Leon Morris (2)

The petition is "let this cup pass away from me." In the Old Testament the "cup" has associations of suffering and of the wrath of God (e.g., Ps. 11:6; Isa. 51:17; Ezek. 23:33), and we should observe the same kind of symbolism here (GNB reads "this cup of suffering"). Jesus' death meant suffering, and because it was a death for sin, there are associations of the wrath of God connected to it. We are not to think of Jesus facing death with the passionate longing for martyrdom that has characterized fanatics throughout history. The death he faced was a horrible death, and he experienced the natural human shrinking from undergoing such an ordeal. So he prayed that if it were possible it might be avoided.
Leon Morris
Pillar, Matthew,

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Leon Morris God's Wrath

Jesus might well have been up there in front standing with John and calling on sinners to repent. Instead he was down there with the sinners, affirming his solidarity with them, making himself one with them in the process of the salvation that he would in due course accomplish. If there is a reference to Isaiah 53, it is relevant to note that in that chapter we read: he "was numbered with the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). There may also be something of the Israel typology here. Jesus himself had no need of repentance, but Israel certainly did; in submitting to John's baptism Jesus is pointing to the people's need. Matthew pictures Jesus as dedicating himself to the task of making sinners righteous, an appropriate beginning of his public ministryMatthew Commentary

Leon Morris Jesus Baptism

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Leon Morris (2)

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