Jesus Alone: A Good Friday Meditation
Today is Good Friday. The day the Christian church around the world recognizes to commemorate the death of Jesus on the Cross. In this post, I’d like to take you back to the very early hours of the first Good Friday. Come with me. Will you?
Jesus has just finished up one final meal with his disciples – one final Passover meal with his disciples. A meal where he remembered with them the faithfulness of God to cover the sins of his people with the blood of the Passover Lamb from the days of Moses to that very day, and one where he began to teach them fairly explicitly that a final, perfect Passover Lamb had come at last – and was about to be put to death – so that the sins of his people might not merely be covered for another year, but might be forgiven entirely, and forever.
Shortly after that meal, Jesus and his disciples head up to the Mount of Olives (a place where they had spent a good amount of time over the past few years) and then to a private garden, called Gethsemane, where Jesus could go and pray – which is how he chose to spend his time right before being arrested and rushed through an unjust trial leading to his crucifixion. Jesus is here preparing his soul for death on a Cross.
Mark tells us what happened there in that garden.
32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 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." 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, "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. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand." (Mark 14:32-42 ESV)
Jesus is alone.
One of the main things we should notice here in the very early hours of the first Good Friday, is how Jesus, the Savior and King of the World, is completely alone.
Here in the final hours leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, there is no one there cheering him on. There is no one standing beside him here to support and encourage him. No one is kneeling with him in prayer. No one is even praying for him. Not a soul has any clue of what Jesus is experiencing in this moment.
Here in the final hours leading to his crucifixion, Jesus is alone. He is praying alone, preparing to go to the cross alone, with no support whatsoever from his most faithful followers.
Truly there are two ways in which Jesus is alone here, the night before (or the early morning of) his crucifixion. Jesus is alone in his sorrow. And Jesus is alone in his mission.
Jesus is alone in his sorrow.
Mark tells us (beginning in v. 32 of the passage above) that after eating that last Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus took them to a place in the Mount of Olives called “Gethsemane” (a term meaning “olive press”). There Jesus tells most of the disciples to sit down while he goes away to pray. But he also takes Peter, James, and John (his closest companions & leaders among the 12) along with him further into the garden, so that they might “watch and pray” with him.
But Mark tells us that as they went along with him, (v. 33) Jesus became “greatly distressed and troubled.” The words used here are strong words. As he comes into the Garden, Jesus becomes overwhelmed with a sense of dread and anguish. He becomes deeply grieved and upset.
And because they are his friends, Jesus turns to tell Peter, James, and John how he’s feeling. He turns to them and says, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” In other words, “What I’m feeling right now, is so deep and painful that it feels like I am dying.”
It felt that way, because that is exactly what was happening. Death was knocking on Jesus’ door.
From here the sorrow in Jesus’ heart becomes so heavy that he literally collapses and falls down onto the ground (v. 35). And there on the ground, Jesus starts to pray. And what he prays is that “if were possible, [this] hour might pass from him.”
This is where we begin to get a feel for the source of Jesus’ sorrow. What is it that has him so troubled here in this moment? “The hour”, that Jesus the man wishes could pass from him, has come.
What “hour” is this? Jesus answers that question by the time he’s done praying here in the garden. In verse 41 he says to his disciples, “…the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” The hour of his betrayal, and his arrest, and his unjust trial, and terrible death has come.
In Mark 8:31 it was a prediction this “hour” was predicted by Jesus himself when he told his disciples that he must “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed.” There, it was a prediction. Here, the prediction comes true. The hour for Jesus’ betrayal, and for his suffering, and for his rejection, and for his death, has all now come. Jesus knew it was coming, and now it is here. And it has Jesus in deep anguish.
But what Mark and the other Gospel writers want for us to see – at least one thing they want for us to see – is that Jesus is the only one in anguish here.
He goes off to pray three times in the garden on this night. Pleading with his Father out of the anguish of his soul to cause the hour of his betrayal to pass from him. And each time he goes off to pray, after a little while he comes back to see if his disciples are praying as he commanded them to. And each time he does, he finds them sleeping.
While he is in anguish they are asleep.
What has he told them to do while he goes to pray? “Watch and pray!” Jesus is telling them repeatedly that this is a very serious situation. Things are coming to a head with him very quickly. A great deal of pressure is going to come upon him and upon them very soon. And he’s telling them that they need to get ready. They need to prepare their souls for the pressure of what’s coming. And to remain dependent upon God in this hour.
And yet, instead of praying, the disciples are sleeping. Why is that?
Mark shows us that the reason for their sleeping has primarily to do with their spiritual dullness. Temptation is too strong. They are too dull. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (v. 38). This is the hour that Jesus came for, the moment that he’s been preparing them for – for three full years – and they have no clue!
Jesus is going to do the unfathomable for them. He’s going to lay down his life for them. He’s going to suffer their judgment for them. And they are sleeping! They are sleeping because they are spiritually dull. Slow to believe. Slow to understand. Slow to care. Slow to get it. Slow to see.
