggering here, because that cup of God's wrath is now before him. Jesus is not going just to be crucified. Remember, he is going to the cross in order to receive God's judgment that should be falling on us. So he's going to receive judgment, our judgment. We deserve God's wrath for our rebellion against him, but Jesus is going to the cross in order to receive that wrath for us.
Joel Brooks:And he's not just receiving wrath that's due for just one individual, he's receiving the wrath that is due for all of humanity on him. And what we see here is in the garden that before ever going to the cross, Jesus is actually given a taste of the cup. That's what's happening here. He's given a taste of the cup, a taste of that wrath. He's presented with this cup, and he's given just a sip of God's judgment, and just the sip knocks him off balance and makes him stagger.
Joel Brooks:I know that we typically think of Jesus, He goes to the cross, and it's there that He, He bears a judgment for our sin, but you need to see that that judgment actually begins here in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, he came to this garden in order to pray and to spend time with his father before going to the cross. He wanted to be strengthened for going to the cross, and so he wanted to spend some last moments with with his father whom he has known and loved for all of eternity, with his father who has loved him for all of eternity. But instead of finding heaven in that garden, hell opened up before Jesus, and he staggered. Jonathan Edwards, he he wrote a very famous sermon on this text, and he put it like this.
Joel Brooks:The agony that Jesus experienced in the garden was caused by a vivid, bright, full, immediate view of the wrath of God. God the Father, as it were, set the cup down before him, which was vastly more terrible than Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. He had a near view of that furnace into which he was about to be cast. He stood and viewed the raging flames and the glow of its heat, that he might know where he was going, and what he was going to suffer. He felt what Ezekiel said.
Joel Brooks:You shall drink the cup of ruin and desolation and tear your breast. He felt what Isaiah said. You will drink the cup of fury and stagger. So what Jesus is doing here is allowing, God the father is doing is allowing Jesus to just get a taste of what will await him in full on the cross. And what this means is Jesus did not go to the cross blind.
Joel Brooks:He went to the cross with His eyes wide open as to what awaited Him. For a brief moment, He got to taste the cup that He would have to drink later to the dregs. And just that taste made him stagger and beg his father, please, is there any other way, anything, can he please, do I have to drink this? I'm begging you, please. And He prays this not once, not twice, but 3 times, pleading with His Father to not make Him drink this cup.
Joel Brooks:And all the while He's praying this, His closest friends are asleep. In their defense, they just had a really big meal. Four cups of wine will do that to you. It's almost midnight. I mean, you know, we're about to have Thanksgiving meal.
Joel Brooks:You know, you're gonna eat, and eat, and eat, and then you're lay down on the couch, and you're gonna try to watch that Detroit Lions game, but you're just you're gonna go down, you're gonna sleep. I I mean, after such a big meal and the wine, and it's midnight, we read that their eyes were very heavy. But keep in mind, these were the disciples who just moments earlier said, Jesus, we're ready to die for you. If you're gonna go to a cross, you could count on us, we're there to die with you. We just need a nap first.
Joel Brooks:And in this moment, you can almost hear Satan whispering to Jesus. Jesus, look at them. These are your friends. These are the guys you have spent years investing into. Look at them sleeping away, failing you once again.
Joel Brooks:Are you seriously going to go to the cross, and receive the wrath of God for them? You know you don't have to do this. No one's watching. It's dark. The disciples are asleep.
Joel Brooks:Judas and the soldiers haven't arrived yet. You can walk out of this garden and no one would know. I mean, seriously, no one would know these people aren't worth it. I mean, can't you almost hear just Satan whispering that to Jesus? In 1988, there was a film, a famous film that came out, it was called The Last Temptation of Christ.
Joel Brooks:I in no way recommend that film. It was controversial at the time for good reason, because the basis of this movie, it was actually a book and then became a movie, was that Jesus's last temptation was lust. And whether He should pursue this romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene, spoiler alert to the movie you'll never watch, He does, he ends up marrying Mary. I think she actually dies, he then gets remarried, he has kids, he raises a family. The movie won a whole bunch of awards because that's what Hollywood does is reward movies like that.
Joel Brooks:But that is not Jesus' last temptation. Jesus' last temptation is here in the garden. And it had to be in the garden, because that's where man's first temptation happened. We're back into the garden. There on the first pages of scripture where you you find yourself in the garden there, that's where Adam, he was told to obey God and to not eat from the tree.
Joel Brooks:And if he did so, if he obey God, then he would live forever and he would get to enjoy God's presence forever. But we read that Adam disobeyed God. He was cast away from God's presence. Death entered into his body, and all of humanity fell. And now we're back in the garden.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is the new Adam. He's the new representative of all humanity. And once again, there's a temptation about a tree. Don't miss this. At the cross, throughout the new testament, you notice the language they often use when describing the cross, they call it a tree.
Joel Brooks:No accident. They want you to be thinking of the Garden of Eden. But this time, the temptation about the tree is this, if he obeys God, he's not gonna be rewarded with life, he's gonna have his life taken from him. If he obeys God, he's not gonna enjoy God's presence. Instead, he's gonna cry from across, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Joel Brooks:So that's the temptation. Will he drink the wrath of God, the cup of the wrath of God, so that we can drink the cup of joy? Jesus here is given a choice. Do I still obey my father now that I know how horrible it's actually gonna be? Or will I just walk out while no one's looking?
