So here’s the explanation.
We are told in the gospels that when Judas betrayed Jesus to the high priest, Peter tried to defend Jesus from the mob by force of arms. Not only does Christ correct Peter for Peter’s sake, he also heals the injury Peter managed to inflict before being reigned in.
Jesus explains that there are legions of angel on standby, waiting on a word from their Captain and they will deliver Him.
But Christ wasn’t there to be delivered. In fact, deliverance from the trial at hand woud have defeated His whole purpose for coming to earth in the first place. Deliverance would have rendered the whole Incarnation worthless.
But what about all the people he healed? The sermons he preached?
All pointless without the sacrifice of the cross. The sacrifice that only He could make.
Jesus said to the paralytic whose friends broke through and lowered him from a roof that his sins were forgiven, then He healed his paralysis to demonstrate He had the authority to forgive those sins. The power to heal the body was used called upon to prove the power to heal the soul, and the latter is the more significant point.
So, during His hour of personal trial, even though He had just finished praying “If it is at all possible, let this cup pass from my lips,” Jesus rejected deliverance from heaven because it would void the purpose of His life–the very reason He walked as a man.
He declined the angels.
A servant is no greater than his master. We walk, and to a purpose. If deliverance keeps us from living out that purpose, from fulfilling the very reason He brought us where we find ourselves then, Lord willing, let us too decline the angels and drink the cup.
It’s not worth avoiding pain if meaning goes with it.
