This sermon was preached at Deer Creek Church, on April 3rd, 2026. The text is Mark 14:32–36, 15:33–39. You can listen to the sermon below. This is an edited summary.
In 2004, Mel Gibson directed The Passion of the Christ, a film that depicted this very text we are reading. It is a stirring, emotive, graphic retelling of the anguish and pain that Jesus experienced going to the cross, and on the cross. The project centers upon the nails in his hands, and the thorns on his head, and the anguish of pain Jesus felt in being mocked, scourged, and bruised. It's a visceral and compelling movie.
But there is one problem: it only captures half of the cross.
On the cross, the nails and thorns were the last thing on Jesus’ mind. They were not the source of his deepest pain. So what was?
Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrates his complete power, and poise at every turn. He sleeps during storms, calmly heals possessed criminals, and rebukes the powerful. But in the Garden, we see something unique. Jesus’ soul becomes deeply “distressed” and full of sorrow. Going a few steps further, Jesus cannot take it anymore. He falls to his knees, and the grief comes out of him in desperate prayer. He addresses his Father directly:
“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Jesus asks three times for the same thing: Father, take this cup from me. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus senses a cup being drawn up towards his lips. And it grieves him.
How do we make sense of this? We have two questions set before us tonight that will lead us to appreciate Good Friday in full. First, we have to know what is in the cup Jesus speaks of. Second, we have to see what Jesus does with this cup.
What is in the cup?
What is in this drink Jesus prays about that would cause the Son of Man such deep distress – to be sorrowful unto the point of death?
The answer is actually hidden here in subtext. It's right here in the passage, but you can only see it with a bit of Old Testament background. If you were Jewish and well versed in the Old Testament prophetic literature, you would already have a clear idea of what this cup is. This is a very prominent biblical symbol. Particularly within the prophetic literature, like Jeremiah and Isaiah, God repeatedly uses this image of a cup to represent one thing: his holy wrath and judgement against sin.
“Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it” (Jer. 25:15).
“O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering” (Isa. 51:17).
“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger” (Rev. 14:9–10).
The Bible describes God to be “storing up wrath” and judgement, to one day pour out upon the world as a just punishment for sin. As if, up in heaven, after every act of evil in this world, God is pouring more and more righteous anger into this great, swirling chalice. He sees sin, and more of his justice gets added into the mix. With every adultery, a drop in the cup. Every lie. Every worshipped idol. Every evil, godless thing that comes out of our hearts. Another drop.
Like a dam, filling up with water as rain covers the earth, God’s wrath is building in heaven, filling a cup of wrath against sin. It is this cup that Jesus feels drawing near to his lips. The ancient, foaming cup of God’s wrath.
Jesus knows what is in the cup, and thus is full of anguish and sorrow. But Jesus prays that the cup might pass. This leads us to our second point.
What is done with the cup?
After praying in the Garden, Jesus is quickly arrested by the Jewish religious authorities, betrayed by his own disciple, Judas. From there, he is charged before the Roman government, and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Jesus is mocked, beaten, and ridiculed, before he is hung by nails on a criminal's cross.
This is where we see what Jesus does with the cup.
Darkness falls over the land, and Jesus utters his final words before death. With a loud voice he cries out “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He speaks in Aramaic, his mother tongue. He quotes the very first line of Psalm 22. A song of David, where the chosen king laments his being forsaken by God. Jesus breaths his last, and the veil of the temple is torn in two. Leading the centurion attending to his death to cry out “truly this man as the Son of God.”
As Jesus hangs on the cross, these are his final words before death: God, why have you forsaken me? This is the center of Good Friday.
I cannot claim to understand how exactly this worked. Yes, Jesus is still God. Yes, the Trinity is still intact. And yet, in some real and significant way, Jesus the Son is forsaken, estranged, and alienated from the Father. The Greek word here “forsaken” can also be taken to mean “abandon” or leave behind.
Jesus has, for all of eternity, experienced true, perfect unbroken communion with God (Himself). And somehow, in some way, for the first and only time, that is affected. What is done with the cup?
It is fully drunk by Jesus himself, on your behalf. He takes the full wrath of God onto his own shoulders and is therefore forsaken.
In the Garden, Jesus foresees it. On the cross, he stays true to his prayer “thy will be done” and he takes the cup of God’s wrath. The result of God’s punishment, is nothing else but true forsakenness.
The cup rightfully exists for sinners like you and me. But in the greatest twist in the truest story ever told, Jesus makes a way for those who trust upon him to be saved from the wrath to come by being our sacrifice, and taking that wrath of God – true forsakenness – onto his own shoulders.
If you are a Christian here tonight you need to hear this. Jesus drank the cup of wrath for you. The Son willingly became forsaken by God, so that you who were once forsaken might become a son, a daughter. He drinks the cup of wrath to give us a cup of unmerited grace.
Where does this leave us?
We can sing “Jesus, your blood has washed away my sin” and we need to be fully aware of what that means. Yes, it's about the nails. Yes, it's about the thorns. But at the core, it is about Jesus being forsaken in our place.
The cup you once held is now empty, because your Savior drank every last drop. He took the full punishment for our sexual sin, our lies, our hatred, our idolatry, our evil, onto himself.
As we come to the Lord's table, let me leave you with one exhortation.
- Let this magnify the love of God for you.
As you take the bread and wine into your hands, allow the weight of this truth to rest upon you. A cup of wrath, exchanged for the cup of communion and grace.
And why? Why would Jesus go to the cross like this? Why would he willingly be forsaken by the Father on your behalf? Why would the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit ordain this Good Friday?
Sheer, unmerited, love.
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
“The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
I still remember the first time I realized I was a sinner. I had done something I swore I’d never do. My failure ate at me for days. Entire days. I tried to cope, and ease my guilt to no avail. Finally, I got to the point where I realized that my only hope of being accepted by God was this: Jesus died in my place, and took God’s wrath.
In my failure, the Spirit was faithful to show me this was not just a wish, it was a promise. Jesus did take my wrath. I was forgiven, even though I had no right to be. That was the first time I truly understood the Gospel.
Seeing that this was true — I was opened up to a whole new realm of God’s love for me. The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This is what Christ endured, all to demonstrate the depth of his love for you. He saw you, helpless and dead in your sin, with no redeeming quality and he said “I love you so much I will drink the cup for you.”
This is the heart of our Christian faith. God taking his own forsaking wrath onto himself. This is the love you long for. This is the identity in which you stand. This is what you need in times of trial. This is what you need in times of ease. This is the God we love.
Many years ago, Chris Anderson wrote a hymn and captured this very reality so well. Let these words press upon as we come to the Lord’s table:
His robes for mine, God’s justice is appeased. Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father’s pleased. Christ drank God’s wrath on sin, then cried “‘Tis done!” Sin’s wage is paid, propitiation won.
