Our Suffering Savior

And I have a title for you. We'll start with that. The title of our study today and our focus is our suffering Savior. Our suffering Savior. And I invite you to open your Bibles once again, and let's turn together to Mark 14 verses 32 through 36. Mark 14 verses 32 through 36. We're going to be turning to Mark 14. We will also, in a moment, turn to the parallel passage that Luke records in a moment. Both the Gospel accounts of Mark and of Luke give us this picture here of the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus now would feel the full weight of all that lay before Him. At this moment, we will see Jesus as He considers the cup to which He would now drink. And it'll be a moment in which will show us His humanity, His humility, and His obedience. And all of it was undeniable. So it's going to point us to Jesus Christ's identity as our suffering Savior. And it's quite, quite impactful. So let's read this together. Mark 14 beginning in verse 32. Then Mark records, they came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he, Jesus, said to His disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he took Peter, James, and John with him. And he began to be troubled and deeply distressed. And he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch. He went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. Let's stop there.

Well, this certainly is familiar territory here. Now, every year we come to this passage of Scripture here before the Passover and according to the Holy Day calendar. And in looking at this, I think it's of interest. And you may agree that while the gospel writers do not provide for us really any description of the physicality of Jesus Christ, you know, where we're not told of Christ's height or His weight or the color of His hair or even the shade of His eyes and so on, you know, there's really a veil of silence over the physicality of Jesus Christ. And given that, it's even more interesting than that we would be given, though, an insight into the what do we call it, into the chemistry of Christ, if you will, or rather than having a description of the physicality of Christ, we're given rather insight into the psychological makeup of Him, where we have some indication, some good indication of what He experienced inside emotions, thoughts, and what He experienced as a man. What was going on inside of Him?

In this scene here, this before us here in Mark, and we'll look in a moment in Luke, at the parallel passage, in this scene, I want us to connect with Christ and all that He was going through, and connect with it at a deeper level, all that He must have been thinking, connect with all that He must have been feeling at this moment. And I want to organize our thoughts today around three simple verbs to help us navigate our way through this. This idea of three simple verbs came when I remembered in elementary, my sister's a teacher, she may have something akin to this, but there above the blackboard were these instructions or these words, and it said, uh, look properly, listen carefully, and learn eagerly. So those were those were the three admonitions that it was given to us in grade school. And I thought those were some good verbs to organize our thoughts around. We're going to look, listen, and learn today. We're going to spend a lot more time on the first look, but we'll be organizing our thoughts around look, listen, and learn from our suffering Savior, Jesus Christ. So first look, we want to look at this scene. You know, we have these passages before us, and we're, it is to, for us to look upon this description, and it is to conjure up in our mind some sense of what of the picture that's taking place here. And I want to suggest to you that you look carefully. Don't allow the familiarity of this passage to prevent you from seeing this picture that is incredibly striking.

And at first reading, it might even seem incredibly incongruent. Striking, it is a striking and seemingly incongruent picture here.

The Gospel writers were familiar looking upon Jesus Christ in all different kinds of scenarios. One picture that was very familiar to them was to look upon Him as a teacher. You know, as they looked at Him, looking at, looking and seeing Him as a teacher, very familiar picture. They'd have been aware of what He looked like in His ministry in performing miracles. That would have been a familiar picture. Another familiar picture would have been what He looked like concerning someone as a friend of sinners. You know, often they looked upon Him and they found Him in sitting with individuals that were not the likely individuals He should have been sitting with. That would have been a familiar picture for them. But I'm here to tell you now with the disciples and even the early readers of reading this Gospel, this material, they wouldn't have been ready for this. They wouldn't have been ready to look upon this picture because what the picture that we have before us today is that of a distressed Christ, a distressed Jesus Christ, a distressed Creator God.

And you'll notice Mark tells us He was now moving and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.

Now, I looked up the Greek here and it is just the Greek word here for deeply distressed. There's no English translation that captures, that can capture what was actually happening here. You know, they can adequately cover this idea of Jesus Christ being deeply distressed.

