The Struggle of Struggles
And going a little further he fell on his face and prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."...Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done."...He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Matt. 26:39-44, RSV.
Jesus has reached the crisis point of His life as the weakness of his humanity grapples with the will of God.
It is all too easy to view Him as some kind of superman who rode through life from one effortless victory to another. Not so! Like the rest of us, He struggled. But his battles were as much greater than ours as the magnitude of His mission exceeds the purpose of our lives. Daunted by the little temptations and challenges that come our way, we all too often cave in even before too much pressure is placed upon us. But if Jesus backed off, it would negate the entire reason for the Incarnation.
He faced only two options: to go forward to His once-for-all sacrifice on Calvary or to give up and let all humanity reap its own destruction.
And the devil knew the stakes in the game. Up to then he had had his way on earth. But if Christ went through with His mission Satan knew that it would seal his own fate. The destiny of the world hung in the balance of what would take place in the next few hours.
It is in that tension that Christ entered Gethsemane. His thrice-repeated prayer shows Him struggling as never before as the major choice of his life loomed before him.
Like other humans, He had no desire to experience the humiliating death of the cross. But that wasn't the real issue. The core problem was that on the cross He would die for the sins of all humanity. He would become sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), taking upon Himself our cause (Gal. 3:13). That was the problem.
The Desire of Ages indicates that "He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequences of man's sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression" (p. 686).
It is with that weight upon him that He struggled in agony, finally declaring that He would do God's will rather than His own.
And going a little further he fell on his face and prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."...Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done."...He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words. Matt. 26:39-44, RSV.
Jesus has reached the crisis point of His life as the weakness of his humanity grapples with the will of God.
It is all too easy to view Him as some kind of superman who rode through life from one effortless victory to another. Not so! Like the rest of us, He struggled. But his battles were as much greater than ours as the magnitude of His mission exceeds the purpose of our lives. Daunted by the little temptations and challenges that come our way, we all too often cave in even before too much pressure is placed upon us. But if Jesus backed off, it would negate the entire reason for the Incarnation.
He faced only two options: to go forward to His once-for-all sacrifice on Calvary or to give up and let all humanity reap its own destruction.
And the devil knew the stakes in the game. Up to then he had had his way on earth. But if Christ went through with His mission Satan knew that it would seal his own fate. The destiny of the world hung in the balance of what would take place in the next few hours.
It is in that tension that Christ entered Gethsemane. His thrice-repeated prayer shows Him struggling as never before as the major choice of his life loomed before him.
Like other humans, He had no desire to experience the humiliating death of the cross. But that wasn't the real issue. The core problem was that on the cross He would die for the sins of all humanity. He would become sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), taking upon Himself our cause (Gal. 3:13). That was the problem.
The Desire of Ages indicates that "He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequences of man's sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression" (p. 686).
It is with that weight upon him that He struggled in agony, finally declaring that He would do God's will rather than His own.
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