Cross & salvation
Was Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane answered?
On the night of his arrest, Jesus prayed that the cup might pass from him. The letter to the Hebrews says his prayer was heard. What did he ask for, and how was he answered?
1The question
Jesus prayed to be spared. Did God answer his prayer?
2What Christians believe
Christians answer that Jesus’s deepest prayer was “not my will, but thine”. He asked to be spared if it was possible, but he accepted the Father’s will, which was the cross. His prayer was heard in the resurrection: God saved him out of death, not from dying.
Christians see Gethsemane as showing Jesus’s full humanity: he felt real fear and sorrow, and still obeyed.
3What the texts say
The prayer
And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
An angel strengthens him
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
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.
“And was heard”
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;
God’s help was at hand
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
4What scholars say
Raymond E. Brown (The Death of the Messiah, 1994) discusses the Gethsemane scene at length. He notes that Luke 22:43–44, the angel and the sweat like drops of blood, is missing from some of the earliest manuscripts, and scholars disagree on whether it is original.
Harold W. Attridge (The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1989) sets out the ways Hebrews 5:7 has been read. The Greek can mean that Jesus prayed to the one able to save him “out of” death, which many read as the resurrection. Others read it as a prayer to be spared from death.
Scholars agree that the Gospels show Jesus asking to be spared, and that Hebrews says his prayer was heard.
5The Islamic perspective
Muslims read the passage at face value. A righteous prophet prays with strong crying and tears to the one who is able to save him from death, and the Bible says he was heard. God answers the prayers of his servants, as he answered Jonah:
Then we heard his prayer and saved him from the anguish. Thus we save believers.
But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise.
The Qur’an says that God took Jesus up to himself (4:158). For Muslims, Gethsemane is the prayer and the rescue is the answer.
6Objections and responses
“Jesus was heard, and the answer was the resurrection.”
Response: That is one reading of “save him from death”. But Jesus asked that the cup pass from him, not that he be raised after drinking it. Muslims read “heard” in its plain sense: what he asked for, God granted.
“Jesus said ‘not my will’, so he was asking to die.”
Response: Muslims agree that Jesus submitted fully to God; that submission is the meaning of Islam. He still asked to be spared, and Jesus himself said God could send twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:53). Muslims believe God did send help.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Jesus asked to be spared and accepted God’s will, and that Hebrews says he was heard. Christians see the answer in the resurrection after the cross. Muslims see the answer in God saving him from his enemies and raising him up.
Read Mark 14:32–42 and Hebrews 5:7–9 together and decide what “was heard” means to you.
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Sources
- Bible, King James Version:Mark 14:36Luke 22:42Luke 22:43Luke 22:44Hebrews 5:7Matthew 26:53James 5:16
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 21:88Qur’an 4:158
- Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah (1994)
- Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews (1989)