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Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."
And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."
- Luke 22:39-53
On Saturday, we read that Jesus said to Peter, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me." And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?" So they said, "Nothing." Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end." So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough."
Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." My study bible says that Christ's agony here is the product of His human nature. "In asking that the cup be taken away, He reveals His human will. By submitting His human will to the Father, Christ reveals His divine will to be one with the Father's, and further shows that each person must submit his own will to God's will (11:2). Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, thereby conquering weakness: 'The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened' (St. Gregory the Great)." We have to note also the repeated emphasis on prayer; it's not only essential to Jesus, but to all of the apostles. It's a time of testing, and for that prayer is absolutely indispensable to their lives and what they are going through. "Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation" is a warning to all of us at times of our own stress and difficulty.
And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness." We note once again there is a chance for Judas to confess and repent before Christ, and Jesus explicitly opens the door for this before Judas can speak or act. Of the healing of the high priest's servant, my study bible comments that this particular healing is only recorded by St. Luke the physician. It says, "It indicates the manner in which we are to treat our enemies. The Fathers see a spiritual meaning in that it is Christ who gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see 8:8; 14:35)." Even here we note Jesus' boldness in speaking. In the night, away from the crowds in the temple who love to hear Jesus speak, they come to take Him as if He were a robber (see Saturday's reading, in which Jesus said that the Scripture would be fulfilled: "He was numbered with the transgressors" - Isaiah 53:12). And they will crucify Him between two criminals (or literally "evil-doers"), as Luke will put it (23:32). It is "their hour, and the power of darkness," for which we all need prayer as our greatest true weapon. Regarding darkness, my study bible gives us two references from the Gospel of John: 3:19-21 and 13:30.
Let us think about darkness, and what it is to experience a particular hour, and the power of darkness that comes with it. I have experienced such times. Darkness is first of all ignorance; the power of evil is in this ignorance, and it is sometimes experienced as a deliberate ignorance. That is, a time when people deliberately ignore what they already know, what they have been taught. It's a potent form of lying, often accompanied by envy, and the kind of competition that allows for mercilessness. That's a very dangerous time, and it is - as Jesus indicates in His instructions to the disciples - a time when we really need to be wary of temptation, as we try to stay on the right path in the midst of it. It's a time for which only the power of prayer becomes the sword that we need, the truth that we need to find so that we make our way through it without being scathed or damaged by the temptations that are present. We're all going to experience weakness and temptation in times of great stress, when we don't necessarily have an answer for the full scenario in which we may be caught up, which is playing out all around us and in our lives. We can only stay in the moment and try to stay with Him, be strengthened in prayer whether we are by ourselves and alone, or also if we have the resources to call upon for support (church, friends, and the whole communion of saints we pray with and to as requests for such aid and assistance in prayer). Sometimes we need all the help we can get, all the strength we can get, but our basic weapon for that is prayer whether we have others praying with us or not (besides Father, Son and Spirit). I think there is a kind of degree of darkness that can be experienced at different times. In this case in which Jesus is seized here in the dark in the garden, we have "an hour" of real, intense darkness. They will take Him to a night court, which is an illegal procedure under their own laws. He will be charged illegally, with all kinds of phony witnesses, without being allowed to speak in His own behalf or call witnesses of His own, and despite the fact that they all know what His ministry has been and what He has openly taught every single day in the temple since His arrival in Jerusalem. They will take Him also to the Romans, a governor who will wash His hands of the mess although he finds Jesus innocent, leaving the decision to the crowds who've been stirred up by these leaders. All of this against their own rules, the rules and laws of these religious leaders who are supposed to be the guardian of such laws and traditions. This is not just darkness that comes with a slight temptation, but the greatest darkness of total ignorance imposed against the things they know, and know well. It is a time of turning their backs, their eyes and ears, and hearts against the Scriptures for which they are meant to be the experts and guardians. Above all, the darkness here is against God, against the works that have been done with holy power in Jesus' ministry, against the Spirit who has spoken through the prophets (as the Creed tells us). This is the power of darkness, and it is ignorance -- a truly deliberate, hard-hearted ignorance, a giving in to ignorance of God and ignorance of the things of God. Therefore let us observe that who know better, who have been given so much of the grace of God (such as we who have come later and been given the benefits of centuries of faithful) are thereby subjected to the greatest temptations of darkness, because it is a deliberate evil in which one turns one's back on the things of God that have been revealed. In Saturday's reading, my study bible commented that the testing of Peter will be greatest, because his faith is the stronger. Let us take it all to heart and remember the power of prayer, the temptation we are all subject to in times of darkness, great or small. It's Jesus' warning to His apostles, it is His practice, and it remains His teaching for us today. Especially in times of uncertainty, where the greatest darkness may blindside us so that we can't see clearly a way, nor know by thinking beforehand what it is we must do, how to react. It's the time that darkness may stun us with its unexpected depth and outrage. This is that hour for the disciples. And it can happen to any one of us. That's the time we must stay most firmly with Him. Prayer is our mindfulness.
