He Went to the Cross Alone

On three points as we think about these events of Good Friday. Our theme, or the reflection I want to share with you, is the idea that He, who is Jesus, went to the cross alone. And the first point I want us to reflect on is found in verses 36 to 46, a chapter or a passage here, a paragraph that we are given in the ESV, that those who loved Jesus, namely His disciples, could not do anything to help Him. Just before His arrest, we see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane wrestling for intense hours in prayer. He seemingly knows what is ahead.

We forget this, but these hours are in fact the final moments that the earthly Jesus spent with His disciples. Can you place yourself in the disciples' shoes? This is how you leave the earthly Jesus. Instead of the glorious portraits of the magnificent Saint Peter, the leader of the church, the loving and beloved Saint John, who the church has venerated and admired for two thousand years. These great apostles of the church are here shown to be horribly frail and derelict in their duties of supporting their Lord and their friend.

We are told that the eleven disciples are roughly within the vicinity of the Garden of Gethsemane and Jerusalem. But Jesus takes Peter, John, and James, the inner core of His friends. He takes them specifically aside to go and watch over Him and pray for Him. But at this crucial moment during the most troubling night of Jesus' soul, not even those closest to Him are able to pull themselves up out of their sleepiness to support Him. It seems the combination of a hearty Passover meal, some good wine, and a late night were all having their effects.

Now, even at the arrest of Jesus, we see these disciples so wrong-footed that they are left scrambling for some sort of idea of how to resist what is going on. The closest one of them gets to it is accidentally chopping off the ear of a servant boy. The picture we are given about these disciples' final hours with the earthly Jesus is a picture of utter ineptness, helplessness. They failed to defend. They failed to support and protect the Lord Jesus from the burden of the cross.

They are no help to Him. In fact, you could argue they make things harder. Even after failing to support Him in the garden, they desert Him, we are told in verse 56. Poignantly stated, then all His disciples left Him and fled. Not just they left Him, they run away from Him.

And yet, despite all this, Matthew, the gospel writer, as one of these very disciples that were there, he writes down this account and he still calls them disciples. Despite all this, they maintain the status of a disciple. Why? Only because of Jesus' forgiveness. Only because of Jesus' compassion.

Even in this moment, we see Jesus recognising their weakness when He says to them, your spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak. Twice, Jesus had asked them to stay awake with Him. A third time, He asked them, but then He tells them, it's okay. Have a sleep. You may rest.

The ESV translation we have here is a bit clunky. It says, sleep and take your rest later on. It can simply read, sleep and have your rest. But in tenderness, we see Jesus knowing that these disciples will soon experience a trial that will rock them to their core forever. Even in the darkest night of Jesus' earthly ministry, He has compassion on His disciples.

What this points out, however, is that Jesus goes to the cross alone. He goes to the cross alone. There is no one to support Him. There are no cheerleaders. There are no fervent intercessors in prayerful watchfulness.

Those who loved Jesus could not help Him, not at all. And this is a powerful reminder to us again today. We don't offer Jesus anything. We are no help to Jesus in His mission of the cross. For those of us who have come to profess a love for the Lord Jesus, remember that even our desire to protect the respect of Jesus in our society, those of us who desire to protect Jesus from humiliation in this world, either trying very hard to defend and push back against people's assaults on Him or gently, perhaps, trying to avoid not offending people with the message of the cross.

In either case, that attempt to protect the Lord Jesus from His humiliation means we forget that our faith is squarely built on a humiliated Saviour. Jesus Christ was rejected. Jesus Christ was not accepted. He died as a criminal here on earth. He never reigned as a king.

Jesus Christ was failed by His disciples. He was left abandoned. Those who loved Him the most were no help to Him at all. Why? Because the plan of God does not depend on the loyalty of His disciples.

The plan of God does not rest on our loyalty to Him. Jesus' mission depended on Jesus Christ alone, on His faithfulness to the mission. He was going to be the lonely Saviour. He is the singular deliverer. So it means that all you and I, all that we can bring to Jesus this Easter is our frailty and our brokenness and our sin.

That's the only thing we have to offer Him. If we had been there two thousand years ago, we would have done the same things as these disciples, probably worse. The best we could perhaps have mustered would be a clumsy swing of an axe or a sword, a moment that the gospel writer John identifies as having been performed by Peter, and then even then, Jesus healed that ear back. It wasn't an attempt that was successful in any way. The disciples couldn't stay awake to pray, they couldn't mount a resistance against the guards and the most heartbreaking of all perhaps is they had failed to spot the traitor in their own midst.

He betrayed the Lord with a kiss. Those who loved Jesus the most could not save Him because He wasn't theirs to save. Jesus was there to save them. And yet, you would be mistaken to think that if those who love Jesus were helpless to protect Him, then the opposite must be true, that those who hated Him must have had all the power. But the opposite isn't true either.

