Did Jesus desire evil in Gethsemane?

Jesus would have preferred another way. Who wants to die a gruesome and painful death? But....Jesus put aside His desire for the Father's.

Matthew 26:39, "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

There was never a doubt He would go to the cross and therefore never a chance to nullify the prophecy in Genesis 3.

 

I don't think it was the manner of death which Jesus was struggling with. I think it was separation from the Father.

 

To say that Jesus desired evil is going much too far. That would have made Him sinful.

 

There's nothing in those prophecies that states that Jesus couldn't desire another way if possible. Conflicting desires are not necessarily evil.

Does God do evil by desiring that all men would come to the knowledge of the truth, when His own word says that not all will do so?

 

I disagree. According to James 1:14-15 it is only when one gratifies an evil desire that one becomes a sinner. </font>[/QUOTE]Be sure you let Jesus know that lusting after a woman in your heart isn't really a sin unless you gratify those desires. I'm sure He will want to modify that sermon of His, and maybe issue an apology. (It might make a lot of us sleep a little better too.)

[ November 12, 2005, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: whatever ]

 

If He hadn't included that part about "nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" in verse 39 and "your will be done" in verse 42 then maybe you might have something to work with. But He did, so you don't.

Since you've pulled the anthropomorphism card, let's try it from another angle. Paul stated that his "heart's desire and prayer to God for [Israel] is that they may be saved", after having gone so far as to say that "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh". Yet obviously God had prophesied that Israel would reject their Messiah. Did Paul desire evil when wishing that God's prophecy concerning Israel had not been fulfilled?

 

Sticking with the OP, just because Jesus wanted it to be done another way does not make the thought evil.

 

There is an old and honored interpretation going back to Dionysius (c. 190-c. 264), a church father, that Jesus was not praying in the Garden to be delivered from the cup of death on the cross, but from a premature cup of death in the Garden. More modern writers such as John R. Rice, F. B. Meyer and A. F. Schauffler also held this position, as do I.

The position is borne out by Scriptures such as:

(1) Matt. 26:38, which states that Jesus was "very sorrowful even unto death." The Greek words used here are extremely strong.

(2) Luke 22:44: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." This describes a medical condition of extreme stress called hematidrosis.

(3) Hebrews 5:7: "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." This could only refer to the prayers in the Garden. He prayed to be delivered from death in the Garden, and was heard.

Jesus had "set His face towards Jerusalem" to die on the cross for our sins. In spite of incredible stress (the betrayal of Judas, being abandoned by His disciples and unbelieving siblings, being hated by His own people, facing taking the sins of all of history on Himself), He triumphed and survived death in the Garden in order to die on the cross. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

 

There is also the theory that the resurrection was the answer to His prayers
(ek thanatou-out of death).

HankD

 

When I showed God doing it you got around it by saying it was an anthropomorphism. So I showed Paul doing it (under inspiration of the Holy Spirit) so you'd have to address the question. And to your credit, you did.

I don't think what Peter did in his ignorance is in any way comparable to what Paul wished for his kinsmen. I strongly disagree with your conclusion.

At some level He did, but not ultimately, because He did ultimately obey His Father. What I am saying is that it is not necessarily evil to desire that something happen even though God has decreed that it will not happen.

 

Have you heard the expression, "No pain, no gain"? It is not evil to want to avoid the pain, it is evil to not to want the gain. Jesus didn't want to pain (the sufferings surrounding and including the cross). It would have been insane to want it. He did want the gain (Not my will but thine). It would have been evil to not want the gain.

 

Is this whole OP question an example of just having a question for the sake of saying you question everything?

Sometimes "question everything" can be taken too far, to the point where you are no longer questioning for the sake of learning, but are now questioning because you want to remain a skeptic.

Are ya trying to give some evidence that Jesus had an evil thought and so was not perfect?

 

Bapmom, check jasonlevene's website and you will see that he has a private interpretation for this passage, shared by no one in evangelicalism or fundamentalism.

 

I disagree with this interpretation because Jesus said in Matthew 26:42 that 'if this cup can not pass away from me unless I drink it, thy will be done.' So if the cup were a premature death in Gethsemane, then he was accepting the fact that God's will required him to drink of the cup...or die prematurely in Gethsemane. This can not be the case. </font>[/QUOTE]But He did say "this cup," meaning the cup he was facing right then, not "the cup," which would mean death on the cross. And if was a conditional clause beginning with the Greek word "ei," meaning "if," not "since I must drink the cup."