Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation

 

 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."

 

- Matthew 26:36-46 

 

On Saturday, we read about Christ's institution of the Eucharist at His final Passover Supper:   And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.  Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And so said all the disciples.

 

  Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." My study Bible explains that when Christ speaks of this cup He's referring to His impending death.  It notes that according to His divine nature, He willingly goes to His death.  But as a human being, He wishes He could avoid it -- it is the mark of humanity to abhor death.  Christ prays if it is possible that it be taken from Him, and gives thereby abundant proof of His human nature.  But Jesus is also without sin, and completely subjects and unites His human will to the Father's divine will.  

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."  Jesus teaches the disciples (and us) to watch and pray.  My study Bible comments this command the key to Christian spirituality and our struggle against temptation.  By this, it says, Christ's human soul is strengthened, and He faces death with divine courage.  By contrast to Jesus' vigilance, the disciples sleep.  As body and soul are united, my study Bible says, the spirit is paralyzed by a lethargic body.  A willing spirit, which recognizes the weakness of the flesh, struggles against its weakness, relying on God's presence and power.  

My study Bible offers this final thought on today's reading, that a willing spirit, recognizing the weakness of the flesh, struggles against its weakness, relying on God's presence and power.  This statement is powerfully true, and in Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane, we also are taught how to approach our own hours of agony and sorrow.  Sometimes it is a struggle just to think what to do next in a difficult situation, particularly if we struggle at times of seeming abandonment.  In their sleeping, the disciples figuratively abandon Christ, and we hear His cries of protest, "What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?"    To struggle against the weakness of the flesh can mean all kinds of things, and in particular, as we relate to the struggle of the humanity of Jesus, that can mean that we struggle against despair, against hopelessness, or even that we give in to the world's certain pronouncement that we're on the wrong course when we follow where our faith leads us.  Jesus' words to the disciples are "watch and pray" against such temptations.  If we think about it we may all have been there at one time or another, and Christ's struggle in the garden becomes our struggle also.  Because the divine Jesus has experienced even this part of our human lives, His life touches us and leads us in so many of our own difficulties.  He has plumbed the depths of such experiences.  When I struggled against hopelessness, not knowing what to do when a parent was under severe duress in the hospital, and left on my own by siblings to make such dire choices, my refuge became prayer.  Any inspiring prayer I could find became a help, memorably and remarkably restoring my energy to face another round of difficult choices.  Christ was right, as should not have surprised me, but prayer did indeed become an inspiration, a kind of miraculous medicine restoring my spirits, so that I could carry on with courage I didn't have a little while before.  What is important is that we take these struggles seriously, understanding or own vulnerabilities.  We "watch and pray" because the world will not always give us good news nor help us in our challenges.  We may also find ourselves sorrowful and deeply distressed.  But just as Christ knows what is coming, and that His struggle -- and even death -- will initiate a New Covenant for all (see yesterday's reading, above), God's ways are not our ways nor God's thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8).  And so, even in the extreme circumstances of Christ's approaching Passion, He prays and teaches the disciples what they must do in the face of the dire things they will soon face.  If this is Christ's teaching for this most difficult of circumstances, then it must be our lesson too, for life offers us challenges that worldly experience alone does not suffice to help.  We need encouragement and strength in the face of bad news; we need God's way for us through difficult times.  Let us remember that the temptation to despair, to give up, may so easily present itself to us.  We watch and pray because it is what we need through all things.  We don't give up or give in to such temptations of the flesh.  We need the strong medicine of our prayers, and the watchful spirit that knows what is necessary.

 

 

 

 

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me"

 

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

 

- Luke 22:14-23 

 

Yesterday we read that in the daytime Jesus was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.  So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and the captains, how he might betray Him to them.  And  they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.  Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."  So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?"  And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.  Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"'  Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."  So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  My study Bible comments that Christ has a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will impart the mysteries of the new covenant to His followers.  Also, this event will inaugurate the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross.