You remember from earlier Gospels and the other Gospels, the readers had been made aware that this was a cold evening. The evening was actually cold enough for the high priest to have a fire at his house. That was the fire in which Peter warmed himself. The young servant girl came and asked him if he was affiliated with Jesus Christ. And of course, he denied Christ during that interaction. So the evening was cold enough to have a fire. So what is happening here, Luke records, is that Jesus was sweating profusely. So if you would have been able to look upon Jesus Christ at this time, you would have saw him sweating profusely. In fact, keep your marker here because we'll kind of come back to this account from Mark. But let's turn over to Luke's Gospel, Luke 22 verses 39 through 44. This is going to be the parallel passage to Mark's account there.

Luke 22 verses 39 through 44. Luke now records the same moment that's happening, but Luke adds the details that Christ was sweating profusely here.

Incongruent picture. This is what we're looking upon, seemingly incongruent. From all that we know of Jesus Christ and all that we've seen him and how he's moved through Scripture. Luke 22, beginning in verse 39, Luke records, coming out, he, Jesus, went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed, and his disciples also followed him. When he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me. Take away this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Of course, Mark recorded that as well. Verse 43, here's an added detail. Then an angel came and appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. Verse 44, in being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Let's stop there. So, I mentioned that naysayers say, this is just a result of the climate at the time. It was hot. Well, no. If you put Scripture with Scripture, that's not the case. And there's no indication of that at all. And actually, what we're seeing here and looking upon is the experience of an individual who is in deep distress and trouble. If the disciples, Peter, James, and John, would have been awake, they would have looked upon Jesus Christ and they would have said, what is happening? What is happening here? Again, the disciples had never looked upon this scene before. They had looked upon their own distress, their own fear. We have recorded for us the time in which they as fishermen, they were overwhelmed by the prospect of death on the Sea of Galilee. But at that time, they looked and saw Jesus then standing up and rebuking the winds and the waves. And one of them said, what manner of man is this that he can control the wind and the waves? And therefore, Jesus at that moment that they looked upon was at the stern of the boat, silencing the sea. And they knew of the vastness, how that proclaimed his Messiahship. They knew the Old Testament scripture pointed that only God could control the winds and the waves. And now, though, given all of that, what is happening here? This is a deeply distressed Christ.

And going back to Mark 14, if you kept your marker there, Mark 1434, again, listen to these words. The same one who calmed the waves and the wind now says in Mark 1434, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death.

And so we want to look at this carefully here. You have your Bibles. Don't allow the familiarity with this passage to have you discounted. Some of us may have missed this. Some of us may want to miss this because it's just too hard to handle. But here is Jesus Christ proclaiming to those who is nearest and dearest to Him that in His experience of distress and trouble, He is actually overwhelmed. He is exceedingly sorrowful. Jesus Christ is overwhelmed. He says so.

Presumably, all of the emotions are coming to this point. Everything that represented in His ministry is leading to this moment and all those emotions of steadfastly working toward and moving toward and marching toward this moment is now coming to a head and coming forth from Him. This is not a scene that the disciples had looked upon before.

You know, He was steadfast. They asked Him, who gave Him food to eat? And this is the Christ who said, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. That's for your notes, John 4.34. Steadfast, John 4.34, My will is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

He had taught His disciples that the Son of Man had to be betrayed at the hands of men and they would kill Him. He had instructed them of that. That's for your notes, Mark 9.31. Mark 9.31. He had instructed them, this is what is going to happen. I'm going to be betrayed and I'm going to be killed. Steadfast, Resolute. So steadfast moving toward this. They must have marveled in those moments just how straightforward He was in leading toward His crucifixion. Resolute.

But now, seemingly a different picture. Jesus Christ now struggles with the cup that He's to drink. Struggles. He knows the will of God. He has repeated Himself resolutely, the divine necessity of His suffering. That's not in question, but He's now confronted with the immediacy of the ordeal. And we look and we see Him troubled and deeply distressed, overwhelmed to the point of death. Have you looked upon this?

It has been said that no man has ever feared death like this man.

Is that right? It seems wrong. No man has ever feared death like this man.

Wouldn't we expect Jesus Christ just to breeze through death? He's the Messiah. He's the Creator, God.

Well, perhaps no man ever feared death like this man because no one would ever die a death like this man. Soon to be placed on Him, the iniquity of all mankind placed on His shoulders at His crucifixion.

