Passage: Mark 14:32-42

The Big Idea

Why would a loving Father crush His own Son? Isaiah answers: it pleased the LORD to bruise Him, making His life an offering for sin. In Gethsemane, “the oil press,” Jesus faced the cup of God’s wrath against our sin and was overwhelmed with sorrow. He prayed honestly, “Take this cup away from Me,” and then surrendered completely: “Not what I will, but what You will.” His disciples slept. Jesus did what we never could, and He shows us how to face our own Gethsemanes: in dependent, honest, surrendered prayer.

Why Would a Father Hurt His Son?

This is going to hurt.

Why would a father ever cause his son pain? It amazes every person and angel who sees it. It’s a serious question, and God gives a serious answer.

Let’s start in Isaiah 53, written about seven centuries before Jesus was born, yet directly about Him. (Think how long seven centuries is: seven hundred years before our time, Marco Polo was traveling in China.)

Isaiah says it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him grief, making His life an offering for guilt (Isaiah 53:10).

This isn’t a cruel father.
This is a Father so full of love that He invited His Son into a plan to save a world full of sinners.
A Father who would punish His willing Son for the guilt of you and me and every sinner in the world.

Gethsemane was the final crossroads in Jesus’ life. Understandably, He recoiled at the horror ahead. Yet through this great test, He chose God’s will and became the sacrifice for sinners.

It was the Father’s will to give up His beloved Son, so that He would not have to give up you and me.

Keith Getty and Stuart Townend wrote a modern hymn, “Gethsemane” (also known as “To See the King of Heaven Fall”), that beautifully captures this night: the King of heaven falling to His knees in anguish, the Light of the world overwhelmed with grief, crying out for the cup to pass yet choosing His Father’s will; facing the abandonment of His friends and the silence of heaven; and then the question of what carried Him there. The answer: His love for Adam’s cursed race. Every sin, too slight to overlook or too great to carry, was mingled in that cup, and the Savior drank it all.

Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-34)

They went to a place called Gethsemane (meaning “oil press,” where olives are crushed). He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John with Him 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.”

Tim Keller has described this moment powerfully: in the garden Jesus turned to His Father and saw before Him only wrath, an abyss. He began to taste the infinite spiritual disintegration of being separated from His Father on the cross, and even that foretaste made Him stagger.

“Sit here while I pray.”

Jesus knew this would be His last night.
What He treasured most was communion with His Father, so that’s what He sought.

He took Peter, James and John.

Interesting. These three had all bragged about what great disciples they were.
James and John had asked to sit at His right and left in His kingdom (Mark 10:37).
Peter had just vowed he’d be faithful to death.
These were the same three who went with Him into Jairus’s house and up the Mount of Transfiguration. Now they were in the garden of crushing.

Warren Wiersbe pointed out that these three experiences parallel Paul’s longing in Philippians 3:10: to know Christ (the Mount of Transfiguration), to know the power of His resurrection (Jairus’s daughter raised), and to share in His sufferings (Gethsemane).

“He began to be greatly distressed and troubled.”

Jesus began to experience the crushing.
He began to feel the sentence of abandonment, so that you and I would never be abandoned or left alone.
He turned to His Father’s face, which had always shone with love, and saw ahead only the wrath and separation that our sin deserved.
He knew what was coming.
And there was a way out: just disobey God’s will. Sound familiar? Save Yourself, and let everyone else die.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.”

Luke tells us His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44). Doctors describe a rare condition, hematidrosis, in which extreme distress can cause blood to mix with sweat.

The Cup (Mark 14:35-36)

Going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”

Jesus had existed in perfect relationship with the Father for all eternity.
This was the moment that relationship would be torn by sin, not His own sin, but ours.
As a man and a Son, Jesus didn’t want to face the wrath of God against sin. He had never sinned. He was innocent.
But above all, as the perfect, obedient Son, He would do His Father’s will.
That’s surrender.

Is Jesus worthy of our praise, honor, attention and faith? Yes!

Think about the things and people you’re most passionate about. Did they give up everything they’ve ever known and loved, for you? Do they truly have your best interests at heart?

Hebrews says that in the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and pleas, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered (Hebrews 5:7-8). He learned the full meaning and cost of obedience.

The Father answered, not by taking away the cup, but by strengthening Him to drink it. Luke says an angel came from heaven to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43).
The Father was able to save Him from death, but chose instead to save us from death through Him.

How Do We Face Our Own Gethsemanes?

Exactly the way Jesus faced His: in prayer.

Dependent prayer. “All things are possible for You” (v. 36). Total dependence on God alone.
Intense prayer. “Greatly distressed and troubled” (v. 33).
Honest prayer. “Remove this cup from Me” (v. 36).
Intimate prayer. “Abba, Father” (v. 36).
Submissive, surrendered prayer. “Yet not what I will, but what You will” (v. 36).

Asleep (Mark 14:37-42)

He came and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Prayer is what strengthens the spirit.
We need a strong spirit, because we can’t do God’s will, or anything good, in the flesh.
Peter acted in the flesh because he didn’t pray. He was proud and not yet convinced of his need for God.

Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer Him. He came the third time and said, “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. Rise, let us be going; see, My betrayer is at hand.”

Jesus confirmed His surrender three times.
He was fully surrendered: spirit, soul and body, all yielded to His Father’s will.

Is ours?

Are you willing to be betrayed and forgive? To be hurt and respond with kindness? To be hated and love in return?

That’s a battle of the heart before it ever becomes a practical test. You’ll decide in the dark, quiet night what you’ll do in the daylight.

You’ll always have a Gethsemane before you have a cross. Your heart will always be tested before your actions are.

This night teaches us that we must wait on God. We must surrender everything to His will, holding nothing back.

Let God search you. Get alone. Open the Word and read it with humility and faith.

Surrender combines two attitudes:

Humility
Faith

You can read God’s will for your life today. It’s right in front of you in the Bible.

Some of us honestly don’t want to know His will, because we don’t want any will but our own. May God have mercy on that heart and soften it.

Others are just confused, not sure how to seek God. Simply open the Bible and read. It isn’t about your ability to figure it out. He promises to speak to any heart that seeks Him. Your heart will be changed and come alive as you seek Him.

Jesus doesn’t lie. He’ll do it all for you. Just give Him the chance!

Jesus did what we never could: He obeyed when it cost Him everything. And because He did, He has made a way for us to be forgiven and helped. He’ll come and fill you with His own Spirit, His strong and obedient Spirit.

All we have to do is ask, in humility and faith.

Grace Takeaway

In the olive press of Gethsemane, Jesus was crushed under the weight of the cup we deserved, and He drank it all. His friends slept; He prayed and surrendered: “Not My will, but Yours.” The Father didn’t take the cup away from Him so that He could take it away from us. When your own Gethsemane comes, pray like He did, honestly and dependently, and lean on the Spirit of the One who already won.

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The Crushing in the Garden