Those who hated Jesus could not force Him. The betrayal of Judas and the arrest of Jesus in verses 47 to 56 are the stunning events with which the passion story begins in earnest. As unbelievable as it may look from a human perspective, God is said to be in control of these events. His will is mysteriously being done while evil men make their move against Jesus. Twice we are told by Jesus Himself in verse 54 and then in verse 56 that Scripture is now being fulfilled.

It's significant to point out that Jesus was the one who said this. And He said this not only to His disciples, He said this to the mob arresting Him. Scripture is now being fulfilled. David Hagner, I believe his first name is David. Hagner, in his commentary writes, it cannot have meant much to them, and they probably took it as the ravings of a deluded man.

Even the disciples were unable to put much stock in Jesus' statements that these things were fixed in the divine will, and that legions of angels could have been called upon had Jesus chosen the path of resistance. But what looks from a human point of view to be madness or tragedy is in this instance the mysterious working out of God's saving purposes. If we were to conclude that the weakness of Jesus' disciples to offer any help to Him meant that the enemies of Jesus had all the power, we would be gravely mistaken. Those who hated Jesus did not force the cross on Him. Jesus chose the cross.

And we see this from His internal wrestling in the prayer of Gethsemane. Father, let this cup pass, but let Your will be done. No single person was determining the outcome. It was the Father's will that would be accomplished by the Son. Likewise, the words of Jesus in verse 45, the hour is at hand for the Son of Man to be betrayed.

If you do biblical theology, you will know that that term, the hour, doesn't refer to a clock or a watch. That term, the hour, is prophetic in its nature. It is determining a point in time that has been set by God before the foundations of the earth were laid. It's a point in human history that must come, where all the characters and all the actors have been set in place. The stage is set.

God's plan is coming to fruition. The hour has come. Finally, Christ's reference to His ability of calling twelve legions of angels to His aid in verse 53. It refers to the celestial heavenly host watching on as the Son of God readies Himself to conquer sin and Satan. And it gives us this marvellous impression that at face value, the enemies of Jesus seem to be calling the shots.

Meanwhile, all of heaven are standing at the ready, watching a master plan unfold. And yet, at a word, at the slightest nod, thousands upon thousands of otherworldly beings would have rushed to the side of their King to defend Him. What chance then would a ragtag mob with clubs and swords have? But think of this for a moment. If Jesus, only for an instant, only for a second, doubted and relented on His mission, the whole thing would have been over.

Jesus could have stepped out of time and space. The whole thing would have been called off and we would still be in our sin. And the judgment of God would still be waiting for us. If Jesus doubted and relented for just a second, heaven would have stopped the plan. But not for a second does Jesus stumble.

Not for a second does He take His eyes off the cross, even at His darkest hour. Friends, nothing and no one compelled Him to go to the cross. His heart was set. His mind was made up. He was offering Himself to be the punishment of our sin on that lonely cross.

There's obviously a message in that for us as well, for those perhaps listening today who may not hold Jesus Christ to be their Lord, who may not believe that Jesus is the only Saviour of humanity. You might consider Him a good man. You might consider Him a wise teacher. You may think of Him simply as a significant historical figure. But I need to tell you that if He is not the Lord to you, if you don't know why He must be your Saviour, then you stand with Judas and the mob on the other side of the story.

You are rejecting Him just as those people were. How can I say this? It's because you don't know truly who He is. The uncomfortable truth I must tell you today is that you stand on the same side of history as those who plotted His crucifixion because you don't recognise Him. But then, let this truth also give you hope.

That even for those who hated Jesus, their rejection of Jesus was not the final verdict. You see, no one forced Jesus to die on the cross. He chose the cross freely. Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy that was set before Him, Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame. In fact, Colossians 2:15 tells us that Jesus disarmed His enemies through the cross.

That through the cross, He made a public spectacle of His enemies. Indeed, Jesus disarmed His enemies and triumphed over them. Those who reject Jesus think they win. Meanwhile, their victory is always a loss. Why is this good news for you if you have rejected Jesus?

Because friend, even the poorest decision you could make for all eternity, the rejection of Jesus, the worst mistake you can ever make, is no match for His wisdom and power. Even on your smartest day, you can't hold a candle to His knowledge. And if His grace, if His love, if His heart has been set on you, well, your decision to reject Him stands no chance. Your decision to reject Him will stand no chance. Why?

Because He will irresistibly draw you to Himself. And I want to tell you that if you're listening here this morning or you're listening online, the fact that you're listening to these words are probably indicating that He is drawing you. Stop sinning in your rejection. You will lose. You are trying to resist an unstoppable force.

And you may bear the scars of years of rejection. That may be true. Your life today may be a mess. Perhaps you're listening here in the early stages of your rejection. Let me tell you, you will face years of pain.

But let God's word give you this food for thought. Those who hated Jesus enough to arrest Him and seek His death, they could not force Him to do anything. He only needed to say the word and ten thousands of angels would have rushed to His side. He doesn't. He wouldn't.