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  My study Bible explains that this first cup concludes the Old Testament Passover meal, which Christ eats to fulfill the Law.  Until the kingdom of God comes, it says, means until Christ's Resurrection.  At that time He will again eat and drink with His disciples (Luke 24:43; Acts 10:41).  

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."  Jesus gave thanks:  this word translated as "gave thanks" has at its root the Greek word eucharist (basic verb form is εὐχαριστέω/eucharisteo).   My study Bible explains that this immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  A manuscript written before the end of the first century, called the Didache, refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In AD 150, St. Justin writes of Holy Communion, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."   Jesus states, "This is My body."   My study Bible comments that the Orthodox Church has always accepted Christ's words as true.   Again, St. Justin is quoted as saying "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."  See also John 6:51-66.

"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.  My study Bible comments that Judas, too, is invited to the table for the mystical supper.  Jesus is seeking by all means to save him.  Judas' unworthy participation leads to his utter destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare to Esther 7).  

There is particular commentary by St. Cyril of Alexandria on today's passage, that is illuminating and helpful.  He writes, "It was suitable for him to be in us divinely by the Holy Spirit. . . . Humbling himself to our infirmities, God infuses into the things set before us the power of life. He transforms them into the effectiveness of his flesh, that we may have them for a life-giving participation, that the body of life thus might be found in us as a life-producing seed . . . Although we cannot understand how God does that, yet he himself knows the way of his works" (Commentary on Luke, Homily 142).  This statement reflects the way that the Eastern Church continues to understand the Eucharist:  it is a divine mystery, and in a way we do not understand, but through the power of God -- and especially the Holy Spirit -- the bread and wine of the Eucharist give to us the Body and Blood of Christ, which are mystically present.  This is how Christ's words were understood in the early Church, and remains so for many in the Church.   In the modern world, we have a centuries old movement that would seem to establish as reality nothing that is spiritual in nature, except as perhaps something theoretical or even imaginary.  If there is faith in the spiritual realm as part of reality, it is frequently not seen nor understood as that which interacts with or is integral to the physical, and so in what might be called a platonic or gnostic sense, there is great separation of physical and spiritual as antithetic to one another.  But when we understand things this way, we participate in what was always considered to be heretical in Christianity.  Science tends to operate on things which can be proven, and since these are called "mysteries" for a reason, they are not discernible through experiments of a scientific kind.  But this does not stop science from theorizing, nevertheless, that there are many dimensions to reality, including those which we cannot discern nor test in a purely material sense.  But what of the Holy Spirit and the power of faith?  What of spiritual beings such as angels?  What of the mysteries of God?  Although these things cannot be documented using what we'd call material scientific means, they are products of centuries of human experience, not only in our own nominal cultures, but around the world.  They are part and parcel of a Christian faith that is wholistic and grounded in timeless truths that still serve those who fall into traps of being misled, or led into cults, or self-destructive or socially destructive behavior.  The meanings and values in Christianity are not given to us in the Gospels as social or material teaching separate from spiritual teaching -- or separate from a life in which spiritual reality is separate from the material, or that our bodies also do not require participation in the life of Kingdom that has been given to us.  We are not given a fragmented faith, but rather one that incorporates all of what we are to the core of our being.  If prayer helps us, if worship helps us, if all of the teachings of Christ are worthy of being considered for what a gift all of this is, then we can't afford to doubt the power of the Spirit and the role the spiritual -- including the mysteries of God -- plays in our lives.  Problems begin when we try to assert that one single methodology is the only way to understand life, and we fail to see that even science, and the beauty and intricacy of life, are part and parcel of what we're given by God, and come also under the whole umbrella of faith.  To understand mystery as a part of life takes a kind of sophistication that is willing to understand and accept that there are simply things we don't know, but that we accept on faith.  It is a gracious way to accept what we've been given by Christ.  The world will constantly seem to present to us all kinds of phenomena that purports to challenge that faith, whether we are speaking of things that terrify us or things that intimidate us, philosophies that shake us, politics of zeal for whatever new idea can challenge the teachings of faith.   But we will find that what we have been given, in the words of Christ, is true:  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."   If we accept that compassion remains a blessed way of life, that cherishing human life and the life of the world is essential to well-being, that love must be the foundation of what we hold as true and good and beautiful, then we should also have the faith to accept the mystery found in God and in the teachings we've been given by Jesus.  For when we come to ourselves, we must recognize the blessings we have from the One who loves us and knows us, who tries by all means even to save His betrayer, and who will do all to save and to bless us.  Let us joyfully participate in His life and His kingdom, giving thanks as we do, even for that which we do not know.

