Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
April 5, 1985
Good Friday
Gethsemane - The Will of God
Mark 14:32-42 (NIV)
Good Friday is a very somber time. This makes it stand out because most Christian holy days are quite different. When we think of Christmas we associate it with gifts and good feelings. Everybody likes to celebrate the birth of a baby, especially when it's the Son of God. Another holy day is Pentecost which commemorates the dramatic coming of the Holy Spirit. And, of course, Easter is the triumph of Jesus over death. Each of these celebrate victories.
But Good Friday is just the opposite. The string of events actually began on Thursday after the Last Supper. Jesus was in agony in the garden of Gethsemane. His disciples failed him, he was betrayed, condemned by a kangaroo court and crucified. To any human observer this would be a celebration of one disaster after another.
I think this is one reason Good Friday is important. It adds a heavy dose of realism, the kind we can all relate to at some point in our lives. If you have ever felt like you were at the end of your rope and everything was collapsing around you, you can appreciate what Jesus went through.
In addition to realism, Good Friday emphasizes paradox. This involves something that appears to be one way but actually it is just the opposite. It's often called an apparent contradiction. The paradox of Good Friday is that the long string of failures was actually a victory. The empty tomb on Easter morning merely made it obvious.
The garden was one of the lowest points in Jesus' life. Jesus was deeply distressed and overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, as verse 34 puts it. The gospel of Luke adds that Jesus' sweat was like drops of blood. Many people have the idea that his agony was because he was afraid of death or had doubts about his mission. Neither of these is the reason. The key is in verse 36, when Jesus asks God to take away the cup. In Biblical imagery a cup represents the wrath of God. The prophets in the Old Testament said that sinful nations would be forced to drink the cup of God's wrath and like "white lighting" it would cause them to stagger. The significance of Jesus is that he knew God was going to pour out divine wrath on him. It wasn't because he deserved it but because the world deserved it.
Jesus was not merely facing physical suffering; he was about to undergo the ultimate spiritual suffering in order that the world could be saved. With all this in mind, the prayer of Jesus in verse 36 is profound in its simplicity. He prayed:
"Abba, father, all things are possible for you, take this cup from me; nevertheless not what I will but what you will."
He begins by acknowledging that God can do anything. Another way to put it is that God is all-powerful. Christians have always believed this. When TV preachers say that God can heal any disease or make you successful, they are saying the truth. God is capable of doing anything he wants to do and that causes a dilemma that has troubled people for thousands of years: If God can do anything, then why doesn't he? Why do people who are loved and needed by others die in the prime of life? If all things are possible to God he could stop this kind of suffering. Some might say that perhaps a secret sin was involved, so God was punishing them. But that brings us back to Jesus.
The Bible says Jesus was sinless. He wanted God to keep him from the cross and he knew God could do it. But God didn't. Because of this, some have argued that if God is all powerful then he can't be good. Others, like the author of the book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," say that God is good but he is not all-powerful. If these are true then the only solution is that God doesn't always do what we want him to, or even what we would expect him to.
In the case of Jesus, God's good and perfect will was for his son to die in agony on the cross. It didn't seem to be good to Jesus at the time, because he asked God to take it away.
Many Christians cannot accept this. They acknowledge that God has a perfect will for them and that he is powerful enough to carry it out. Their problem is that they have a preconceived idea about just what that perfect will is going to be.
The first day I was in Gordon-Conwell Seminary we had a chapel meeting where they wanted us to share our needs and concerns. Some stood up and asked us to pray that they would be diligent in their studies, and so on. But toward the end a student with meager finances stood up. He shared that he desperately needed a car. The cheapest apartment was many miles from the campus and he had trouble getting rides back and forth. So he was asking God for a car. He had an assurance that it was God's will. What is more, he was claiming God's perfect promises for - a Cadillac. And to our cheers and Amens, he sat down.
Two weeks later I saw him driving a '69 Volkswagon. God must have wanted him to have a car but his perfect will for the student was a little more down to earth.
There is a dangerous tendency among believers to tell God what he has to do. Some groups even come up with formulas of how to claim the promises by being adamant with God or quoting certain scriptures. Often they say the key is more faith. God can work amazing miracles for people who are committed to him. But what happens when there is no miracle or the healing does not take place? These Christians often end up doubting their dedication to the Lord or even salvation itself.
Jesus had more faith than anyone. He asked for a miracle of deliverance, which he did not get. But Jesus went beyond this. After making his personal request he submitted to God's decision. His short prayer actually has two petitions:
First - Take away this cup.
Second - What you will.
The second was the priority. Jesus is not practicing a blind fatalism here (as if his prayer wouldn't make any difference), because his prayer begins by stressing the close relationship he has with God - He calls him Abba, or "my father." He loved God so completely he was willing to set aside his desires for God's plan. Jesus agonized over this but he never wavered.
Every human being should be glad he didn't, because Jesus' death on the cross is the only way by which we can be accepted by God. A clean lifestyle, good intentions and even dedication to religion cannot make you acceptable to God. Jesus himself said,
"Unless a person is born again, they cannot enter the Kingdom of God."
This rebirth comes when we admit that we have sinned against God and gone our own way. We must then commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, who died on Good Friday almost 2,000 years ago so our sins could be removed.
This commitment is more than repeating a prayer or making a pledge. It's the kind of commitment that sincerely says,
"Not my will but yours be done."
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Typed on February 19, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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