Study Focus: Matt. 2:1–18; Matt. 27:51, 52; Luke 2:7, 22–24; Luke 22:41–44; John 8:58, 59; Rom. 6:23; Titus 1:2.
Part I: Overview
The greatest point of biblical religion is that sin and suffering were generated by us but were borne by our God. There is no other divinity in the religions of the world who would condescend to make such a sacrifice. That is why biblical Christianity is called the religion of love and grace, from Creation to salvation. God created us by grace (and without our contribution) because He loved us, and God saves us by grace (without our contribution, as well) because He loved us.
In both cases (Creation and salvation), however, we have a choice to accept or reject His action of grace. After being created by grace, Adam and Eve made the decision to reject God’s act of creation and chose the path of rebellion that leads to annihilation or death. After being saved by grace through Christ’s death on the cross, each one of us has a choice to accept God’s sacrifice in our place and return to His kingdom of light, grace, and love, or to reject His great salvation and disappear into eternal nonexistence. Choose today. But choose love, choose grace, choose life. Choose God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s life. This will make you happy, this will make your loved ones happy, and this will make God happy.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights two major themes.
Jesus Christ’s suffering does not represent merely the suffering of another being. Rather, His suffering is the essence of God’s love and salvation for us. Jesus Christ suffered for us and in our place to rescue us from the power of sin, suffering, and death forever.
What Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and what it means for us.
Part II: Commentary
The Early Days of Jesus’ Ministry
Yes, from the first hours of His life, Jesus experienced, and was surrounded by, human tragedy and suffering: denial, rejection, poverty, and humility (born in a manger), physical suffering (circumcision), massacre, persecution, and flight. Throughout His childhood, Jesus continued to experience human suffering. However, Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of His ministry pointed to His entrance into the crucible He had come for, to the type of ministry He had come to offer. Why was He baptized if He did not have any sin?
Of course, He was baptized to set us an example. Ellen G. White notices that “Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of guilt on His own account. He identified Himself with sinners, taking the steps that we are to take, and doing the work that we must do. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism was also an example to us.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 111. But there is more to Christ’s baptism than it being an example.
The apostle Paul explains the meaning of baptism in terms of death and resurrection: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3, 4, NKJV). Elsewhere, Paul explains that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21, NKJV). Jesus came into the world to take our sins upon Himself and to die in our place, so that we, instead, could take upon ourselves His righteousness. Ellen G. White writes: “Upon coming up out of the water, Jesus bowed in prayer on the river bank. A new and important era was opening before Him. He was now, upon a wider stage, entering on the conflict of His life. Though He was the Prince of Peace, His coming must be as the unsheathing of a sword. . . . No one upon earth had understood Him, and during His ministry He must still walk alone. . . . As one with us, He must bear the burden of our guilt and woe. The Sinless One must feel the shame of sin. . . . Alone He must tread the path; alone He must bear the burden. Upon Him who had laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity the redemption of the world must rest.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 111.
This exchange could be figuratively seen in baptism. When Jesus was baptized, He was not baptized for His own salvation: instead, He announced that He came to take our sins upon Himself and die in our place. When we are baptized, we die, together with Jesus, to our own sins, receive His righteousness, and then rise from the baptismal waters in the newness of life!
Jesus in Gethsemane
In The Cross of Christ, John R. W. Stott (1921–2011), the famous Anglican theologian and evangelist, attempts to understand Jesus’ crucible in Gethsemane by comparing Jesus to Socrates, facing death. Socrates (470–399 b.c.), one of the founders of Western philosophy and worldview, was about seventy years old when an Athenian court condemned him to death for corrupting the youth and for impiety (rejecting the gods of the city). Socrates was to die by drinking a cup of poisonous hemlock. Although Socrates could escape the trial and condemnation, he chose to remain in the city and face his death. At the place of execution, Socrates was surrounded by his supportive disciples, who were crying for their teacher. When handed the cup with the poison, the father of Western thought took it with all cheerfulness and confidence and courageously drank it to the bottom (for Plato’s account of this story, see Plato, Phaedo, in Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, translated by Harold North Fowler (London: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. 393–403.