Joel Brooks:Will I obey my father and go through hell in order to save these pathetic, sleeping disciples? Humanity that has failed me time and time again, or will I just go back to heaven without them? That's the temptation. And Jesus, with his eyes wide open as to the horror that awaits Him, He goes to the cross to save us. I can't fathom such love.
Joel Brooks:So what does this mean for us? Well, it means a number of things for us. 1st, I hope it means this. I hope you realize just how loved by God you are. I mean, I hope this story gets so deep in your bones.
Joel Brooks:When you walk out of here, you just know that you know that you know God loves you. I hope you realize that there is no failure, or there is no sin that could take away that love for you. I mean, when we see these disciples sleeping away here, that's us. That's us failing Jesus once again, and yet Jesus looks at us in our fallen failing state, and he says, I will go to the cross for them. So no matter how much you have failed, you believe you have failed, or disappointed God, know that in light of the cross, you can never, never, never doubt his love for you.
Joel Brooks:Don't look at any other circumstance as evidence as to whether God loves you or not. All you have to do is look at the cross. Don't you dare leave this place and look at me, and think, oh, I've lost my job, he must not love me. I've lost my health, he must not love me. Oh, I can't get married, he must not love me.
Joel Brooks:Don't look at any other circumstances other than the cross. We can never doubt the love of Jesus. So the answer to whether Jesus and God loves us is always yes. Next, this gives us the power here to forgive others when they have wronged us. If we truly understand what it cost Jesus in order to forgive us, how can we not forgive others?
Joel Brooks:I mean, how can we possibly say, Jesus, I know you went through hell in order to forgive me, but did you see what that guy posted? Did did you see this angry text? I mean, they're being so passive aggressive in this text. I don't know if I could forgive them. Guys, if if we're having a hard time forgiving someone, it's just because we don't understand the gospel and what Jesus went through to forgive us.
Joel Brooks:Once we understand that, we have the ability, the power to love and to forgive anyone. Final thing we learn from this is how to pray. And this should be an entire sermon in itself, But we actually learned several things about prayer, and I'll go through them quickly. 1st, we see how we address God in prayer, how Jesus addressed God in prayer. He called Him Abba Father.
Joel Brooks:Abba is the Aramaic word for for father. The Jews, when they prayed, they did not address God as father. That's way too intimate. But Jesus does. And that's how he taught his disciples to pray.
Joel Brooks:And calling God Abba is actually the key to all prayer. When we come to God, we come to him as his child. Safe, secure in our relationship with him, and also trusting that our Father knows best. We actually see this relationship in what Jesus asked for. Jesus, He says, Father, I I know you can do anything.
Joel Brooks:It kind of sounds like a child saying something about, Dad, I know I've seen you could do any, nothing's impossible for you. Nothing. Would you remove this cup from me? Yet not what I will, but you will. Jesus asked his father for what he wants.
Joel Brooks:And what he wants is to not go to the cross. I mean he really, really does not want to go to the cross. However, he trusts what his heavenly Father wants more than he trusts what he wants. Here that he he's trusting what his heavenly Father wants more than he's trusting what he wants. That's how we pray.
Joel Brooks:So we go to God and we tell him what we want. We say, father, this is what I want. I want this new job. I want to be married. I want to have children.
Joel Brooks:I want to be healed from this disease. I really really want these things. But I trust what you want for my life more than I trust myself and what I want for my life. Do you know what your heavenly father wants for your life? If you don't, you're gonna struggle.
Joel Brooks:You're gonna struggle in your relationship with him for the for your whole life unless you really understand what he wants for your life. Sometimes it's hard for us to see what he wants for our life, because all of us have our own little gardens that we go into in which we get a little disoriented. But hear me, this is what he wants for your life. Jesus says that he has come that you might have life and have it to the full. So one of the things Jesus wants for you is to be filled with life abundantly.
Joel Brooks:God the Father, He's He has sent His Spirit to us, because He wants us to be filled with life and joy. So things that God wants for us, be filled with life, an abundant life, a joyful life. And we know that God wants for us to enjoy His presence forever. No matter what's going on in your life, I want you to hold to these three truths right here. I'll give them to you, bullet point.
Joel Brooks:These three truths. God is sovereign. God is good. And you are His child. If you hold to those three things, nothing will ever rattle you.
Joel Brooks:God is sovereign, God is good, you are His child. Hold on to that, and you will be able to walk through even the most dark hours. Pray with me, church. Father, you are sovereign, you are good, and you have adopted us as your children. May that be the rock on which we build our entire lives.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, thank you. I don't know what else to say other than just thank you. Thank you that you love me despite all of my failing. You love all of us despite our failures, the countless ways that we have sinned and rebelled against you. And yet for reasons I will never understand, you have said we are worth it.
Joel Brooks:So thank you for drinking the cup of wrath so that we might forever drink the cup of joy. And we pray this in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen.