And so He went to the outer limits of human endurance, the absolute limit, and He was almost completely overwhelmed. And what you have here is the innocent about to suffer at the hands of God. This is what we have here. This is the sinless about to bear the wrath of God in Himself for sin. Look at this picture. Jesus Christ, utterly the one without sin, uniquely precious to the Father, is about to be destroyed at the Father's hand.

Isn't that right? Isaiah 53. Let's turn there. You can keep your marker there if you like. Isaiah 53 verses 9 and 10. I want you to see this. I want you to hear this. A remarkable two scriptures here as we look upon this scene here in this garden and what it's leading to. Isaiah 53 verses 9 and 10. Isaiah records this prophecy of the one and now we're at that moment in the garden. This has now all come to fruition. Isaiah 53 verse 9. And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death. Because He, speaking of the prophesied Jesus to come, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Verse 10, here it is. Isaiah 53 verses 9 says, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief.

Remarkable verse there in verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He, the Father, has put him, the Son, to grief. You know, Paul picks up this notion in Romans 8.32. We won't turn there, but Romans 8.32. Paul takes this picture and says that he did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. So that's Romans 8.32. He, the Father, did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. So what you're about to see here, what you're looking at, is the innocent about to suffer at the hands of God. This is the sinless about to bear the wrath of God in himself for sin. What you have here is the prospect of the perfect one being nailed onto a stake soon. This is what we're looking upon. Between two thieves abused, ridiculed. Another verse for you, for your notes, 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Paul says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5.21. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we might have the opportunity to have the righteousness of God in him. This is what we're looking upon. This is what Christ is experiencing. When we see him go out, a stone's throw, hit the ground in a prayer, and as you look upon that scene, we're getting insight. We're looking upon an individual who's greatly distressed and troubled.

Well, let me ask, you know, could we ever truly believe in God if it weren't for the crucifixion? If it weren't for his death? Could we believe in a God? Could you ever truly believe in a God who was removed from the pain on the inside, the overwhelming distress of human suffering? Could you truly believe in a God who stood at a distance and yelled down to his creation?

Is that a God that you could truly believe in? Well, you believe in a God who's not removed from pain on the inside, distress, emotions, overwhelmed, and understands human suffering. Now, let me just be absolutely clear of what we're not looking upon. This is, I want to be really clear with this, and I want to turn to this scripture. What we're not looking upon is a reluctant Christ, okay? Very, very important distinguishing fact. In fact, turn to John 10 verse 17 and 18. I just want to be very clear with this. While we are really looking at this scene, we want to make sure what we're not looking at here. John 10, 17 and 18 tells us that we're not looking at a reluctant Christ, okay? Very important. Not a reluctant Christ, a distressed Christ, an overwhelmed Christ, not a reluctant. Look at this. John 10 verse 17.

John records Christ's words here. John 10, 17. Therefore, my Father loves me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. John 10 verse 18. No one takes it from me, but I, Christ says, lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father. I lay it down.

I lay it down in obedience to the command that my Father has given. So this is not Christ reluctantly going to fulfill the will of the Father, just the opposite. He's purposeful, obedient, submissive, but in His humanity, He recalls from it.

Why? He's a man. He's a real man, really God, really man, really God, but we can't forget really man, really man. His psychological development was in the framework of all that's normal for you and I. So therefore, in all these events are about to transpires, in His humanity, He recalls. This is not theory. This is not, you know, just merely a meaningful story of some fictitious character. Not at all. This is the flesh and blood reality of what occurred. And there was nothing, nothing in Christ's humanity to soften or blunt all that He's feeling emotionally. There was no anesthetic given to Him to dole any sensitivity.

We studied this about a year ago or so, but have you ever wondered why when they offered Him a branch with a sponge on the end of it, and it was identified as wine mingled with gall? You ever wondered why He rejected that? He tasted it and He rejected it. Well, the wine mingled with gall would have been an anesthetic, a narcotic, if you will. And He refused it so that He might experience suffering in all of the unmitigated dimensions. All of it, without any help. In fact, let's turn to that passage of Scripture where we read He rejected that drink with gall once He tasted it.

Matthew records this moment for us. Matthew 27, verses 27-34. This is going to slowly begin to move us into our next verb, to listen, which we'll spend much less time on. But it is very impactful. Matthew 27, let's read together verses 27-34. Matthew confirms Jesus took this suffering unmitigated. We're going to look upon this scene, details of the scene, a little bit more here.