Why? Because the cross is His place of triumph. The place of His apparent rejection is the place of His victory. But don't be fooled any longer into thinking you don't need Jesus. You need Him more than the breath in your lungs.

And friend, certainly, don't be fooled into thinking that your rejection of Him will keep Him away from His purposes for you. Now, finally, our third point. See how the one who crushed Jesus would exalt Him. In the final section of our reading, we read of the first initial stages of Jesus' trial. It's a trial before the Jewish authorities.

Commentators point out that it is marked by a perversion of justice, this whole process. There was such little regard for even their traditional processes of hearing cases that some liberal scholars say this could never have taken place. It was so out of the norm that we can't believe this to be true historically. But instead, we just see the atrocity of what would take place to try and find the sinless God-man guilty of sin. After failing several times to find witnesses to lay any real charges against Jesus.

Two people come forward with these accusations. Firstly, that Jesus sinned against the temple. He said he will destroy the temple. And secondly, that he implied to be the Son of God. From these accusations, they springboard into questions of Jesus, and how he might be able to incriminate himself.

They ask him directly, will you admit to these things? And in verse 64, on the grounds of his self-identification, which in the story of the gospel of Mark is a high Christological point. Up until this point, remember, the mystery of the Messiah went around Him all the time. Jesus denied or Jesus rejected those titles until this point. Jesus is accused of blasphemy and He gives, in that instance, the warrant for His death sentence.

And yet, we see the sense of the watchful presence of God the Father here as well. Even at the beginning of His ordeal, Jesus tells His accusers how it will end. Verse 64, from now on, He says, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. For those watching on, the trial of Jesus and His eventual crucifixion looked like the chaotic absence of God. In all this injustice and suffering, you could rightly ask, where is God?

But the crowd doesn't know and the Pharisees don't know, only Jesus knows. But the one who would crush Him would exalt Him. The one that would crush Him would raise Him up to a throne that is above every throne, giving Him a title and a name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee should bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. You see, the hour had come.

The Scriptures would be fulfilled. And one of those Scriptures was Isaiah's famous prophecy, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. He, God, has put Him to grief. And when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring, He shall prolong His days.

And notice again, the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. No one could protect Jesus from going to the cross. No one could compel Jesus to go to the cross. Only the will of God to crush Him was the thing that sent Him there. He must go to the lonely hill.

He must die that lonely death. He must make an offering for our guilt, as Isaiah said. Yet even as it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, notice that it is the will of the Lord to prosper His hand, to exalt Him. If we think the story of the cross is a great tragedy, and then that even when incredible good came from it, the salvation of millions of us. But if we rest and we stop at thinking of it as a great loss, think again.

Although the cost was great, the glory is greater. The glory is the joy that was set before Him. It was the triumph that Jesus saw as He drew near to the cross. All along, it was God's will. All along, it was God's will that these disciples would be helpless.

All along, it was God's will that these men should act on their hatred. All along, it was God's will to crush Him so that He would be exalted. That exaltation came in part. We will see on Sunday, March later, at His resurrection. But friends, as Jesus says in this passage, that exaltation will fully be seen when He arrives on clouds of glory.

No eye will miss it. No ear will not hear it, that the King of Glory has finally arrived to take up His kingdom and to reign on His throne. So I want to finish with this point of reflection, this one thing we need to take away this morning. Jesus went to the cross alone. Those who loved Him could not help Him.

Those who hated Him could not compel Him. The one who crushed Him would soon exalt Him. But Jesus had to go to that cross alone, unsupported, uncompelled, so that salvation could ever only be in Christ alone. Stop looking for salvation in all the wrong places. Stop looking for a way to edge away from Him, to legitimise your rebellion and your rejection of the Lord.

Stop thinking that you can make His kingdom come by resisting Christ's enemies. You cannot defend Him. He doesn't need you to defend Him. You need to realise that there is only one Saviour, the lonely Saviour. And all you and I must do is go to Him.

Let's pray. Lord, all we must do, all that we can do is to go to You and let You be our Saviour. We thank You that even as we feel the weight of those heavy moments, those dark hours. Lord, even as You sensed and felt the weight of that loneliness, we thank You that we have a strong Saviour with very wide shoulders who took that cross, who bore the weight of our sin and who can stand fully, righteously, deservingly in the glory that He deserves for what He has done. We celebrate today in humility, in tearfulness, in awe, the incredible love which we have received in Jesus.

And Lord, we take our comfort, we take our hope, we take our cheerfulness even in light of the joy that You had. That not only would You go obediently, not only would You go willingly, You would go freely and with joy on our behalf. Thank You for that. We pray again, Lord, that You move our hearts, move our lives, move our behaviours and actions to align with Your lordship, with Your position as Saviour over our lives. And in Jesus' empowering spirit, we pray. Amen.