Without an If

"The Hour Is Near"
Oil on canvas by
Anthony Falbo

     When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying for his life, when no hope was in view, He used a phrase to sum up His agony.  He prayed "Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless your will be done." Matthew records Jesus prayed this twice, Luke and Mark once. The form of this prayer is what is commonly called a "conditional clause". When the Greeks used the "If...then" sentence or clause,  to them it had special meaning. These conditional phrases fall roughly into four groups (some think five). These groups are called classes by grammarians. They are used over 600 times in the New Testament so it is important to try to understand their use. I say "try" because most translators are still debating their exact usage.

     When Jesus prayed his prayer the writer wanted the reader to feel his agony and depth of travail with the Father. God was asking Jesus to do something he was not wanting to do. Using the first class conditional phrase helped the author convey this depth of feeling. Without going too deeply into an explanation of conditional usages, let it be understood that the first class condition allows the speaker to say something in undertones. An example would be if a mother said to her child "If you put your hand in the fire, (then) it will be burned." What the mother is saying in a polite way is "don't put your hand in the fire!" 

     In order to understand the soul's agony the author uses the first conditional sentence to this affect, "Father, if it be your will (and I suspect it is) let this cup pass from me!". We see Jesus' inner turmoil as he struggles with the temptation of escaping the Father's absolute design. Without the "if" we probably would not have had the window into the depth of our Lord's struggle in his soul. But because we do have that conditional clause we see His struggle and we identify with it. It is the same thing that we go through in our own temptations not to do His will. "Nevertheless, Your will be done", means so much more.  Matthew has Jesus praying this prayer twice. I suspect there was some space between the conditional clause and the nevertheless. Time and space to struggle with letting go and relaxing into His hands.