The Worst Thing to Happen to Jesus
What was the worst thing to happen to Jesus? Was it the scourging He endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers, ripping flesh from bone? What about the cruel, scornful crown of thorns, with barbs digging into His skull? Perhaps it was the punches and slaps He received from the servants of the Sanhedrin and the Roman soldiers? Or maybe it was when He staggered under the weight of the cross beam, resting momentarily on His bloody back? Was it the agony of being impaled with large nails through His wrists and feet? Was it the desperation of dehydration as His body hung limp on the Cross, longing for one drop of water? Perhaps it was the pain of pushing Himself up on those nails, just to gain one breath of air?
Or perhaps it was the emotional and relational anguish, as one by one all would abandon Him. It began with the chief priests and elders, who plotted to arrest and kill Him (Matt. 26:3-4). Soon after, Judas, one of His disciples, joined the scheming religious elite (Matt. 26:16). Later, Peter, James, and John, who were tasked with watching and praying, fell asleep on the job. After insisting that “I will never fall away” (Matt. 26:33), Peter denied Jesus three times. Everyone abandoned Jesus. Then on the Cross, He endured great humiliation and public degradation. Imagine people laughing at you and jeering you, as your life ends. Is there a worse way to die?
These things were not the worst that Jesus received on earth. It wasn’t the physical pain, nor was it the relational anguish. Recall the intense encounter in the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus tells Peter, James, and John: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matt. 26:38). What exactly was happening to Jesus in the Garden such that He would sweat blood (Lk. 22:44)? What so disturbed Him as He knelt in prayer on the precipice of His passion? It wasn’t the whips or the crown of thorns or the mocking or the scorn or even the physical torture of the Cross. It was the Cup.
The Cup of Forsakenness
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” – Matt. 26:39.
What is the Cup? Earlier in the gospel story, Jesus spoke about this Cup. When John and James’s mother asked Jesus about their place in the Kingdom, Jesus asked: “Are you able to drink the Cup that I shall drink?” (Matt. 20:22). When Peter cut off the soldier’s ear after Jesus was betrayed, Jesus responded: “Put away your sword . . . the Cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).
This Cup is a prominent image in the Bible. It is a symbol in scripture of God’s just judgment against sin. Asaph writes that this Cup is “in the hand of the Lord” and that “the wicked of the earth shall drain it.” Isaiah describes it as “the cup of His wrath” and the “cup of staggering” (Isa. 51:17). Ezekiel pictures it as a “cup of horror and desolation” (Ezek. 23:33).
Imagine a large cup. Over the centuries, as the nations and generations grievously sin against God, the Cup starts to fill up with His fierce judgment. At some point in human history, God’s merciful patience will come to an end. Then He will take the Cup and force the sinful nations to drink it. The people will stagger and fall in their stupor, as they experience the full blast of His judgment against them.
The Cup is a rather dark and grim image. It is not for the faint of heart. But it captures the sure and stark reality of the coming Day of the Lord (Rev. 6:17). It also captures the stunning reality of what Jesus endured on the Cross. For when Jesus cried out on the Cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), He acknowledged that His lips were touching the Cup. It wasn’t only the religious leaders or the disciples or the Romans who abandoned Jesus. At the Cross, God the Father would abandon His Son.
Paradoxically, the ontological unity of the Godhead remained unbroken.[1] Yet, there was a moment when the Father withdrew from His Son, as the sins of the world were placed on Him. As the Cup touched His lips, Jesus completely identified with sinners. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “He made Him sin, who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus became a curse on the Cross (Gal. 3:13)—a reality signaled first at Golgotha by the unnatural darkness of midday (Mk. 15:33). At the Exodus, a plague of darkness consumed the land just before the first Passover lamb was slaughtered (Exod. 10:21-29). Now before the death of the ultimate Passover Lamb, there is darkness again.[2]
1. C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel According to Saint Mark: An Introduction and Commentary by C.e.b. Cranfield, Reprinted 1974, Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1959), 459.
