Recently, I have seen several discussions about Jesus’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, asking if Jesus was praying not to face the cross or for something else. One explanation I have seen is that Jesus was not praying to avoid the cross but that the Father’s wrath would not be eternal and that the Father would resurrect Jesus. Another explanation I encountered going around TikTok is that Jesus’s prayer that the cup would pass from him is a reference back to the Lord’s Supper. The cup, then, does not refer to death or God’s wrath but the cup of Jesus’s blood poured out for salvation. In this case, Jesus is praying that the cup of his blood will pass from him, giving salvation to the world. 

            An evaluation of Jesus’s referent in his prayer in Gethsemane requires understanding a few points. 

God’s Wrath Did Not Send Jesus to the Cross

            However one might interpret Jesus’s prayer, connecting the prayer and the cross to God’s wrath is wrong. In podcast episode #27, we discussed the question, “Does God Send People to Hell?” In that episode, we argued that it is theologically problematic to see God as sending people to hell. Rather, sin sends people to hell and causes death, not God. Therefore, Jesus’s salvific work on the cross is not taking upon God’s wrath but taking upon sin and the consequence of sin (i.e., death) and subsequently defeating both through the resurrection. Such an approach gives us not a God looking for reasons to send us to hell but a God looking for every reason to save us, even giving up his own Son. 

The Father Did Not Abandon the Son on the Cross

            Second, when Jesus prays in Matthew 27:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is not saying that the Father has abandoned him on the cross. The common interpretation of Jesus’s cry is that since the Father cannot be around sin, as the Son bore the sins of the world while on the cross, the Father was forced to turn his back. However, this is filled with theological problems, which we address in great detail in podcast episode #26, “Did the Father Abandon Jesus on the Cross?” 

            Here, it will suffice to say that if we believe in the Trinity (i.e., that the Father, Son, and Spirit are inseparably one) and that Jesus was fully divine and human (i.e., Jesus’s human and divine nature are inseparably one), then the Father cannot abandon the Son. For the Father to do so is to destroy our theology of the Trinity and the incarnation. 

            Instead, what happens on the cross is that the Father abandons the Son to the result of sin (i.e., death). However, Jesus’s cry is a quotation from Psalm 22, which is for Jesus to call attention to the entire Psalm. The Psalm is not one where the psalmist believes that God has forsaken him, but that while it may appear that way, God is most definitely present. Therefore, Jesus is saying that while it may appear that sin has won, in reality, God is defeating sin, which will be seen on Sunday morning when the tomb is found empty. 

The Historical Precedence 

            Historically, it seems that the first readers of Jesus’s prayer believed that it reflected Jesus’s humanity in desiring not to die. I believe this can be seen by comparing the Synoptic Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Mark was the first Gospel written and was used in the composition of Matthew and Luke. Mark records that Jesus was “distressed and agitated” and prayed for the cup to pass from him. This presentation of Jesus fits perfectly in Mark’s presentation of Jesus as the suffering Messiah. Matthew, the second Gospel written, copies Mark, presenting Jesus similarly. 

Luke, however, does something different. If you read through Luke’s Passion account, you’ll notice that Luke presents Jesus as entirely in control and stoically approaching the cross, unlike Mark and Matthew. Therefore, Luke omits the reference to Jesus being distressed and agitated, and Luke shortens Jesus’s prayer and time in Gethsemane. Early scribes then added Luke 22:43–44, which said that Jesus was comforted by an angel and his sweat became like drops of blood because they wanted Luke to present Jesus as more human during his Passion. 

I think this is important because it suggests that Luke interpreted Mark’s Gethsemane narrative as reflecting the humanity of Jesus. So, Luke presents the episode differently because his Gospel presents Jesus as less human and more divine during his Passion. Therefore, however one might interpret Jesus’s prayer, I think it has to be interpreted as presenting Jesus’s humanity in the face of the cross. 

Let the Individual Gospels Speak for Themselves

            My final encouragement as you consider this passage is to allow each Gospel author to speak for themselves. As tempting as it may be to utilize passages in places such as John or Hebrews, I would encourage you to fight the urge to make a one-for-one comparison. Other passages can be helpful, no doubt, but only after a particular author is allowed to speak for themselves. For example, John is trying to do very different things with his Gospel than what is happening in the Synoptics. The Hebrew author mentions Jesus’s prayer for resurrection, but we cannot know if the author is speaking about the same prayer found in the Synoptics. 

            Here’s how this might work. Consider the Gospel of Mark. The point of Mark’s Gospel is to present Jesus as the suffering Messiah to comfort a suffering community. In Mark, Jesus can only be identified as the Messiah by viewing Jesus suffering on the cross. In Mark’s scene of Jesus in the garden, Jesus is presented as “distressed and agitated” and identifies himself as “deeply grieved.” Jesus then prays that since anything is possible for the Father, that he would “remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” The word “yet” means but, rather, or to desire another thing. Jesus says, “Remove this cup from me,” but that he desires, or would rather, another thing, that God’s will be done through his death. 

Conclusion

            In conclusion, the bulk of evidence seems to support the traditional interpretation, though I see the attractiveness of some alternative interpretations. It seems that we get a glimpse of Jesus’s humanity in the garden. He prays that the cup of death will pass from him, just as he cries out that the Father has forsaken him, though there is something bigger going on. The Father is not forsaking Jesus, but rather allowing sin and death to do their thing before vindicating Jesus through the resurrection. Similarly, in the garden, Jesus prays that the cup be removed from him, though he states that it is not his genuine desire but for the Father’s will to be completed through his death.