By contrast, Jesus Christ spent His last hours in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He asked His disciples to “ ‘stay . . . and watch’ ” with Him because His soul was “ ‘exceedingly sorrowful, even to death’ ” (Mark 14:34, NKJV), they fell asleep. In fact, one of His disciples sold Him for money, and the others fled the garden after the multitude arrived to arrest Jesus (Mark 14:10, 11, 50). But Jesus, unlike Plato, agonized over the cup He must drain to the dregs. Far from describing Jesus as cheerfully and courageously taking the cup, the evangelist Luke points out that “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44, NKJV), while praying, “ ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me’ ” (Luke 22:42, NKJV). Can Jesus, who is the incarnate God, really be the Savior of the world if He is so fearful of that cup and of death? Why does He seem weaker than Socrates? Or is He?
Stott asks similar questions and then hints at an answer: “What is this cup? Is it physical suffering from which he shrinks, the torture of the scourge and the cross, together perhaps with the mental anguish of betrayal, denial and desertion by his friends, and the mockery and abuse of his enemies? Nothing could ever make me believe that the cup Jesus dreaded was any of these things (grievous as they were) or all of them together. His physical and moral courage throughout his public ministry had been indomitable. To me it is ludicrous to suppose that he was now afraid of pain, insult and death. Socrates in the prison cell in Athens, according to Plato’s account, took his cup of hemlock ‘without trembling or changing colour or expression.’ He then ‘raised the cup to his lips, and very cheerfully and quietly drained it.’ When his friends burst into tears, he rebuked them for their ‘absurd’ behaviour and urged them to ‘keep quiet and be brave.’ He died without fear, sorrow or protest. So was Socrates braver than Jesus? Or were their cups filled with different poisons?”—John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 74.
Stott concludes that “the cup from which he [Jesus] shrank was something different. It symbolized neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgment which those sins deserved.”—The Cross of Christ, p. 76. Indeed, Socrates died the death of the common, sinful man. And, as Stott points out, the Christian martyrs had a seemingly much more heroic death than Jesus when they died on the pyre. The death of Jesus, like His baptism, was unique. While all humans who die will experience death as sinful human beings, Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died the death that represents God’s judgment on sin. This is why the resurrection of Jesus is the most singular, extraordinary event in the history of the universe. No human—Socrates included—could die that death and live again. No human could die that death and become the Savior of the world.
Ellen G. White describes the content of the cup, as well: “As He [Jesus] neared Gethsemane, He became strangely silent. He had often visited this spot for meditation and prayer; but never with a heart so full of sorrow as upon this night of His last agony. Throughout His life on earth He had walked in the light of God’s presence. When in conflict with men who were inspired by the very spirit of Satan, He could say, ‘He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.’ John 8:29. But now He seemed to be shut out from the light of God’s sustaining presence. Now He was numbered with the transgressors. The guilt of fallen humanity He must bear. Upon Him who knew no sin must be laid the iniquity of us all. So dreadful does sin appear to Him, so great is the weight of guilt which He must bear, that He is tempted to fear it will shut Him out forever from His Father’s love. Feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression, He exclaims, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.’ ”—The Desire of Ages (1898), p. 685.
Part III: Life Application
Recollect the experience of your baptism. How do you perceive your baptism in light of Jesus’ baptism? How does your perception help enrich your experience of death to sin and coming alive for the kingdom of God? How does this perception deepen your covenant with God and your commitment to God’s cause, no matter what?
The section on Sabbath afternoon of this week’s lesson gives an amazingly beautiful explanation of why God created the universe and the intelligent beings, even though He knew that evil would emerge out of His creation: it was worth it! It was worth it for Him, but it also was worth it for us. Otherwise, we would have never existed. But there is more: God could afford to decide that it was worth it because He not only had the power of creation, but in the case of the Fall, He also had the solution (to take our sin upon Himself), which is the power of salvation and the power of resurrection! How does this understanding change your perspective on God, on His creation and salvation?
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Key Text: Matthew 27:46
Study Focus: Matt. 2:1–18; Matt. 27:51, 52; Luke 2:7, 22–24; Luke 22:41–44; John 8:58, 59; Rom. 6:23; Titus 1:2.
