Take this Cup
On the night before Jesus passion, Jesus entered into the Garden of Gethsemane located on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord. A “gethsemane” was a massive stone press used to crush the olives harvested on the hillside in order to extract olive oil. So, the Garden of Gethsemane was a place of crushing, only that night it would be the Son of God who would be crushed under the pressure. Jesus entered into a time of deep prayer and interaction with God the Father. Here is how the scene is described in Luke’s gospel:
And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. –Luke 22:39-44
“Father, if you are willing remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” What is the cup of which Jesus is praying? It is none other than the cup of divine judgment.
He thirsted not for it; and yet from this point He surrendered to fulfilling the Father’s will.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief
–Isaiah 53:10
In distress and grief, Jesus cries:
I thirst.
From the Cross, Jesus thirsts for a cup to drink. The cup that completes the Father’s will. He thirsted for His own death, for only in His death would the sins of the world be forgiven. The Lord’s will for His Son was to bear the judgment for the sins of the world on His body and in His flesh.
…when his soul makes an offering for guilt –Isaiah 53:11
In drinking the cup of judgment, Jesus’ soul makes an offering for guilt, redemption accomplished. In drinking the cup of God’s wrath, He drank it to its dregs. He drank it till it was dry. In this moment, He thirsted for God’s wrath and His judgment to be borne on His body, so that we would not have to drink the cup of God’s judgment and wrath. Think about that. He drained the cup–empty–on the Cross so that we would not have to drink it.
More than that, though, Jesus thirsted not only for His death and to finish the work of the Cross, but He thirsted for the life that God had in front of Him. God the Father promised that though His soul was to suffer death in a crushing judgment for the sin of humanity, that though He must die, He would be raised from the dead; He would see the light of life:
…he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong… –Isaiah 53:10-12
The prophet Isaiah revealed over four hundred years before the coming of the Messiah that even though the Messiah would suffer death, on the other side of that “crushing” would be life, victory and divided spoils. The writer of Hebrews again says it was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the Cross. Jesus thirsted for the three days that would come after this, the empty tomb, the resurrected life. He longed to see it.
He yearned and thirsted for resurrected life as He was agonizing in death on the Cross.
It was for the joy and abundance of life that was set before Him that He endured the scorn of the Cross all the way to its bitter end. That’s why the writer of Hebrews encourages us to thirst for the resurrection so that we too might endure suffering and temptation – no matter what.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
—Hebrews 12:1-4
Whatever suffering is brought before us, whatever trials, whatever tribulations, we must thirst for the joy that is set before us in the resurrected and eternal life so that we can persevere in faith and in faithfulness all the way to the end.
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