This cup

In his Exhortation to Martyrdom ( Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, and Selected Works , p. 61 ), Origen ponders why Jesus would have resisted martyrdom by asking His Father to remove the cup from him. Origen quotes from the synoptics, each of which quotes Jesus praying for the removal of ” this cup,” as opposed to another. From this, he draws the surprising conclusion:

“Consider carefully whether it is not possible that the Savior saw, so to speak, what the different kinds of cups were and what would happen because of each of them, and that when He had considered their differences by some vast depth of wisdom, He refused one kind of martyr’s death, while in secret He asked for another kind that was probably harder, so that some more general benefit that would overtake a greater number might be accomplished through that other cup.” (The Father refuses, Origen says in a passage that Arius must have loved, because the Father’s will is “wiser than the Son’s” and therefore pursues a better course than the Son can foresee.)

In short: Not this cup; that’s too easy. Make it harder. Bring it on.