And just so you know, I'm not talking about husbands and wives in this post. Although I could, cause, boy, is that fertile ground for the topic of submission. But, nope, I'm going to be talking about Jesus.
There are times when we read Scripture and it is just kind of, well...a thing to get through. I have those mornings just like the rest of you.
And then, there are those days when you see something in the text that makes the hair on your arms stand up and your gut suck in a deep breath. I had one of those moments a few days ago.
Most of you are probably familiar with the story of Jesus being arrested by the mob of thugs in the Garden of Gethsemane. It's a Bible story that we church-grown folks grew up hearing. Maybe we even heard it so often that we got kind of casual and flippant about it. Sometimes reading it afresh divulges a gem that is so astounding we can't believe we've MISSED IT all these years!
Let me set the stage a little bit for you and then see if I can wrangle the same WOW out of you that I experienced.
Jesus was a perfect man. He was also fully a man. However, unlike any of us, He was also fully God. The theological term for this seeming contradiction is hypostatic union. And as God in the flesh, Jesus had at His disposal all of the power of God. As a man, who walked around on the earth and felt human needs like hunger and fatigue, He was also the same God who created the heavens and the earth by speaking words. Now, I should be able to stop typing at this point and just leave you with that thought. Because, honestly, if that doesn't make you go, "Whoa," then you haven't thought about it long enough, or deep enough.
But there is more. Jesus, as God, also had at His disposal command and control of the angels. Far from the chubby babies with feathery wings of our popular culture, angels are actually pretty fearsome things. Think of the angel that swept through Egypt and killed all of those first born sons before Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go. And that was just the work of one lonely angel. Imagine the power that Jesus had at His command as a man who could call down the power of all the angels in heaven at his whim.
NOW, imagine Jesus as He is praying in the Garden, just hours and moments before He knows He will die a humiliating, painful and horrible death on the cross.
He doesn't really want to go through with it. Now, bear with me here. Jesus is always in perfect, sinless submission to God the Father. But as a human being living in flesh, Jesus the Son had some real anxiety about what was going to happen to Him.
Matthew 26:39
"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."
Jesus says, I will do your will. But, Father, if it is possible, let there be another way. But there isn't. Jesus must die. There must be atonement for the sins of His children. It has to happen this way.
And so, despite the natural resistance of His human nature, Christ willingly submits to the will of the Father. I say willingly, because nobody ever forced Jesus to do it. He willingly submitted to all of the horrors of the cross and all of the horrors of broken fellowship with the Father as He endured the holy wrath of a holy God in order to redeem OUR lives from the pit of destruction.
As the multitude carrying swords and clubs laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him, Peter couldn't contain himself. You can imagine that they were roughing Jesus up in the process of arresting him. And in reaction, Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of the servant of the high preist.
It is what Jesus said next that is so astounding.
Matthew 26:52-54
"But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or 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 can the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus." (emphasis mine)
Did you catch that? The Father will provide angels. Not He might, or He may, or its possible that He will take that into consideration. He will do it. If I ask, He will. If I ask, this whole plan will not be fulfilled, it will not happen.
But Jesus didn't ask. He died on the cross.
And that, girls, is submission of the gut wrenching variety. Wow. Is there anything else to say?
Hebrews 12:2
"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
15 comments:
Wow...that was sobering.
'He will' - wow, that is mind blowing. Part of me is like, 'but what about the plan'? If God had done it, what would have happened then? What confidence Jesus had in the Father as a Son. I wish I had that confidence somedays.
Well, rosamond, you ask THE question. But what if?
Thankfully, wo don't have to worry about that. Because Jesus submitted perfectly.
Can we all let out a collective, "Whew!"?
But then Jesus wouldn't have been perfect...He would have sinned. Sin is anything that goes against God's will, right?
Marie, I hear you, but Jesus did not in fact sin. He did submit.
But He also pointed out to Peter that He had the power to do otherwise. He willingly submitted. It was not through force or lack of choice. Although I would argue that the decision to sumbit had been made long before, like before the foundation of the world. It was just performed in history on that specific night.
The point is that it was a willing act of Jesus/God to submit to death in order to redeem His people.
Do you see it otherwise?
Oh no - your point is well-taken and I totally agree; I wasn't disagreeing with you at all, but the question raised above by Rosamond got me thinking about a side I'd never considered before.
But He also pointed out to Peter that He had the power to do otherwise.
