The key to the meaning of iiXcKla in Lk 2^- may Mt 26'9.
' 0 my Father, if it be possible,
It were great drops of " ground.' * Jesus con-
let this cup pass away from nevertheless not as I will, as thou wilt.'
* (X** '^'' «iT^* r,>.IX4r.v ' AuMffi.
I Mt 627, Lk 1225.
II Lk 193, cf. Eph 415. ♦• Mk 6«, Lk 8«.
tt Lk 240. 62
II I Lk 160.
but
Mk 143».
'Abba, Father, all things are
possible unto thee ; remove this
cup from me : howbeit not what
I will, but what thou wilt.'
and his sv blood falli
fesses Hi- u«ii f. . Unu^ in the words, ' My soul is exceedin,^ -..i lowtul, even unto death' (Mt 26'«, Mk 14"). 'I'bat He regarded the experience as a temptation is suggested by His warning words to His disciples : ' Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh IS weak ' (Mt 26«, Mk \i^ ; cf. Lk 22*'- «). •That He was conscious of human weakness, and desired Divine strength for the struggle, is evident from the prayers, in reporting the words of which the Evangelists do not verbally agree, as the follow- ing comparison shows : —
LU 22^-'. 'Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me : never- theless, not my will, but thine, be done.'
SI (Jn 921 21). St. Mark and St. Luke give the words of one
I prayer only, although the former evidently intends
to report three distinct acts of prayer (vv.^*-^"-'"),
* On the genuineness of this passage see the ' Notes on Select
I Readings ' in Westcott and Horfs yf in Greek.
AGONY
AGONY
3?
and the latter aijparently only two (¥¥.■"•"). But St. Matthew gives the words of the second prayer, which he reports as repeated the third time (vv.^--") : 'O my Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done.' It i.s not at all improbable that there was such progress in Jesus' thouglits. At first He prayed for tlie entire removal of the cup, if [lossible (Mt.), because possible to God (MU.), if God were willing (Lk.) ; and then, having been taught that it could not be taken away, He prayed for strength to take the cup. It is not necessary for us to decide which of the reports is most nearly verbally correct, as the substance of the first i)i'ayer is the same in all reports. Although St. John gives no report of the scene in Gethsemane, yet in his account of the interview of Jesus with the Greeks there is intro- duced what seems to be a faint reminiscence : ' Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name ' (Jn 12-'- ^). It is substantially the same request, expressed in the characteristically Johan- nine language. But even if this conjecture be unwarranted, and this be an utterance on the occasion to which the Fourth Evangelist assigns it, the words serve to illustrate Jesus' struggle in view of His death. Much more confident can we be that Gethsemane is referred to in He 5'-^ ' Who in the days of his flesh, having ofl'ered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him tliat was able to save liim from death, and having been heard for his godly fear ; though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the tilings which he suffered.' Having passed in review the material which is offered us in dealing with the question of the nature of the agony in Gethsemane, we may now concentrate our atten- tion upon it, excluding all reference to other matters which are dealt with in their own place.
Many answers have been given to the question, What was the cup w liich Jesus desired to be taken away ?
(IjiThe most obvious, but not on that account the most intelligent and reverent, answer is that in Gethsemane Jesus was overcome by tlie fear of death, from which He longed to escape. But this is to place Christ on a lower plane of manhood than many men, even among the lowest races. If the love of Christ has constrained many martyrs for His name to face rack and block, water and flame, and many other painful modes of death without shrinking, and even with the song of praise upon the lips, is it at all likely that He Himself shrank back ?
(2) A more ingenious view, whicli has an apparent verbal justification in Mt 26^", Mk 14" ('even unto death'), and He 5' ('to save him from death'), is that Jesus felt Himself dying, and that He feared He would die before He could offer the great sacrifice for the sin of the world. But to this suggestion there are three objections. Firstly, there is no evidence of such physical exhaustion on the part of Jesus as would justify such a fear ; although the stress of His work and suffering had undoubtedly put a severe strain upon His bodily strength, yet we have no proof that His health had given way so far as to make death appear at all probable. Secondly, only a very superficial and external view of His work as Saviour warrants the supposition that His sacrifice could be accom- plished only on the Cross ; that its efficacy depended in any way on its outward mode ; that His death, if it had come to Him in Gethsemane, would have had less value for God and man than His cruci- fixion has. Thirdly, even if this supposition be admitted, we may be sure of this, that Jesus was so confident of His Father's goodness and guardian-