39: Notice that Jesus fell on his face. This is the biblical mode for the deepest prayer, not kneeling with hands folded and eyes turned heavenward. Jesus went a bit further away from the inner circle and prayed privately. If God did not want us to know the content of this prayer, it would never have been revealed.
Jesus asks for the cup, the experience of judgement for sin he was about to endure, to pass if possible. We might readily think that this means Jesus didn’t really want to die for our sins. Such is not the case. Christ does love us. However, the bearing of sin involved more than any human has ever endured. It involved more than God would ever want to be connected with. The Son had to become sin for us. For him, this was at once terrible and repulsive. He was saying that if there were some other way, he would very much like to do it some other way. But, as we see here, his greatest desire was to do the will of the Father. Only that could drive him to the cross.
The same is true for Christians today who are called upon to give their lives, only in a shadow of that sacrifice. A martyr, though a lover of the lost, gives his or her life for the love of Christ and the Father, not just the lost world.
Personal Journal Entry #12007
Prayer Journal Entry #12007
Daily Bible Reading: Genesis 20:1-22:24