2. R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 392.
A cursed Jesus is why the once bright, loving, and approving face of the Father withdrew into a dark, frowning, and punishing face of wrath.[3] In that moment, the beautiful fellowship shared between the Father and the Son was broken, as divine wrath rained down on Him “like a million Sodom and Gomorrahs.”[4] Wave after wave of the world’s sins poured over pure, sinless Jesus—sins from every nation and every generation. “Every bitter thought, every evil deed, crowning His blood-stained brow.”[5] In the unnatural darkness, in utter isolation, Jesus bore it all. This was the cup of God’s wrath. And Jesus drank it down.
This may feel a little disconnected from our experience. Would God really forsake Jesus? Consider the parent who is rightly angry and disappointed when their child does something wrong. What if the parent somehow knew all the bad things their child thought, said, and did over a lifetime? Their disappointment would likely be astronomical. But God is far more holy and far more aware than even the best parent. He knows our sins better than we do. And while we hate some sins, God hates all sins. He hates the big evil injustices like abortion; He also hates our inner prideful inclinations. He hates bold, brazen lies; He also hates the white lies we quickly excuse. He hates horrific evils like sex trafficking; He also hates our private lustful thoughts. Can you imagine if the Holy God of the universe were to unleash the full force of His wrath on one of us for all the sins of God’s people, all at once? Who can endure this forsakenness? Who can drink this Cup?
3. Thabiti Anyabwile, “What Does It Mean for the Father to Forsake the Son? (Part 3),” The Gospel Coalition (blog), April 4, 2012.
4. Ibid.
5. Lyrics from “Oh to See the Dawn [The Power of the Cross],” Stuart Townend & Keith Getty, 2005, Thankyou Music (Adm. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family, songs@integritymusic.com).
This is precisely why Jesus was in anguish in the garden. There is no precedent for this kind of inner turmoil in the Bible. Not David’s laments in the Psalms. Not Abraham’s broken heart as he prepared to sacrifice His beloved son Isaac. Not even the grief of Job as He lost everything. The misery of the Cup is on an other-worldly level. It would require an other-worldly man to endure it—a God-man, in fact.
Two Gardens and Two Cups
Eric Alexander points out that in the Bible there are two important gardens: the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. “Both were arenas in which the destiny of man was fought out—arenas where God and sin met.”[6] In Eden, the first Adam faced temptation and was summarily defeated. In Gethsemane, the second Adam faced temptation in His humanity but wholly triumphed. He sorrowfully brought the Cup before His Father and willingly accepted it. The first garden ended in ruin; the second garden foreshadowed redemption. The first Adam and his brethren filled up the Cup, which the last Adam drank in place of His brethren centuries later.
6. Eric Alexander, “The Cup of Bitterness and the Cup of Blessing” 1958 lecture, Keswick Convention.
But there are not only two gardens; there are also two cups. Not only do we have a Cup of Forsakenness, but in the Upper Room there is “the Cup of Blessing” (1 Cor. 10:16). This is the Cup which Jesus offered to His disciples at the Lord’s Supper, as “the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:25). This is the Cup of salvation, offered freely to all who are sons of God, united to Christ by faith. So every time our lips touch the Cup of Blessing at the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded we have this privilege only because Jesus’s lips touched the Cup of Wrath. Today we drink deeply of the supreme blessings of salvation because at the Cross He drank deeply of the supreme ruin of judgment.
Consider some of the striking glories associated with this. Because Jesus was abandoned, we will never be abandoned. Because He heard dead silence from His Father after His cry of forsakenness, we will only hear unbridled affection from our Father. Because God turned His face from His Son, He will never turn His face from us. God has set His steadfast love on His people before the foundation of the world because in Gethsemane Jesus would accept the Cup—and at the Cross, He would drain the Cup. Indeed, this is glorious good news for sinners destined for wrath!