Part I: Overview
The greatest point of biblical religion is that sin and suffering were generated by us but were borne by our God. There is no other divinity in the religions of the world who would condescend to make such a sacrifice. That is why biblical Christianity is called the religion of love and grace, from Creation to salvation. God created us by grace (and without our contribution) because He loved us, and God saves us by grace (without our contribution, as well) because He loved us.
In both cases (Creation and salvation), however, we have a choice to accept or reject His action of grace. After being created by grace, Adam and Eve made the decision to reject God’s act of creation and chose the path of rebellion that leads to annihilation or death. After being saved by grace through Christ’s death on the cross, each one of us has a choice to accept God’s sacrifice in our place and return to His kingdom of light, grace, and love, or to reject His great salvation and disappear into eternal nonexistence. Choose today. But choose love, choose grace, choose life. Choose God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s life. This will make you happy, this will make your loved ones happy, and this will make God happy.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson highlights two major themes.
Jesus Christ’s suffering does not represent merely the suffering of another being. Rather, His suffering is the essence of God’s love and salvation for us. Jesus Christ suffered for us and in our place to rescue us from the power of sin, suffering, and death forever.
What Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and what it means for us.
Part II: Commentary
The Early Days of Jesus’ Ministry
Yes, from the first hours of His life, Jesus experienced, and was surrounded by, human tragedy and suffering: denial, rejection, poverty, and humility (born in a manger), physical suffering (circumcision), massacre, persecution, and flight. Throughout His childhood, Jesus continued to experience human suffering. However, Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of His ministry pointed to His entrance into the crucible He had come for, to the type of ministry He had come to offer. Why was He baptized if He did not have any sin?
Of course, He was baptized to set us an example. Ellen G. White notices that “Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of guilt on His own account. He identified Himself with sinners, taking the steps that we are to take, and doing the work that we must do. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism was also an example to us.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 111. But there is more to Christ’s baptism than it being an example.
The apostle Paul explains the meaning of baptism in terms of death and resurrection: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3, 4, NKJV). Elsewhere, Paul explains that God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21, NKJV). Jesus came into the world to take our sins upon Himself and to die in our place, so that we, instead, could take upon ourselves His righteousness. Ellen G. White writes: “Upon coming up out of the water, Jesus bowed in prayer on the river bank. A new and important era was opening before Him. He was now, upon a wider stage, entering on the conflict of His life. Though He was the Prince of Peace, His coming must be as the unsheathing of a sword. . . . No one upon earth had understood Him, and during His ministry He must still walk alone. . . . As one with us, He must bear the burden of our guilt and woe. The Sinless One must feel the shame of sin. . . . Alone He must tread the path; alone He must bear the burden. Upon Him who had laid off His glory and accepted the weakness of humanity the redemption of the world must rest.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 111.
This exchange could be figuratively seen in baptism. When Jesus was baptized, He was not baptized for His own salvation: instead, He announced that He came to take our sins upon Himself and die in our place. When we are baptized, we die, together with Jesus, to our own sins, receive His righteousness, and then rise from the baptismal waters in the newness of life!
Jesus in Gethsemane
In The Cross of Christ, John R. W. Stott (1921–2011), the famous Anglican theologian and evangelist, attempts to understand Jesus’ crucible in Gethsemane by comparing Jesus to Socrates, facing death. Socrates (470–399 b.c.), one of the founders of Western philosophy and worldview, was about seventy years old when an Athenian court condemned him to death for corrupting the youth and for impiety (rejecting the gods of the city). Socrates was to die by drinking a cup of poisonous hemlock. Although Socrates could escape the trial and condemnation, he chose to remain in the city and face his death. At the place of execution, Socrates was surrounded by his supportive disciples, who were crying for their teacher. When handed the cup with the poison, the father of Western thought took it with all cheerfulness and confidence and courageously drank it to the bottom (for Plato’s account of this story, see Plato, Phaedo, in Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, translated by Harold North Fowler (London: Harvard University Press, 2005), pp. 393–403.