 

 

 

 

This is My body

 

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

 

- Luke 22:14-23 

 

Yesterday we read that in the daytime, Jesus was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet with the other pilgrims to Jerusalem.  Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.  So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.  Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."  So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?"  And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.  Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"'  Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."  So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."   My study Bible tells us that Christ has a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will impart the mysteries of the new covenant to His followers, and also because this event will inaugurate the great deliverance of humanity from sin through the power of the Cross.  

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  This first cup offered by Christ is a conclusion to the Old Testament Passover meal which Christ eats with His disciples in order to fulfill the Law.  My study Bible explains that until the kingdom of God comes means until Christ's Resurrection.  At that time He will again eat and drink with His disciples (Luke 24:43, Acts 10:41).  

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."   The Greek root for the word translated as gave thanks is eucharist/εὐχαριστέω.  This word immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Before the end of the century, my study Bible explains, a manuscript called the Didache ("The Teaching") refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  Moreover, in AD 150, St. Justin says of Holy Communion, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."  Jesus says, "This is My body."  For the Orthodox Church, these words have always been accepted as true:  in the words of St. Justin, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."  

"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.  My study Bible points out that Judas, too, is invited to the table for the mystical supper, and that Jesus is seeking by all means to save him.  His unworthy participation, it says, leads to his utter destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare to Esther 7).

