03/27/18 I HAVE BELIEVED, TAUGHT AND PREACHED THIS FOR DECADES
(maybe for a half of a century)
I cannot remember ever believing that Jesus prayed to escape the cross, but rather that Jesus prayer in the Garden was for the Father to save Him from death in the Garden so that He would be able to make it to the cross and die as the Lamb of God, Who would take away the sins of the world. To my best remembrance, I have held this same position since my Bible College days in the 1960s.
I have been amazed that almost all of the writing and preaching I have heard on this subject has supported the idea that Jesus was shrinking from the cross. As far as I know, as a young person I was unaware that anyone believed that Jesus was trying to avoid, escape, sidestep the cross. However, as the years have passed, I realize that almost everyone I meet, whether pastor or parishioner, whether highly educated or not, regardless of their doctrinal background, believes that Jesus was praying to avoid, to escape death on the cross. I have always been bewildered at such a thought. Though I have disagreed with their point of view, I never allowed that to be a point of division.
I think that I was first introduced to this subject during my college days, but it was decades before I realized how widespread the idea of Jesus fearing the cross had become. During that time I found very few people who held my beliefs about Jesus' prayer in the Garden. Through the years, since Bible College days, I preached often and taught lessons concerning this subject, until I finally wrote an article (decades ago), a rather extensive and detailed article, explaining the Biblical position that Jesus did not fear the cross and He could not have been trying to avoid or escape the cross.
It was not until the past few years that I came across anyone else who held the same understanding that I hold. In fact, one of the articles was written by a well know author. This other person's article was written more recently than my article and in fact it was almost like reading my own article. I never met this other writer, but we may have been introduced to this position by the same Christian scholar from the sixties. I am not saying or suggesting that the other person got his ideas from me anymore than I am saying I wrote my article from any other source than the Bible itself. I am saying that the arguments I offer are so self evident in the Scriptures that they naturally are interrelated and would lend themselves to any serious writer.
I am presently reworking my article, "DID JESUS TRY TO ESCAPE THE CROSS?" I will share it when I am finished. In the mean time I will probably post snippets and observations from my article.
