Why would Jesus choose suffering when there was a way out, the very outcome He prayed for? Here’s what the cross teaches us about obedience.
by Rev. Daniël Myburgh
Who among us would choose discomfort over ease? Who would deliberately take the difficult path instead of the easy one? Who would actively choose suffering when prosperity and progress are available?
Without hesitation, Jesus Christ could answer “I would!” to all these questions. In the Scripture passages describing the episode in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see this aspect of His character clearly. He faced His suffering and death with open eyes. Yet He experienced intense anxiety over what awaited Him. He was all-knowing – He knew exactly what lay ahead – and so He prayed for another way. But His prayer was not answered.
A prayer unanswered
Almost all believers know what it feels like when a prayer is not answered. None of us are spared. None of us can claim that every prayer we have prayed has been answered. Somewhere in our lives, at some point in our history, there were prayers the Lord never granted.
When we realise this, we see that unanswered prayers are not unusual. “It’s not just me – so many of my fellow believers have also had prayers that went unanswered.”
Even more comforting is that this happened to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 26, we read about Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, where He pleads, asks, and begs, yet His prayer is not granted.
How can this be? Jesus Christ is almighty. Why doesn’t He simply avoid the suffering? Why allow unbelievers to arrest Him (Matthew 26:45)?
Jesus was chosen for His mission
Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, was appointed and anointed for a very specific task. He was chosen to fulfil this unique calling. The Son of God was anointed – set apart and equipped – to deliver believers from their sins. That is precisely why He is also called Christ, meaning “the Anointed One.”
God the Father equipped Him with the Holy Spirit to carry out His mission on earth. Jesus Christ alone was able to save believers from their sins. God promised King David in the Old Testament that someone from his line would be born to reign over God’s people, Israel, and bring salvation (2 Samuel 7).
How do we know that this “Someone” points to Jesus Christ? The Lord shows us through His Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 1:32–33 we read:
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.
The author of Hebrews writes in 1:8:
But about the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’
These passages alone make it clear that Jesus Christ is the true, eternal, almighty King born from David’s line (see also Matthew 1:16–17).
Why the Messiah actively chooses suffering
Even though He is Almighty, Jesus Christ actively chooses the distress of Gethsemane and the abandonment He would feel on the cross. His obedience to His Father’s will outweighs the fulfilment of His own desires (see also John 6:38).
Philippians 2 teaches us that our Lord, Jesus Christ, gave up what was His, because He was wholly committed to His Father’s will. Because He was perfectly obedient to God, He did not just become human:
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:8
Choose obedience like Jesus
This Easter, reflect on the mindset of Christ. He was so obedient to His Father that He did whatever was required of Him. He loved His Father so deeply that He chose discomfort over ease, pain over comfort.
Whatever His Father asked, Christ willingly did it. Can you say the same about your own obedience to your Father?