By contrast, Jesus Christ spent His last hours in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He asked His disciples to “ ‘stay . . . and watch’ ” with Him because His soul was “ ‘exceedingly sorrowful, even to death’ ” (Mark 14:34, NKJV), they fell asleep. In fact, one of His disciples sold Him for money, and the others fled the garden after the multitude arrived to arrest Jesus (Mark 14:10, 11, 50). But Jesus, unlike Plato, agonized over the cup He must drain to the dregs. Far from describing Jesus as cheerfully and courageously taking the cup, the evangelist Luke points out that “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44, NKJV), while praying, “ ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me’ ” (Luke 22:42, NKJV). Can Jesus, who is the incarnate God, really be the Savior of the world if He is so fearful of that cup and of death? Why does He seem weaker than Socrates? Or is He?
Stott asks similar questions and then hints at an answer: “What is this cup? Is it physical suffering from which he shrinks, the torture of the scourge and the cross, together perhaps with the mental anguish of betrayal, denial and desertion by his friends, and the mockery and abuse of his enemies? Nothing could ever make me believe that the cup Jesus dreaded was any of these things (grievous as they were) or all of them together. His physical and moral courage throughout his public ministry had been indomitable. To me it is ludicrous to suppose that he was now afraid of pain, insult and death. Socrates in the prison cell in Athens, according to Plato’s account, took his cup of hemlock ‘without trembling or changing colour or expression.’ He then ‘raised the cup to his lips, and very cheerfully and quietly drained it.’ When his friends burst into tears, he rebuked them for their ‘absurd’ behaviour and urged them to ‘keep quiet and be brave.’ He died without fear, sorrow or protest. So was Socrates braver than Jesus? Or were their cups filled with different poisons?”—John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 74.
Stott concludes that “the cup from which he [Jesus] shrank was something different. It symbolized neither the physical pain of being flogged and crucified, nor the mental distress of being despised and rejected even by his own people, but rather the spiritual agony of bearing the sins of the world, in other words, of enduring the divine judgment which those sins deserved.”—The Cross of Christ, p. 76. Indeed, Socrates died the death of the common, sinful man. And, as Stott points out, the Christian martyrs had a seemingly much more heroic death than Jesus when they died on the pyre. The death of Jesus, like His baptism, was unique. While all humans who die will experience death as sinful human beings, Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died the death that represents God’s judgment on sin. This is why the resurrection of Jesus is the most singular, extraordinary event in the history of the universe. No human—Socrates included—could die that death and live again. No human could die that death and become the Savior of the world.
Ellen G. White describes the content of the cup, as well: “As He [Jesus] neared Gethsemane, He became strangely silent. He had often visited this spot for meditation and prayer; but never with a heart so full of sorrow as upon this night of His last agony. Throughout His life on earth He had walked in the light of God’s presence. When in conflict with men who were inspired by the very spirit of Satan, He could say, ‘He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.’ John 8:29. But now He seemed to be shut out from the light of God’s sustaining presence. Now He was numbered with the transgressors. The guilt of fallen humanity He must bear. Upon Him who knew no sin must be laid the iniquity of us all. So dreadful does sin appear to Him, so great is the weight of guilt which He must bear, that He is tempted to fear it will shut Him out forever from His Father’s love. Feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression, He exclaims, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.’ ”—The Desire of Ages (1898), p. 685.
Part III: Life Application
Recollect the experience of your baptism. How do you perceive your baptism in light of Jesus’ baptism? How does your perception help enrich your experience of death to sin and coming alive for the kingdom of God? How does this perception deepen your covenant with God and your commitment to God’s cause, no matter what?
The section on Sabbath afternoon of this week’s lesson gives an amazingly beautiful explanation of why God created the universe and the intelligent beings, even though He knew that evil would emerge out of His creation: it was worth it! It was worth it for Him, but it also was worth it for us. Otherwise, we would have never existed. But there is more: God could afford to decide that it was worth it because He not only had the power of creation, but in the case of the Fall, He also had the solution (to take our sin upon Himself), which is the power of salvation and the power of resurrection! How does this understanding change your perspective on God, on His creation and salvation?