Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done

 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  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but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.

- Luke 22:39-51

In yesterday's reading, the Lord said, "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."    Christ's agony, my study bible notes, is an expression of His human nature.  His human will is expressed through His desire to take this cup away.  But He submits His human will to the Father, and reveals His divine will to be one with God the Father's.  Moreover, Christ's agony teaches us about our own struggles as His disciples; we seek to submit our will to God's, even as we pray "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (see 11:2).   My study bible quotes Gregory the Great:  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened."  He willingly takes on and expresses our humanity in Himself, and thereby conquers weakness.  But moreover, His understanding and message is that all things are in the hands of God.  This goes hand in hand with His teaching to the disciples, "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.  Only St. Luke the physician gives us the story of this healing.  Christ has a way to go to His Passion, and it is not through violence.  There is also a spiritual meaning perceived in Christ's action:   Christ gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see 8:8, 14:35).

How do we know what God wants for us?  How do we know what God's will is, and what God wants us to do?  It seems to me that the one thing we can do always is pray as we have been taught:  "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (11:2).  This prayer is not an abstract plea or petition.  It is a personal prayer (although corporate in nature, as we pray to Our Father in heaven).  This is not merely about some future time that might happen to someone else in some future generation or age.  It is about the kingdom of God which lives within us, and which we seek to live through our worldly lives.  Today's reading specifically exemplifies that struggle, as given to us in and through Jesus Christ and His life in the world.  He struggles with what He knows the Father wants from Him, but His human nature is completely contrary to what He is asked to do.  And this, as my study bible says, becomes our own struggle.  There are times in our lives when we pray to know what God wants of us, and we come to find -- when we give up all our ideas of what we "should" do and "should" want -- that what God calls us to will take us outside of worldly expectations, social rules, family assumptions about good behavior, and everything else we know and believe to be nominally "good."  In our struggle to be faithful, there will be times when we will need to follow Christ in His footsteps, although our own sweat may be like great drops of blood falling to the ground, there is something we know we have to do and with which we need to follow through because it is our "hour" to do so.  We live in a modern world that might quite frequently call upon us to do something that seems good, but is not the place where we live God's will and God's kingdom lives in us.  We may find that living such a life calls upon us to do things that seem like we're going about things wrong-headedly:  a call to mercy might not bring us immediate monies or remuneration of a different kind, a "no" to someone may seem like it's unkind or socially awkward, a changed value system may call us to stand out among family or friends.  But this is what it is to seek to dwell in this Kingdom and follow the Father's will for us.  St. Paul says of this strange way of living the Kingdom, "We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now" (1 Corinthians 4:12).  Can we imagine the conflicts going through Jesus at this time in His agony?  What will become of His followers?  He knows that going to the Cross will be a "stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23).  And yet, it is what the Father asks of Him.  It is what He has repeatedly warned the disciples was coming.  In faith, He will go where He is asked to go, although every impulse within Him focuses the other way.  God will call us each in a unique way to bear our own crosses.  We, of course, are not Christ Himself, but we will be asked -- in one way and another -- to participate in His life.  Through this participation our lives will be shaped, we will find ourselves changed, and looking back on the pathway we're given, we'll find that despite all our expectations to the contrary, God had a plan.  The times when we refuse that will and give in to the worldly pressures will turn out to be obstacles that later need to be overcome and revisited, and they will call for courage on our part.  This is my experience.  Let us pray, "Your will be done," and live that Kingdom in the world as best we can, and follow Him.  Let us note that an angel comes to strengthen Christ, in response to His prayer.  Moreover, it is prayer that He chooses at this time of struggle, and prayer to which He exhorts His followers in this terrible time of temptation.  These examples teach us how powerful prayer really is -- and what it means to be truly awake to the present moment of our lives.