While my study Bible comes from the Orthodox tradition, it explains that in Christendom there are at least three different interpretations of Christ's words.  It notes that for the first thousand years of Christian history, when the Church was visibly one and undivided, the holy gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ were received as just that:  His Body and Blood.  The Church confessed this was a mystery:  The bread is truly Christ's Body, that which is in the cup is truly His Blood -- but one cannot say how they become so.  In the eleventh and twelfth centuries began the scholastic era, the Age of Reason in the West.  The Roman Church by that time had become separated from the Orthodox Church in 1054, and it was pressed by the rationalists to define precisely how this transformation occurs.  Their answer was the word transubstantiation, which means change of substance.  These elements are therefore no longer bread and wine, but are physically changed into flesh and blood.  So the sacrament, which is comprehensible only by faith, was subjected to a philosophical definition.  This view was unknown in the ancient Church.  This issue of transubstantiation became one of the points of disagreement between Rome and the sixteenth-century reformers.  They were not able to accept this explanation, and so the radical reformers (who were also rationalists) took up the opposing point of view:  that these gifts are simply bread and wine.  They only represent Christ's Body and Blood, and have no spiritual reality.  My study Bible says of this third viewpoint, that these elements are only symbols, helps to explain the infrequency with which some Protestants partake of the Eucharist.  Although, I hasten to add, I know many who commune every week.  I must say that for myself I have considered all of these "options," and I tend to personally fall on the side of the first thousand years of Christianity, as I find it the most reasonable.  That is, these words of Christ remain a mystery, and only and just that -- something we accept, but cannot explain, in the same way that we cannot explain the other mysteries of our faith, such as the birth of Christ.  This is because, in my own understanding, there are things that reach so far beyond our own grasping and reality that we simply have no choice but to accept them on faith.  Either the light of faith reveals this for a person, or it does not.  I hasten to add that I feel that each of us is on a very long faith journey, and that this journey is one that changes us -- and as we in turn change, so does our perspective on our faith, and this indeed happens in so many ways.  Christ has spoken of Himself as a road:  "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6.  The Greek word translated as way (ὁδὸς) means "road," and is still used this way in modern Greek.  Therefore Christ speaks of Himself as the "road" to the Father, including the truth and life of God.  So, in the deepest and most original understanding of our faith, we are on a road somewhere.  The importance and significance of the Eucharist is not simply to remember Christ, but to take on the qualities of Christ, the fruits of the Spirit, to become more "like God," even as we hopefully move toward God in our faith.  This is the fullness of the Incarnation and the understanding of the patristic tradition of the Church:  that in Christ, God became human, so that we human beings could become like God.  So much of the understanding of Christ makes sense only through this lens:  His bodily ascent into heaven at the Ascension, thereby glorifying human flesh; His taking on of all that we experience and transfiguring all of life with meaning; and the other mysteries we celebrate such as Baptism, in which water becomes "illumined" with Spirit so that we, in turn, may be made whole and on our own way on this "road" of faith.  The elements of the world such as water for Baptism, or oil for chrismation, are understood to take on a mystical substance which interacts within and for human beings for illumination.  Thereby we are to understand in this same mysterious working of the energies of God as we partake of this mysterious body and blood of Christ.  It is our "supersubstantial" bread, as the prayer to Our Father literally states, in the special Greek word (epiousion/ἐπιούσιον) that appears nowhere in any literature but the Gospels.  As such Christ is our medicine, the fullness of nourishment for all of our real needs:  body, soul, spirit.  As if to underscore explicitly the difficulty of this teaching, John's Gospel tells us that Jesus taught:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you," and that for many disciples this was a point of turning away.  (See John 6:53-71.)   The fullness of the faith is understood through mystery.  That is, there is depth and breadth to our faith that none of us is fully-equipped to understand at the levels of its true founding, as only God can understand and fully know God.  But we begin with these words, which lift us into a promise of Christ as Passover, given in entirety for us, and making a new covenant for all.  Christ teaches us, "Do this in remembrance of Me."  In a profound religious sense, and certainly for the Jews of Christ's time, to remember is to bring into the present, to participate in something -- not simply to commemorate in a social sense.  St. Paul clarifies this when He admonishes the Corinthians not to take the Eucharist in an unworthy manner (see 1 Corinthians 11:23-32).  Let us take on the multiple ways in which our faith works in us, and seek to participate in the mystery offered to us.

 

 

Friend, why have you come?

 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.  Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him."  Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed Him.  But Jesus said to him, "Friend, why have you come?"  Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.  And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.  But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?  How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?"  In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?  I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.  But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled."  Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

- Matthew 26:47-56

In our present readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He has just finished having the Passover meal with His disciples, at which He instituted the Eucharist, the celebration of the New Covenant.  In yesterday's reading, we were told that Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He took said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What!  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."

And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.  Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him."  Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed Him.  But Jesus said to him, "Friend, why have you come?"   The chief priests and elders send a great multitude to seize Jesus.  Elsewhere, we know that Jesus has escaped being taken before by seemingly vanishing through a crowd, and in somewhat mysterious ways those sent to arrest Him were simply unable to do so.   Origen comments that they feared what they considered to be His capacities as an exorcist.  Jesus calls Judas, "Friend," and in a sense we could say that He is still trying to save him, offering Judas another chance for repentance.  But it should be pointed out that this word is not philos, which is the common word for "friend" (as in a lover of something, such as in the word Philadelphia, which means "brotherly love" -- philos + adelphia, "brothers").  It is a word instead (etairos) that means "companion" or "comrade," from a root indicating "clansman."  Hilary of Poitiers points out that Jesus does not use this term for others of His followers.  Instead, there is a parallel in the parable of the Wedding Feast, when the king asks a man who has attended, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?"  That man's reply was also to be speechless, as is Judas without an answer (Matthew 22:12).  In another parable, the vineyard owner says to the grumbling worker, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong" (see Matthew 20:13-16), and asks if his complaint is from envy ("Is your eye evil because I am good?").  To use "Friend" in this way is to do so as rebuke.   We contrast this with Jesus' statement to His disciples in John 15:15, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."   When speaking here to His disciples, the word used for "friends" is philous.

