Quote
Matthew 26:42
"He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done".

My question is why did Jesus pray this?? I'm looking for an answer because I read about this in a book by Brian McLaren "More Ready Than You Realize". The (erroneous) author gives a story in the book about a guy who comes to him asking him why Jesus had to die? The "answer" is provided to him by his brother, named Peter. Here's part of the story from the book:
Quote
"'Okay', I said, 'except that a couple weeks ago I realized that I don't know why Jesus had to die.' Then Peter, without skipping a beat, without even a moment's hesitation, said, 'Well, neither did Jesus.' 'What?' I said, making a kind of strange face. Then Peter said, "Remember the story about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? He was praying that if there were any other way for him to accomplish his mission, he hoped God would spare him from dying. But then he said 'Not my will, but your will be done.' So it sounds to me like Jesus didn't really understand why it had to be that way either. But the point wasn't understanding it; the point was doing what needed to be done."

My question is I know that this interpretation from Peter is wrong, but I'm not sure why. I do know Jesus told the disciples what he was going to do, so for Peter say Jesus didn't know what he was doing seems like wrong theology. But my question is then why did Jesus pray this prayer then??? I can't come up with a good answer here.

I hope this makes sense. Any help would be appreciated.

(P.S. I finally called my assoc. pastor and am supposed to meet with him tomorrow (if my husband can stay home with the kids). I know he's promoting Brian McLaren with our sr. high kids (I just discovered this last week) and I think he's using the above book I mentioned for the sr. high sunday school class!!. When I discovered this I (begrudingly) got the book to evaluate. I am almost done with this book. It shows me more of where this author is coming from. I've read 3 1/2 of his books now. It's very disturbing to me and if my older son where 7-8 years older I know I could not have him in this class reading this book!!)