I thought of that verse. And Christ made it abundantly clear that He laid down His life of His own free will - and yes, the decision to submit HAD been made long before ("the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world"). So you needn't argue; we're in agreement. ;)
I'm just thinking about it from the "what if" perspective. If Jesus had chosen to exercise His free will to follow His own will and let that cup pass, He would have essentially been falling to the same temptation that Satan presented to Him in the wilderness. He would have been at odds with the will of God the Father, and for the first time, the Triune God would have been divided. The consequences of that (if Jesus had decided not to go to the Cross) would have been far reaching...we can't even comprehend it. Not only would we have been doomed to hell and Satan would have won, Jesus would have lost His divinity.
Of course, since we know God is Sovereign, that never would have happened - and it does not lessen or diminish in any way the enormity of Christ's love and sacrifice. I think it's kind of a mystery, when you really ponder it - how for the purposes of redemption, He really had no choice; if He wanted to obey God and remain sinless, it was His only choice....and yet He had a choice. He passed the test. See what I mean? It's a mystery - much like the interplay of God's sovereignity/man's free will and how they work together to glorify Him. We really can't fully wrap our minds around it.
I often wish I'd been there with Jesus that night. I hope I get the chance to talk to Him about it in heaven.
Marie, agreed that it is a mystery. I can't quite wrap my mind around it either.
I bet you will get to talk to Jesus about it. And I also bet it will all make sense when you do!
And, can I just say, I'm glad I wasn't there that night. I'm positive I would have acted worse than poor Peter. And then I might have been recorded in the Bible, for all the world to see, in all of my fear and pitiful ignorance.
I'm satisfied just to ponder the awesomeness of it from the comfort of time, history and my kitchen table!
Not only could He have stopped it right then and picked a different way to save, I believe that before the foundation of the world He could have authored a completely different plan than Calvary. He could have chosen from many scenarios to display his mighty saving power. But instead He committed Himself to the “perfect plan” that would demonstrate His great love for us.
John 15:13 (NASB)
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
He did not choose the “easy” way. He could have, He IS God you know! He could have done anything His heart desired. And now that I think about it. He did do just that. He is all about relationship, He desires it, He is jealous for it. He wants us to know how far He was and is willing to go to have that relationship with us. To the death! Not just any death, but the most horrible kinds of death. The Eternal chose die, so that we all might live “with Him” and “know” that He loves us with all that is in Him.
Thanks Hadassah for sharing your WOW moment. You most certainly wrangled some WOW in me today. And I am going to chew on all day!
Hmm. We're getting into some deep (although hypothetical) waters here, which is good, I think. It causes us to really stop and reflect.
Not only could He have stopped it right then and picked a different way to save
Do you mean Jesus, in the garden, by "at that point"? Because this is the point at where I think I disagree. The plan of salvation was already in place, from before the creation of the world, so for Jesus to change His mind at that point would have been at odds with the will of the Father. There was no other way, as the following verses make clear. However, the Gospels make it clear that Jesus never had any intention of abandoning this set purpose of His coming (His death), and Hebrews makes it clear that He learned obedience. He submitted to the will of the Father, "who was pleased to crush Him" for our salvation.
If Christ had walked away from the Cross, it would have constituted mutiny against the Father. As God in the flesh, this is unthinkable - but Jesus did not lose His free will when He became man. He chose, rather, to obey.
What's key to realize though is that there was no way of changing the plan from God's end without compromising either His justice or His mercy. It's been said that the Cross is where justice and mercy meet. Christ's substitutionary death was the ONLY sacrifice acceptable to God on our behalf; therefore, that was the only scenario by which God would be glorified. If Jesus had walked away from the Cross, He would have been walking away from His own exaltation and the devil would have won. I reiterate, since He was predestined to be the Lamb of God, that would not have happened. But He was not free to simply change the plan.
Just this morning, I was thinking again about this and read a series of John Macarthur's sermons on this subject. Here is a link to the one "Looking at the Cross from the Father's Perspective": http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/80-83.htm
It truly was the only way sinners could be saved. What's truly amazing, though, is that all three members of the Trinity would go to such trouble, pain and sacrificial love on our behalf. From Macarthur:
"So, God in the cross puts His justice, righteousness, holiness on display. So just and righteous and holy is He that even as much as He wants to forgive the sinner, He cannot do it unless the price is paid even if the price has to be paid by His own Son. That's how just God is. He can never be accused of being unjust or unrighteous. His justice was satisfied by the perfect, spotless Lamb who paid the perfect price. We then were not redeemed by corruptible things but by the precious blood of Christ. We see then in the cross the justice, the righteousness of God."
Does it help anyone to think about all of this as happening outside of time? I don't mean to get all metaphysical, but it seems like we sometimes forget that God is not constrained by time and history the way that humans are.
The Son had already submitted to The Father's plan of redemption before the foundation of the world. It was just performed FOR OUR BENEFIT on that specific day. And The Son willingly submitted in the moment and willingly submitted before the foundation of the world. The willing submission was one and the same, outside of time and inside of time.