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.  And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.  But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?  How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?"   Jesus rebukes the disciple (identified as Peter in John 18:10) who uses the sword.  My study bible says Peter still does not understand that Christ is going to His death willingly, that salvation for all human beings might be fulfilled (indeed, for the life of the world).  A legion is 6,000 soldiers; and so the twelve legions of which Jesus speaks here are 72,000 angels.  That His death was foretold in the Scriptures (see for example Isaiah 53) served to strengthen the disciples at this time of the most extreme test.

In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?  I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.  But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled."  Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.  Again Jesus emphasizes the fulfillment of the Scriptures, and perhaps we may take that as yet another sign to the disciples that He is going willingly to His death, for immediately afterward they forsook Him and fled.

It is remarkable to note Jesus' boldness in His meekness:  that is, He does not struggle and fight, He chastises Peter for using a sword to defend Him from arrest, and yet His boldness is also apparent in speaking the truth and in confrontation:  He challenges Judas by calling him "Friend" and asking why he has come.  He boldly tells Peter that He could pray and summon twelve legions of angels from the Father.  He faces the multitude armed to take him "as against a robber" and challenges them as to why they didn't bother to take Him as He sat daily in the temple teaching.  His affirmation that this is in accordance with Scripture is also a warning to those who take Him, because the Scripture also gives His identity as Christ, the Messiah.  Throughout this period of His arrest and questioning, we will see this combination of boldness and meekness.  It makes clear what a strong character Jesus has, because He never shrinks from the truth as it is given to Him to speak it.  But where He stays silent, and does not give a struggle, it is in acceptance of what God the Father has given to Him to do.  And this is a great line of discernment.  Jesus' humility and acceptance is before God, first and always.  The truth He tells is the spiritual truth of His mission, and He does not shrink from doing so.  He is not one who seeks the "praise of men" but rather the praise of God.  Indeed, even the leadership (the Herodians) at one point, when they approached Him in the temple, said to Him, "You do not regard the person of men" as a testimony to His righteous truthfulness.  In an interesting parallel to this understanding of Jesus' character, Hillary of Poitiers comments that "the reason for Judas’s kiss was that we might discern all our enemies and those who we know would delight in raging against us"  (trans. M. Simonetti, 2001).  Jesus allows Judas' kiss, and speaks peacefully to all, so that the betrayal only becomes more clear, says Origen.  In this sense is "Friend" used as a rebuke, since Jesus has offered Judas only friendship, and is in turn being betrayed.  Indeed, this word for "friend" is minus the love indicated in philos.  Commentaries such as these indicate a very special insight about judgment, and that is that the goodness -- even the meekness -- in Christ's behavior acts as discerning tool of those who behave with belligerence and hostility.  It becomes, in effect, a way of building judgment in the world, of proving out what is truly in the heart of individuals who respond in such a way, despite their calling Him "Master."  In such a light we also have to see Jesus' telling the truth even on trial and to those who are directly hostile to Him.  It first of all is an offer for repentance, but it is also a tool of discernment of the hearts of the individuals who respond to Him with hostility to that truth.  Jesus does not work by coercion, because faith does not work that way, love does not work that way.  A true friend of Christ is one who loves Christ.  Peter's sword must be put up -- and there is a profound and powerful reason why.  We would all do well to remember this.  Our souls might depend upon it.

