Let This Cup Pass From Me
There are a few words of Jesus in the garden that should be most sobering for us. “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt… O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done”. (Matthew 26:39,42)
We do not question the application that these words could apply to the weight of the world’s redemption laying on his shoulders; to the ignominy and shame attaching to the most noble offering of him as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and that he would bear his last moments forsaken, corresponding to Adam. However, we want to offer an additional perspective that gives an answer to this request; one that puts it in a context which makes the prayer legitimate and one that the Father could and did answer.
In his early ministry he was fully aware of the severe cup he was to drink. To the request of the mother of Zebedee’s children, Jesus answered in Matthew 20:22, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?” An hour or two before his words in the garden, Jesus asked the disciples and us to drink of his cup. Minutes after his prayer in Gethsemane, Peter drew his sword and Jesus said “Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11)
So what was his state of mind in his prayer in Matthew 26, “If possible, let this cup pass from me”? Notice, after passing the cup in the upper room (verses 28, 29), he notes that when the shepherd is smitten, the sheep shall be scattered (verse 31). He knows Peter will deny him thrice (verse 34). Now in the garden, even with the three most close to his cause, he finds them asleep.
Jesus repeated the request for the cup to pass after each time he found the disciples sleeping. (Matthew 26:39,42,44) The words are translated: “Let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt… if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done… he… prayed the third time, saying the same words.” Mark’s record says “all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me… again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words”. (Mark 14:36,39) Luke’s record: “if thou be willing, remove this cup from me”. (Luke 22:42) Matthew 26:41 and Mark 14:38 record the solemn words, “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak:”
The word “pass” in Matthew 26:39,42 and Mark 14:35 is Strong’s number 3928. In Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42 it is Strong’s number 3911, and the only places where this word is used. Strong defines 113911 as primarily “to bear along or aside, i.e. carry off:” Vine’s explains this word, paraphero, as from para: to bring to or before, and phero: to carry, i.e., to carry beside Yet the word is used to mean “to go or depart or remove.” Strong defines 113928 as “to come near or aside, i.e. to approach (arrive), or go by (or away):” Thayer renders it “1. to go past, pass by or 2. to come near, come forward, arrive.” Notice that Jesus does not say “Let me not drink of the cup;” but “Let this cup pass from me:” Jesus knew his hour was at hand. Let the cup comb let the final drinking approach. But to whom would it pass? To whom would it go after him? Who would bear these final hours beside him. Would any carry the cross? Would it be Peter? Would it be the three sleeping disciples, or all those who would flee? Or could it be the young man in Mark 14:51 who may have been the only one awake to record Jesus’ words? He too fled. Jesus had shortly before asked them all to drink of it. But in this dark hour, would any appreciate the struggle of his mission? He wanted most a bride, a church to inherit the mighty vision he was about to conclude. He wanted a church moved with the same compassion and hope that moved him to lay down his life. Now in dark Gethsemane, to whom would it pass?
The words of Jesus found in Matthew 26:42 are rendered in the Greek, according to Westcott and Hort, Nestle Aland 26th edition and the Diaglott as: TaTy /LOU ft ou 6VPC17UL TovTO 7raQWBwv Eav IA-q auro ww -yevr76r7TCa To BeXrua aou. This can be rendered literally: “My Father, if cannot this to pass except it I drink, let be done the will of thee.” We suggest Jesus’ words of resignation could be read as, “If this [cup] may not pass [to others, or shared now], except I drink it [first alone], thy will be done.”
Adam Clarke notes “a very ancient method of punishing criminals. A cup of poison was put into their hands, and they were obliged to drink it. Socrates was killed thus, being obliged by the magistrates of Athens to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock.” Perhaps there is an allusion here to several accused standing in a row, who are all to drink of the same cup. The cup passes from the first to the next.
This leaves us with the question in Mark 14:35 where Mark describes the request for the “hour” to pass (#3928) from him, and in the next verse, quoting Jesus, uses the stronger word (113911), “take away this cup from me.” Luke 22:42 also uses “remove 03911) this cup from me.”
It will be noticed that the mention of the hour passing is only found in Mark and is Mark’s narrative and not the words he quotes in verse 36. We may suppose that Mark’s understanding was that Jesus was praying that the crisis hour would come near or arrive, that he would pass through it quickly and resolutely. This is in accord with the definitions given above. We also note Jesus’ use of the word “hour” in this same context. In verse 37 he was concerned about the disciples watching with him one hour. In verse 41 he announces “the hour is come… the Son of man is betrayed:” These were the events that opened the hour of tribulation that marked Jesus’ last day, including the betrayal, the trial, the mocking, the scourging, the cross, the grave.
Now what of the word #3911, “take away or remove” found in Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42? These are the only two places where this word is used in the New Testament. Turning to Liddell and Scott for the general use of this word, we read: “1. to bear, bring or carry along to, to hand to, serve up. 2. generally, to bring forward, produce. 3. to turn aside or away, to carry past or beyond.” It appears the King James used the third definition in rendering it “remove:” Using the first two definitions, we could see that Jesus is asking that the cup be borne “from” him. It was his cup, but to be shared or passed to others. In fact Rotherham renders these texts “bear aside this cup from me.” It was his cup and asking for it to be borne, carried along side, agrees with the first definition from Liddell and Scott and is a complementary idea to the idea of “pass” in Matthew.
We know that the Father always heard Jesus, John 11:42. Of this experience Paul says “In the days of his flesh… he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his devotion”. (Hebrews 5:7) Was his request honored by the father? He was not asking to be spared from death or its manner, but to be delivered by a resurrection as he asked in John 17:5. This was realized.
We propose that Jesus was seeking to be assured that this cup would be shared, and pass to others, after he drank it, not asking that he not be required to drink it himself. The answer was assured at Pentecost, and in each generation, each year of the Memorial since. The cup has passed from him to us. If we drink all of it with him, his prayer will soon be fully answered. (Colossians 1:24)
– Jerry Leslie