When we start to consider any other possibility it leads to all kinds of impossible-to-answer questions. For example, if Jesus changed His mind, then would it still even be the Father's will for Jesus to die on the cross? See what I mean?
The thing that should be astounding and encouraging to us is that God The Son willingly sacrificed himself to redeem the saints.
As a daughter, as a wife, as a church member, as a civilian and as a friend and sister-in-Christ, I am called to submit in more ways than I care to ponder. And Jesus submitted willingly to more than we can even imagine.
He never had to do it, that night, or before the foundation of the world. He chose to do it. And that is the whole point.
At least, I think. Cause I'll admit, this is kind of making my head hurt.
(But I am still saying "Wow.")
The kids and I were talking about the arrest and crucifixion this morning and I just looked at them and said,"Do you see why we love Jesus?" Or at least try! Love catching up with you here.
Mine too....I can't get it out of my head for 2 days.
Although Hadassah I'll admit that even while pondering the sovereignity/predestined aspect of it, I hadn't considered the "outside of time" aspect of it too deeply. I think you're on to something there.
I just e-mailed my associate pastor asking him to shed some light on this "paradox", as he is much more enlightened than I on theological matters. ;) Can't wait to hear his thoughts on the matter.
In the meantime, I am trying just to stay humbly grateful at the foot of the Cross...accepting, without needing to understand....but it's hard for me. Not the gratitude part; that I have and it is my prayer that I never take His suffering and death for granted. But I'm the type who cannot rest until some matters are straight in my mind.
Well, Marie, do me a favor and post your associate pastor's response over here.
I'm curious about what someone with some "formal learnin'" has to say about all of this.
Hi! Okay - I saw Pastor Jason this morning, as we were getting ready (I and the other woman) to lead Bible study, and he said he had decided to call me rather than e-mail back. He had started an e-mail, but it had gotten very long and in-depth, so he had decided to delete (I wish he hadn't!)
Anyway, we only had a few moments, but he said the key to understanding why Jesus would never have sinned lies in understanding the Trinity. Basically, because He was fully God, He never would have chosen any other way than the Father's will - Pastor Jason said "I don't know why Satan even bothered trying to tempt Him, since he already knew the outcome; it was a lose-lose situation".
The simple answer to my question, 'would it have been sin for Christ to walk away from the Cross' is YES, it would have, for the reason I cited (that would have been out of the Father's will); BUT, that never, ever would have happened because Jesus was (and is)fully God, and as such, it was against His very nature to sin. So in a sense, it becomes a moot point.
The question is, would it have been possible for Jesus to sin? Little did I know that theologians have debated that for centuries.
Before seeing Pastor Jason, earlier in the week I had found a partial explanation of that question on an apologetics site:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t003.html
(it's only one page) - I think I agree with Charles Hodge in that He could have sinned, in that He still had free will; but never would have chosen to as it was completely alien to his nature. Pastor Jason does not think that He could have sinned, so he more completely would agree with the author of this brief outline (he also used the term "impeccability of Christ" to explain the concept). He came, as Pastor J said, to fulfill that Father's will. Although in His humanity He dreaded the burden of carrying humanity's sin on the Cross, His will never strayed from fulfilling the plan of salvation. He simply wouldn't have been double-minded, being fully divine.
Remember that movie about 20 years ago, "The Last Temptation of Christ"? That was based on teh premise of "what if Jesus had succumbed to the pressure and avoided the Cross". It was actually a blasphemous movie, because the implication was He could have divided His human and divine nature and walked away from the will of the Father. That was why I wanted to approach this question with a lot of humility and acknowledging that Christ never, ever would have "gone there", but I don't think God is intimidated by our trying to ponder and figure out mysteries like this.
Anyway, because Christ is Who He is, the angels in heaven were not holding their breath while He was in the Garden going, "I hope He goes through with it! What if He backs out now???" Thinking that it could have been so overemphasizes Christ's humanity while underestimating His divinity.
Thank you for posting the update Marie. I read the page that you posted a link to.
I still don't know quite what to think. I think that the hypostatic union (Christ's full humanity and full divinity) must be an antinomy. The two things seem unable to both be true, but they are.
I tend to think that Christ was unable to sin, because he was fully God. But then what do we make of the statement that God would send angels to His aid if Jesus requested them? Your position seems to take that detail into account and explain it--that Jesus had the ability to sin on account of His human nature, but NEVER would chose to sin on account of His divinity.
Honestly, I've quit worrying about it. God knows the answer to that question, and it is not causing a crisis of faith for me, so I'm satisfied to just leave it there.
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