Impeccability of Christ

Historic orthodox Christianity has held that Christ is both fully  God and fully Man.  That he could feel temptation but  he could not sin.  The ability to feel temptation but not  the ability to yield to the temptation and sin,  means  Jesus would  feel the full weight of any temptation because he could not give in.  It is with this background that I considered  Jesus praying in Gethsemane before he was arrested to be crucified.

I always thought the primary struggle of Jesus while praying in Gethsemane was the fear of his upcoming death and separation from the Father . That essentially he was praying to escape the upcoming physical and spiritual pain. The thought that He might be  feeling the full temptation to disobey the Father was a new one for me .  It changes the focus of Jesus’ view of his upcoming death as more a battle over obedience than one over fear of death and pain.  Obedience must be that important .   When looking at  Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, I was stunned to see  Jesus in the midst of his struggle, when finding the disciples sleeping , said to Peter,” Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation…..”  (Matt 26:41) He knew He would be arrested soon, that a confrontation with the armed soldiers would befall them and he would be captured, but he  reminds his disciples to pray not to fall into temptation! ( Not to be safe, not to escape torture and not  increase their followers to gain advantage….etc.) I think this instruction of Jesus  gives us His view of how he perceived the upcoming trials He and the disciples were facing…. temptations to disobey the Father.

Thus, when Jesus was asking the Father to “take this cup from me,” it can be construed that He is asking not to be subject to the upcoming temptation to disobey , which would be so very very difficult.  After all , He could have called down twelve legions of angels to defeat the soldiers and rescue Him from the upcoming pain and torture.(Matt. 26:52-54) So, isn’t Jesus in asking the cup be taken from him, asking not to be lead into the upcoming temptation or trial? To free Him from the pressures( of which we cannot fully comprehend and to which He could never succumb) to not complete the work he was born to do… to die for our sins.  As we discussed, this pressure to disobey was so strong Jesus sweat drops of blood.  I wonder what he was praying during the night? Hours of earnest prayer and then it seemed when he was finished, resolve and peace as he was seized by his oppressors.

While it seems that  Jesus, the Son of God was denied his request to “let the cup pass from Him”,  he was victorious over the temptation to stop the surrendering of his life for the sins of man.