What if Jesus said No to the Father?

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:36–39

While praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is facing a spiritual crisis. Listening and praying on the text, it seems to me that Jesus did not want to go through with it. It appears that for one second, or perhaps for many seconds, Jesus pondered not going through with his destiny. Have you ever wondered what would happen if Jesus had said “No”?

If Jesus had said “No” you and I would be in a different Spiritual crisis. Without Jesus dying on the cross, you and I would have more things, many more things to worry about when it comes to our salvation. If Jesus had not followed through with the death, the burial, and the resurrection, there would be no forgiveness of sin. In other words, without the cross, we would live without Grace. Without the cross, the curtain of the Temple was not torn in two – and as such, the breech between G-d and humanity remains. Without the cross, we must continue to make daily sacrifices – hoping to appease G-d. Without the cross, salvific hope is destroyed.

Every angel in the realm of creation must have stood in hushed silence waiting as Jesus paused where we have that little semi-colon between “let this cup pass from me” and “yet not as I will”. Just reading it should make your heart skip a beat. Jesus, the veritable “lamb slain before the foundation of the world” seems to hesitate at the moment of decision. And what if he had decided to say “No”? Who would have been able to stand in for Jesus? The answer is simple: No one – at least none of the other disciples. Even James, the brother of Jesus would not have sufficed.

We could say that the battle for the redemption of mankind was not won at the cross or even at the grave – the real battle was raged in the Garden where Jesus paused for a second and contemplated saying “No”. The battle was won in the garden – where while he sweated great drops of fluid “that consisted of or were like great drops of blood”, Jesus chose to say “Yes”. When Jesus said, “Yes… not as I will, but as you will” the war was over and our salvation was assured.

Pastor Dave