But I can’t judge them, because I know that I am no different from them. I suspect you’re not much different from them either.
How unaware and unmoved and unconcerned we so often are about the things of God and eternity! How dull we are to matters of eternal importance – God and his glory and his Word and his Gospel and his promises. So slow to recognize the goodness and God and the faithfulness of God from day to day. So slow to believe what he has said in his Word. So dull to the fact that every day in this world is marching along according to the counsel of God’s holy will. So slow to keep his commands. So quick to sin.
If we were there in the Garden with Jesus that night, we’d be sleeping too.
And yet, here he is, preparing to go to the Cross for them! And for me. And for you. Which is what the Gospel is all about. If our salvation depended upon us caring enough about Christ, being interested enough in him, being tuned-in enough to him and to his will, there would be no hope for us, because we are just like the disciples – sleepy and dull and weak and overcome by temptation, instead of watchful and prayerful and strong and obedient. If Jesus needs any help or support from us in saving us from sin and death, we’d all be doomed.
So then while there is a tragedy in the aloneness Jesus is experiencing here in his sorrow – in another sense – their dullness puts his grace and mercy on display. He is going to the Cross for them. For those who sleep when they should be awake. He is alone in his sorrow, because he is going to the Cross, not with them, but for them.
Which leads us to the second way in which Jesus is alone here. Jesus is alone in his sorrow, because Jesus is alone in his mission.
Jesus is alone in his mission.
Mark goes on to tell us what Jesus’ prayer in the garden consisted of. Mark summarizes it in verse 36. “And [Jesus] said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’”
What is Jesus’ mission? It’s to drink from a cup. Jesus tells us that as he prays. “Remove this cup from me.” What is this cup?
The cup is a cup of suffering. A cup of suffering that consists of the righteous wrath of God toward sin. A cup of judgment. A cup of wrath. “Remove this cup from me” is language from the Psalms and Prophets.
Psalm 75:8 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
Isaiah 51:17 17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, 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.
Jeremiah 25:15 15 Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.
And the wrath that is in this cup, is the wrath of God toward the sins of humanity. Toward my sin. And your sin. Because wrath is what sin deserves from God. Our sin merits the hot, holy, pure, righteous wrath of God. This is the cup Jesus asks God, his Father to remove from him in this moment.
Now, we need to understand, this is not Jesus the man fearing physical suffering, and this is not Jesus the eternal Son of God fearing any kind of estrangement or hostility from God the Father. This is Jesus, the man, distressed at the idea that he would have to experience the fierce and holy wrath of God toward the sins of other people. This is the perfect man expressing reverent fear of the just wrath of a holy God.
This is Jesus the man, feeling sorrow over the fact that he will soon drink the cup of God’s wrath dry on the Cross. Because remember, he was no sinner. Jesus was perfect. He was righteous. He was obedient to God in every way. He fulfilled the law of God in full. He kept every one of God’s commands. Jesus was not a sinner. He did not deserve the curse of the law. He deserved the blessing of keeping the law. He did not deserve the wrath of God.
Why then is he preparing to suffer under that wrath? The answer is, because that was his mission. That’s what he was sent into the world to do. This is what he came to do. He came to suffer in the place of sinners. To suffer for their sins, in their place, on the Cross. To drink from the cup of divine wrath for us.
See, because of our sin, the cup of God’s wrath has filled to the brim. Not because God is some fickle and easily angered deity who’s ready to fly off the handle, but because he is blazingly pure and holy and just. Holy wrath is the holy response to sin. He is too pure not to hate sin. He is too just not to judge sin. The cup of his wrath toward sin and sinners must be poured out. Someone must drink from that cup.
But the good news of the Gospel is that God himself has come to this world as one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, who is truly God and truly man, and has come to drink from that cup himself, for us, instead of us, and on our behalf as our representative before God. Jesus came to drink from the cup of God’s wrath so that we might drink from the cup of his grace forever, if we will trust in him as the only Savior of our souls.
I think this also sheds some light on the reason Jesus’ friends, in these moments leading up to his arrest and crucifixion, are sleeping. They are sleeping because they’re not going to have to drink from the cup of God’s wrath. That’s not their mission. It’s not their destiny. It’s not the future God has for them.
Jesus endures the sorrowful mission of suffering under divine wrath, so that all his disciples, whether those in the 1st century or the 21st century might never know what it is to be judged by a holy God. They are spared from the worst forms of sorrow on this night, and are able to sleep like babies in this moment, because wrath is not in their future. And if you are trusting in the Lord Jesus as your only Savior, wrath is not in your future either, because Jesus willingly, voluntarily, and out of love for us, drank from that cup for us until it was bone dry. If you’re trusting in him, there’s no wrath left for you in God’s cup; there is only grace. Only mercy. Only love. Only favor. Only life. Blessings that you will drink in to your heart’s content for all time and forevermore. The cup of grace will never run dry, because Jesus drank the cup of wrath down to the dregs for us.
