Mt 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mk 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Lk 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”

According to the usual interpretation, the Lord Jesus was here praying that he might be permitted to avoid death.  Nevertheless, he acquiesces to his Father’s will, and submits to the horror of a brutal and accursed crucifixion.

But there is another way of understanding this prayer, and I would like to note that alternative reading here.

James R. Rogers doubts whether our Lord was, in fact, praying to avoid the cross (a prayer that was answered in the negative).  He was, rather, praying that the judgment he faced on the cross would not be eternal: praying, in fact, for resurrection.  (That prayer was, of course, anwered in the affirmative.)

In support of this interpretation, consider:

Jn 10:17f – Jesus lays down his life by his own unforced initiative and will.

Jn 12:27 – Just a few days earlier, Jesus had expressly denied that he would seek to avoid the Cross.

Jn 18:11 – Even more recently, he had expressed his williingness to ‘drink the cup’ (die on the cross).

Mt 16:22 – When Peter chastised Jesus for speaking about going to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be resurrected, Jesus had given him a stern rebuke.  How could our holy and sinless Saviour have prayed for something that he had previously denounced as Satanic?

Mt 26:39 – Jesus’ words, “Yet not my will, but yours” do not contradict this alternative interpretation, because it is still plain (on the traditional interpretation) that Jesus’ strong preference was to avoid the Cross.

Mt 26:53 – implies that the Father would spare Jesus from the Cross if he had actually asked for this.

Heb 5:7 – affirms that Jesus’ prayer to the One able to save him from death was ‘heard’ (i.e. answered in the affirmative).  On the traditional reading, the answer was ‘No’!

What, then, was the burden of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane?

Mt 26:39 – He asks for the cup to be taken away after he has drunk it.

If the cup had not ‘passed away’, then Jesus would have been eternally separated from the Father, Gal 3:13; 2 Thess 1:9.

According to the traditional reading, Gethsemane illustrates the humanity of Jesus.  According to this alternative interpretation, it underscores our Lord’s faith in the face of imminent suffering and death:

‘In going to the Cross Jesus nonetheless trusted that the Father would bring His suffering to an end rather than abandon Him to judgment eternally (Acts 2:27, 31).’

1 Pet 4:2,13,19 – Christ provides an example for us to follow when facing our own sufferings and death.

In this alternative reading of Gethsemane:

‘Jesus exemplifies one who “entrusts” His soul “to a faithful Creator.” Jesus’s prayer for resurrection is a prayer of faith and trust. When faced with our own suffering and death, Gethsemane provides Christians with the very model of faith and trust. Gethsemane does not teach that Jesus shrinks from His suffering and death. Rather, Jesus’s prayer at Gethsemane invites us to follow His example of faith and trust. Indeed, Jesus had far more on the line than we do in our own deaths given that He would taste death and judgment for all of us on the Cross. Jesus leads His people at every point.’

Accordingly:

‘Our own deaths remind us that our fate is ultimately out of our control; we are entirely in the hands of God. This is not a reason to worry or despair, however, because God can save us while we cannot save ourselves. Confidence that our God is a “faithful Creator” invites us to entrust our souls to God and      to face our suffering and death with faith and trust, just as Jesus faced His own suffering and death, even—or especially—at Gethsemane. Jesus at Gethsemane becomes the consummate example of this faith and trust rather than an example of the all-too-human inclination to shrink from suffering and death. This reading of Gethsemane invites us to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Heb 12:2).’