Jumpstarter 8 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion

Question 8

Reflecting on Matthew 26:53, Bercot concludes the Father would not “let His beloved Son suffer unwillingly for even one second,” and even suggests the darkness after the crucifixion was “the Father’s outpouring of grief”; what does this reveal about the Father’s heart, and how does it challenge common assumptions that the Father is chiefly wrathful while Jesus is chiefly loving?

Another way to ask: If the Father would not let Jesus suffer unwillingly and the darkness showed the Father’s grief, what does that tell you about the Father’s heart? How does that challenge the idea that the Father is mostly angry while Jesus is mostly loving?

Direct Answer It reveals a Father whose deepest joy is His Son and whose heart is tender, protective, and grief-stricken at the Son’s suffering; this challenges the idea that the Father is mainly wrath while Jesus is mainly love by presenting the Father as intensely loving.

Support from Transcript:

“Does the Father feel the same way toward Jesus? Absolutely. His greatest joy is His Son.”
He “delights in honoring and elevating Him,” and “showers His Son with gifts.”
He imagines the Father’s pain: “unspeakable anguish… watching His Son being humiliated and dying in agony.”
He suggests the crucifixion darkness: “I have no doubt that the darkness… was the Father’s outpouring of grief.”
Matthew 26:53: if Jesus prayed, the Father would send “more than twelve legions of angels… over sixty thousand angels.”
Key conclusion: the Father “was not going to let His beloved Son suffer unwillingly for even one second.”

Discussion Follow-ups How might your trust in God change if you pictured the Father not as distant or harsh, but as grieving and loving at the cross?

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