But this is your hour, and the power of darkness

 

 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  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but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 the Lord said to Simon Peter at the Last Supper, "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 comments that Christ's agony was the product of His human nature.  As He asks that this cup be taken away, Jesus is revealing His human will.  In submitting His human will to God the Father, Christ reveals His divine will to be one with the Father's, and this moreover shows that each person must do the same:  seek to submit one's own will to God's will (Luke 11:2).   My study bible makes the point, moreover, that Christ willingly has taken in Himself the voice of weak humanity, and thereby conquers weakness through transfiguration.  This is the crucial focus of the Incarnation and its power to heal our brokenness.  St. Gregory the Great comments:  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened."

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."   My study bible comments that this healing is recorded only by St. Luke the physician.  It is an indication of the manner in which we are to treat our enemies, it notes.  In patristic commentary, a spiritual meaning is seen in that it is Christ who gives people the ability to hear the truth (as it is the servant's ear that is cut off and healed) and thereby come to salvation (see Luke 8:8, 14:35).   Regarding the power of darkness, see John 3:19-21, 13:30.

 

 So what is the power of darkness?  Certainly darkness is the absence of light.  We say the light of the sun is dimmed when there is an object in the way, such as a cloud, or even the earth's face is turned away in our orbit around the sun, the axis of the world at certain times leaving our particular area of the planet in night's darkness, illumined only by the light of the moon and its phase at that time (also a function of obstacles in the way of the light).  In John's Gospel, its Prologue affirmatively declares that Christ is the light of the world that has come into the world; John 1:4-5 declares, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."  The cause of this darkness is the absence of the light, and in this case that light refers to Christ and all the things that are in Christ, particularly the light of spiritual truth, but also all the things implied in the Word, the Logos:  order, reason, wisdom, creativity, and a myriad host of good things that make for good life.  True peace and joy are also found in this light of Christ (John 14:27, 15:11).   St. Paul writes to the early Christians at Philippi, "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:8-9).  All of these things, and the capacity to give us grace that bestows them upon us and magnifies them in us, are in that light.  And the darkness is its absence, through whatever cause.  Sometimes that cause is deliberate choice.  The Gospel of John tells us, "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."  Sometimes it is ignorance through no fault of the person who is in darkness.  Matthew's Gospel quotes from Isaiah:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:  The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned" (Matthew 4:15-16, Isaiah 9:1-2).  Judas is betraying that light, but Christ the true light continues to try to save him, by asking, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"   This is another quality of that light in Christ, to love and to save and to heal, all on display in today's reading.  The brokenness of this world is essentially its darkness; but nevertheless John's words remain true, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  And we can see this all around us in our world.  But nevertheless, Christ gives us a mission, to spread His light in the world, and that light is in the word of the Gospel.  Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the light.  No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).  Soon we will be celebrating the birth of Christ into the world, the Light who comes to us and lives a fully human life in order to heal all of our own darkness.  Let us consider the darkness we may observe around us in corruption and violence and lies and all manner of problems, and understand that His mission to bring that light to the world continues with every new generation, every new worker that comes to join the harvest (Luke 10:2).