And then we're going to move to listening. Matthew 27, beginning in verse 27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. So we would have seen this. This is what we're looking upon. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and a reed in His right hand.

And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, Hell, King of the Jews. Then they spat on Him, took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off of Him, put on His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. So we're looking upon that. We would see all of this.

Now, verse 32, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. And when they had come to the place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of the skull. Here it is, verse 34. They gave Him sour wine mingled with Gol to drink. But when He tasted it, He had tasted it, He would not drink it. Go stop there.

So they offered Jesus the wine to drink mixed with the Gol. He tasted the anesthetic. He tasted the the Gol and He refused it. Again, the significance of this? Well, it's clear. He refuses to drink the Gol so that He might be fully conscious, fully aware, fully sensitive to the experience that He was going through, without any alleviation, to bear all that the Father would have Him bear, to bear our sins, to bear our physical pain, to bear our suffering, to bear our broken bodies in so many ways, to take on the physical experience of trials that we go through in this life.

No one would ever be able to say, you don't understand. You took the the you were dolled and sensitive to the your senses. Not at all. He refused it. Crucifixion is the deepest and most devastating, brutal form of death that has ever been known to humanity. Christ refuses the wine mixed with Gol, an incredible act to come down into our circumstances. He is an understanding, sympathetic, suffering Savior. What body elements and trials physically are you going through right now?

Do you think Christ understands? Take those trials to Him. In a minute, we're going to read about how we can really effectively take our trials and those physical elements to Him. He understands. He knows exactly what you're going through fully. Not only the physical pain, but the emotional suffering that goes along with it. Perhaps being trapped in your own body.

That is an emotional trial. Boy, a heavy one. You know, and many of us are suffering that. I hope you'll connect with Christ in a way, in a deeper way today than you ever have before. So that you'll be able to go to Him and bring Him that distress. Bring Him your overwhelming feelings. He could have dulled all of the abuse and the scorn, the mocking, all those sounds that He would have heard.

Now we're going to look into the second, move into the second verb with that. To listen, to listen, uh, Christ could have dulled the insults with that gall. He didn't. It's all here in verses 39 through 44. Let's read this together. Matthew, staying here in Matthew 27 verses 39 through 44.

Let's listen to what was happening in this scene. And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads, verse 40, and saying, You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down off that cross. Likewise, the chief priests also mocking Him with the scribes and the elders said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He's the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and will believe Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him, now if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of God.

And verse 44, even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.

Have you ever been on the receiving end of scorn, mocking, unjust words said about you, rumors that just cut you to your heart because you know it's not you, but it's said about you and people believe it. You think Christ understands? Of course He does. He is not just a physical act of receiving those insults and that verbal abuse. He understands what it does to your soul, those words. He understands. So you can bring Him that pain. Say, this is being said about me.

I know you understand. Help me. Help me with this. It's a huge blessing. We have such a Savior. We can believe in this Savior. We can believe in Him. This is someone we can worship in honor. So raise that hurt to our suffering servant. He understands. Bring Him these things. He listened to all these malicious things that people said. Again, He could have lessened the pain. He could have dulled his ears, but He received it all in its unmitigated abuse. Let's listen a little bit more and go back to the Garden and listen to Christ's words right in the moment of where He was feeling overwhelmed and it began to overcome Him. Let's look at His Prayer. Turn with me again to Mark 14 and listen to His words, Christ's words, and how He responded to all that was before Him and all that He knew was coming. These are incredible words. This is here in Mark 14 in verse 36. This is the prayer that emerges from the great sorrow and distress which began to build in Him. This is the words that come forth from Him. And I'll have you know, this is our prayer. Whether you're physically suffering, whether you're suffering at the hands of other people's words, this is your prayer. This is how you go to the Father. That's an incredible prayer that emerges here. Listen to this. Listen to this. Mark 14 verse 36.

And He said, Jesus Christ, He says, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.

Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. So again, this is the prayer which emerges from this overwhelming feeling that He was having.

So look at this prayer. Abba. That's, we could say, intimacy. Intimacy. Abba. This is how Christ is feeling completely overwhelmed and distressed to the point of death.

Abba. Father, He says. That's intimacy. Know you have a Father that loves you. Christ knew that. Everything's possible for you. All things are possible for you. That's sovereignty.

