Mark 14:36

“Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Jesus, alone in Gethsemane, fallen to the ground, addressing God the Father in the hour before his arrest. He has just asked that "the hour" pass from Him (v. 35); this is the immediate continuation of that prayer.

The words — αββα (abba) is Aramaic for "father," the intimate, childlike form of address Jesus uses to God, embedded in his Greek speech. It is the same cry Paul says the Spirit produces in believers (Gal 4:6), here spoken by the Son himself.

The thread — Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15 tie "Abba" to the Spirit's work in adopted sons, so Jesus models the very relationship the Spirit cultivates in the believer. John 5:30 echoes the closing clause: "I do not seek My own will, but the Father's."

Why it lands — The verse refuses to flatten Jesus into either passive victim or stoic hero; he wants the cup gone and he surrenders his want. It asks the reader to bring their own will to God with the same honesty—naming it, then releasing it—rather than performing a piety they do not feel.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Cross-references

Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
John 5:30 I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
John 12:27 Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
John 18:11 “Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.