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak

 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He took said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What!  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."

- Matthew 26:36-46

In our current readings, we are in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week.  Jesus has given instructions to the disciples to prepare the Passover Meal.  On Saturday, we read that as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.  For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:  'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'  But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."  Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And so said all the disciples. 

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He took said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me."  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."   The cup that Jesus refers to is His impending death, the Crucifixion.  My study bible says Jesus' divine will follows that of the Father, and He willingly goes to death.  But as a human being, his soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death; He wishes to avoid it if it is possible.  It is a mark of humanity to abhor death, a true sign of His human nature.   But He is without sin; He subjects and unites His human will to the Father's divine will.

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What!  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  My study bible says that the command to watch and pray is the key to Christian spirituality and our struggle against temptation.  To watch is to be alert, awake, vigilant.  The word in Greek can even mean to waken.  Christ's human soul, says my study bible, is strengthened by watching and praying, and He faces death with divine courage.  In contrast to Christ, the disciples sleep.  Body and soul are united; the spirit may be hindered by lethargy.  A willing spirit needs to recognize the weakness of the flesh and struggle against it, relying on the strength and presence of God.  The three disciples He takes aside with Him are the same three who accompanied Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the home of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue at Capernaum.

Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."   We note Christ's repeated requests of the Father, and repeated times at prayer, after finding the disciples sleeping.  To watch and pray is always a good practice.  Repeated prayer -- particularly when making difficult decisions -- is always a good idea.  In this way our faith works to put things in the hands of God, to seek to discern our circumstances and options, and to reconcile fears with what we must accept and respond to.

Christ is our true image of heroic struggle.  Here in the garden of Gethsemane (meaning "oil press") Jesus wages the true struggle of faith, and we understand that it is an internal struggle.  Our struggle in truly in the midst of good and evil, of various sorts of reasons and understanding struggling within us -- even to discern the evil from the good.  That's not an easy task.  Look at the paradox with which Jesus struggles.  The good human impulse to abhor death is healthy.  How can it be good for Jesus to die, and to die on the Cross as a great criminal?  Can this be good for the disciples or for the Church to come?  Every aspect of human psychology will say "no."  But the struggle is within the discernment of soul, flesh, and spirit.  We can't see how things will work together for God's purposes, or for the good.  From our perspective, the "flesh" that is weak struggles with the spirit which unites with that which is outside of time and thus our own experience.  What is perfectly rational for our worldly sense of life and of our experience sometimes must be struggled against in the battle for faith.    Jesus' use of the word flesh here is one that indicates worldly life as differentiated from God's plan or spiritual reality; a difference between what we know of the world and worldly life and the places God would have our faith take us to.  This is what Jesus pushes His disciples to embrace, it is what He actively displays.  And it is, in effect, the great struggle for faith for which we are always in a state of engagement, of battle -- that is "spiritual battle."  In our own struggles for faith, we will find ourselves in places that mirror where Christ is in the garden, this place of the "oil press."  We may think of this olive oil press as symbolic of that place where mercy -- even our salvation --  is worked out, drawn out from within difficult circumstances which threaten to crush who we are and what we understand of our lives.  While we may not face circumstances which will shape and change the future of the entire world as Christ does, we do find ourselves in places where logic and purely rational thinking don't come up with the answers we need.  We find ourselves in circumstances where the possibilities that truly exist within a situation aren't all available to us from our own worldly understanding, where we're drawn forward into a future we can't yet see, through the faith that comes in prayer.  The paradox of life plays out in our lives and experiences too, but it comes down to just this experience of struggle between flesh and spirit.  Where transcendent mercy is found, where faith is, becomes the oil from the press, the one thing necessary that makes all the difference.   In reading today's passage, we already know what is to come and the courage and dignity that Christ will display through all. But this struggle right here in Gethsemane is where it all comes down.  To watch and pray is the command in the true battle of our lives.