Hebrews 5:7 and Gethsemane

Hebrews 5:7 is one of the most interesting texts in the entire NT, especially when connected to other NT passages:

“In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”

Most see this as a reference to Jesus’ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before he goes to the cross. Consider the account of Jesus in Gethsemane from Matthew 26:38-44:

“Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”

This passage certainly describes Jesus’ praying vehemently and sorrowfully to his Father.

Many interpret the Gethsemane account to mean that Jesus asked his Father to avoid the cross, and the Father said, “No.” But Hebrews 5:7 indicates that when Jesus prayed to “him who was able to save him from death,” he was answered with a “Yes.”

So how do we put all of this together? What exactly was Jesus praying for in Gethsemane and how did the Father answer him? In Gethsemane, Jesus is not actually asking to avoid drinking the cup (= going to the cross). While he is agonizing over the prospect of the crucifixion (because it will not only be a painful human death, but because he will bear the wrath of God for the sins of the world), he still submits his will to his Father’s: “not my will, but your will be done.” He knows there is no other way to bring about the salvation of his people.

Right after his prayer in Gethsemane, the Romans come to arrest him. One of his disciples tried to protect him – the perfect opportunity to escape had Jesus wanted to – but he says, “Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26:53-54). He could have asked his Father for angelic protection and it would have been granted – but he refuses to do this because he knows through his betrayal, arrest, trial, and death, the Scriptures (= God’s promised plan of salvation) will be fulfilled.

In John 12:27, Jesus says, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” Here, Jesus explicitly says he will NOT ask his Father to save him from “this hour” – from the cross. So whatever happens in Gethsemane, it cannot be viewed as Jesus asking his Father to rescue him from having to die.

In John 18:11, as Jesus is being arrested, he says to Peter, “Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” Obviously, Jesus had no intention of avoiding the cross. Jesus commits to drinking the very cup he agonized over in prayer in Gethsemane.

Thus, whatever else we say about Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, he is not trying to bail out on the plan and mission of his Father, which will include the cross. In fact, to seek to avoid the cross would be Satanic. In Matthew 4, Satan tempted Jesus with the glory of all the worldly kingdoms apart from going to the cross. If Jesus had accepted the offer, he would possess the kingdoms, but he would not possess them as saved kingdoms – and thus the Scriptures would not be fulfilled. Jesus wants the kingdoms of the world, but he does not want to receive the kingdoms from Satan, he wants to receive them from his Father. And he wants to not merely possess the kingdoms, he wants to purchase them with his blood. He wants to save the kingdoms of the world so they will be transformed into his kingdom (cf. Revelation 11:15).

In Matthew 16, Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus then immediately begins to foretell his coming suffering and death. To be the messiah means accepting a vocation of suffering and death. Peter rebukes him: “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” Jesus responds: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Here the “things of men” include a suffering-free entrance into glory — the same thing satan offered him in Matthew 4. The “things of God” include entering into glory through suffering. The “things of God” include the cross. Jesus sees Peter as a Satanic stumbling block. Like Satan, Peter is encouraging Jesus to take a shortcut to glory, one that bypasses the cup of wrath and judgment. Jesus will not have any of it. He is resolved to go to the cross. It’s unthinkable that Jesus would be praying in Gethsemane for the very thing Peter (and Satan) tempted him with and which he has has already refused.

The prayer in Gethsemane, then, is obviously not a prayer to avoid the cross. That would be Satanic. It would contradict everything else Jesus says in other places about messiahship, going to the cross, drinking the cup, etc. Rather, the agonized prayer in Gethsemane is a recognition of the full horror of the cross. It is Jesus’ recognition that he is about to suffer the infinite weight of God’s wrath against our sin. He is about to experience Godforsakenness in some way. He is about to experience hell. He will submit to it – but he recognizes how dreadful it really is. His eyes are wide open to horrors of what’s about to happen. “Not my will but yours be done” means Jesus is not backing down – but it also means he recognizes the pain about to be unleashed upon him. He is going to drink the cup of wrath and curse to the dregs – he came into the world for this very purpose – but it will mean suffering the greatest pain imaginable. Gethsemane is about Jesus strengthening himself for the climactic battle his Father sent him to fight. He’s not so much asking for a detour around the cross as he is asking for strength to endure it.

In Gethsemane, Jesus wrestles one last time with the Satanic temptation to seek his own comfort rather than obedience to his Father, one last temptation to choose the way of ease rather than the way of the cross. But once again, he overcomes temptation and emerges victorious. After his prayers in Gethsemane, he faces death fully composed and ready to die. When he is arrested and stands trial, he fully poised. As he is nailed to the cross, he stares into the jaws of death and hell without blinking. His time with the Father in prayer has strengthened him for the battle. He is ready to swallow every last drop of the cup’s contents. The sorrow has faded; steely determination has set in. In Gethsemane, he had one last battle to fight – and he resolved to win it. In prayer, he has fully aligned his will with the Father’s. It’s worth noting that Jesus won the real battle with temptation in prayer – Gethsemane was the ultimate preparation for Calvary.

The Father will not force the Son to go the cross against his will – he will lay his life down of his own accord (cf. John 10:18). The Son will not rebel against the will of the Father – he will do the Father’s will for the joy set before him (cf. Hebrews 12:1-2).

But what then of the answer to Jesus’ prayer to be “saved from death” in Hebrews 5:7? And what of his prayer “take this cup from me” in Matthew 26? The Father answers Jesus’ prayer in the resurrection. Jesus is saved from death not by avoiding it, but by going through it and conquering it. The cup will pass from him – but not until after he drains it empty. Jesus is “saved from death” not by taking a detour around the cross, but by being resurrected after his death on the cross. The Father takes the cup from him one once his mission is complete.

What is the result of Jesus going to the cross? Hebrews 5:8-9 give a twofold answer: “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

First, Jesus became mature – the first fully mature human, the prototype of what God intended humans to become (cf. Luke 2:42). Jesus was always perfect in the sense of being sinless – but in his humanity, he did have to reach the perfection of full maturation. There is no way for a human to become fully mature apart from suffering. The reality is that all of us as believers have been assigned a cup to drink – not a cup of wrath, like Jesus, but a cup of struggles, trials, and troubles. Like Jesus, we will face the temptation to take the easy way out – to compromise, or cut corners, or do our own will rather than God’s will. But the only way to learn obedience and come to maturity is to persevere faithfully through suffering. Like Jesus, we grow by facing temptation and conquering it. We grow stronger by enduring trials while still clinging to our Father’s promise. Every trial is an opportunity to fall away from the Father, or an opportunity to move closer to Jesus-like glory. There are times we will ask the Father to take a cup of suffering from us — and he won’t. In those times, we best follow Jesus’ example and strengthen ourselves in prayer. Drink your cup of suffering knowing it is good for you — it’s not poison, it’s medicine.

Second, Jesus became the “author [or source] of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” We are saved from death too – not by avoiding death but by being raised from the dead at the last day. Because Jesus drank a cup of suffering woe, and curse, we can ultimately drink a cup of blessing, life, and joy. Hebrews 5:7-9 teach us that we must do whatever it takes to stay faithful to God in any and all circumstances. We must hold fast to our confession that Jesus is Lord, no matter the cost or consequences. But we can be encouraged that our cup of suffering is not going to last forever. The Father is for us. The Son is with us. The Father loves us. The Son is our compassionate High Priest, seated on a throne of grace. We can endure all things knowing that we will be saved from the ultimate enemy, death.