So first intimacy. Now sovereignty. Very important. God's sovereign over it all. The good and the bad. Sovereignty. Acknowledge that.

Take this cup from Me. What would you say that is? Take this cup from Me. Perhaps we could say this is the intensity of His expression. Intensity. Take this cup from Me. Perhaps we could say that's honesty in His expression. Be honest with God. I have to be honest with you, Father. Right now, where I am, I wish you would take this from Me. Honesty. Pray that to the Father. Take this from Me. Intensity. Honesty. That's how you bring this is your prayer. From your suffering. From feeling overwhelmed.

Yet not what I will, but what you will.

What's that expression of humility? Isn't that humility?

Trust.

Would be a good description of that expression. Not what I will, but what you will.

This is Christ in feeling overwhelmed.

You know, that is the most difficult thing to do. Just to let go. Just to let go. Because we pray for these things and we come to the Father with this intensity. And in the end, we just put all of ourselves in His hands.

You know, and that's humility. And that's just trust. And that's belief that He loves us and will do exactly what's right for us in His purposes in our life.

You know, and He bows beneath the Father's will.

You know, and trusting God knows best. His Father knows best. And then look at verse 41 and 42. Look at this. Verse 41 and 42. The hour had come.

Behold, the Son of Man is being destroyed into the hands of sinners. Verse 42. Rise, He says. Let us be going. I will tell you, if you're feeling overwhelmed and you pray this prayer, you will feel that strength. You will rise and say, let's get going here. Let's all rise and get going. We're all suffering. We're all suffering. Let's rise up in the midst of it and go. Finish strong.

Finish strong.

Finally, we'll be moving fast. Finally, and very briefly, our final verb. Learn. So, look, listen, learn. Perhaps we could all come up with different applications. I want you to think about this. Come up with your own application. It might speak to you. The word that came to me is compassion. You know, this is Christ's compassion for us. This is His love for us. It's just beyond compare. This is the Word. This is the One who was with God the Father, the Word, for all of eternity and became flesh and dwelt among us. Comes into our humanity. He's not detached. You know, in the counsel of their relationship, in the eternal counsel, when this plan to expand their family is being formulated, I wonder how long it took the Word, the One who became Jesus Christ, I wonder how long it took Him to say, I'll do it. I'll do it. Phew! Just came into our circumstances. The Creator comes into His creation so that He can accomplish all these things for us. And first and foremost, one of the primary things, so He can understand us, so He can help us achieve what He's just given His heart into. He wants us, everyone, to join His family. Everyone. Their wish is not won is lost. So He comes into our experience. Yeah, I've said this before. I think, you know, there's kind of a silent period there where Christ is at 12 years old, He's preaching and teaching in the temple until He starts His ministry. I just think He was really observing His creation during that silent period of His life and coming into our circumstances, observing life, observing humanity, observing pride, observing man's ability to love, you know, and just taking it all in. He came, He heard the swearing, He heard the blasphemy, He saw the hopelessness, He confronted disease and mortality and sadness. He came into our experience fully. He didn't come to a palace or up on a high hill, you know. He came to a manger, you know, came into our existence, a feeding trough.

That's our suffering Savior.

So, look at this scene, taking in deeper this year more than ever.

Listen, listen to the sounds, listen to His prayer. We're not called to a superficial triumph.

That's not true to our reality. It's not true to our human experience. It's not true to the Bible. Superficial triumph doesn't answer the cries of our hearts.

No, go intimately to your Father and lay it out. Lay it out. I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed. I am overwhelmed here.

And you'll be going to the One, wonderfully, who is the ultimate counselor, ultimate comforter, the One who Himself was overwhelmed to sorrow.

He's our intercessor to the Father. He is a wonderful helper to us. Jesus Christ opened the door to victory over distress and fearfulness in our quiet desperation.

I know Jesus Christ knows about my struggles socially, emotionally, physically. I can never go beyond the pain He experienced. I can never go deeper into the darkness than the intensity that He felt. And so, never forget, we have One who is able to sympathize with us in all ways. So, again, look, listen, and learn from this little moment into the Garden. And so, even in our suffering, I hope this Passover, after we take it in on Passover evening, I want us to rise and be going and accomplish the work with our wonderful love of our Father and His Son showering over us now and forevermore.