Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation

 

 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  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but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.  My study Bible explains that Christ' agony was the product of His human nature.  In asking that the cup be taken away, He reveals His human will.  Christ submits His human will to the Father, and thereby reveals His divine will to be one with God the Father's.  This further shows that each of us must submit our own will to God's will (Luke 11:2).  My study Bible notes that Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, and thereby conquers weakness.  It quotes St. Gregory the Great:  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened."  Christ's sweat, like great drops of blood falling to the ground, shows us that His agony is real.  He is not simply 'half human and half divine.'  He is both fully human, and fully divine.  The fully divine Son has taken on all that we are and all that we experience as well.

 

 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."  In the context of everything that we have read so far this week, we must understand the importance of these words.  It is a time of great influence by spiritual sources of evil.  Satan has been mentioned many times in the text.  So we need to understand the importance of prayer:   to rise and pray, to be alert about their circumstances and awake, so that they not enter into temptation, is for the disciples especially essential at this time of great darkness and fear.   As the text has taught us, Satan works through the weaknesses and temptations of human beings.  Specially at this time, we see this work in the religious leaders who envy Christ, and Judas whose weakness is greed.  Notice Jesus speaks of the urgency to avoid entering into temptation; that is, we will all be tempted by in some ways, but to enter in and engage in that temptation is another step into a snare.  We pray for the strength not to do so.

 

 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?"  What this question, Jesus continues, even at this time, to attempt to save Judas from what he is doing.

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.  My study Bible tells us that this healing is recorded only by St. Luke the physician.  It indicates the way in which we are to treat our enemies.  There is also a patristic perspective here which gives this event a spiritual meaning, in that it is Christ who gives people the ability to hear truth and thereby come to salvation (see Luke 8:8, 14:35).  This event also demonstrates Christ's complete reliance on and obedience to the God the Father.

At this stage, we might wonder why Christ does not resist His arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is reported to have said, "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?"  (Matthew 26:52-54).  But we truly have to understand Christ's full dependence upon God the Father, and that He is fulfilling a mission in a particular way that it must be fulfilled.  In Christ's Passion, we are confronted with what is called a theodicy.  That is, we're confronted with the question of why God permits evil to happen.  In this case, we can clearly see an atrocious evil, one that imperils, tortures, and seeks to put to death the greatest Savior of the world, One who is completely good.  Why should it happen thus?  But God does not work in the ways that human beings work and think.  God works through circumstances to bring about a greater plan, a more powerful goal.  And as we have seen via the witness of Luke's Gospel, in these evil events and working through human beings there is also a spiritual force of evil behind them.  On that greater battlefield is our answer, for Christ's death is a snare to that evil, to "hell" itself, for He will conquer the power of death through His death on the Cross.  These are hard things to grasp; they are not easy, and they are not simple.  We can only understand and experience them through faith, and sometimes through our own experience of going through a dark or evil time and clinging to our own faith even through times characterized by injustice, and witnessing the outcome.  Whether we perceive or understand these realities beyond worldly life, they are nevertheless part and parcel of the Gospel narrative, and we are being taught about the greater importance of faith in our lives than we can usually consciously appreciate.  The reliance upon God is consistent throughout the Old Testament and the New.  St. Paul clearly emphasizes the same when he quotes from Deuteronomy in his epistle to the Romans:  "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord (Romans 12:19).  That is, God's justice is not absent, but we are invited to participate in its fullness through faith.  There are elements of God's justice at work which are beyond our understanding.  But Christ's Passion, and the roles of the disciples which we have observed throughout this work, offers us something greater than we can perhaps know -- and that is, that we are also invited into this spiritual battlefield as Christ's disciples.  We, too, are asked to find God's will for us in all circumstances, to rely on God's justice, to practice prayer and call upon the strength to avoid entering into temptation, to be aware of our own weaknesses and passions.  This is not simply a struggle in heaven and unseen places of what is called the "invisible" or "unseen" realm; this struggle is in the battleground of our hearts and we are invited by Christ to participate fully engaged in our own lives, with Him.  St. Paul echoes the same.  It's not about picking out worldly enemies, but about an awareness of deeper spiritual truths at work that lie behind the patterns we observe and the struggles in our own lives by choosing what we will serve.  Everybody has choices to make, everybody is tested at times of darkness and fear, illness and death, tragedy and violence.  But even in the simplest life the choices are there:  in the fleeting moments and the pressure of dramas we can't control.  Often, in a modern context, we can understand such struggle in the healing from trauma, in the resistance to some powerful media manipulation or collective push into a struggle for political power, in our own struggle to overcome anger or envy and to find that thread in prayer where we turn to Christ -- and all the help available to us -- to find the right way to go through a hard time.  There is always the temptation to panic, to give in to easy answers and slogans, to stop the struggle against what we know is wrong, to follow the crowd we don't really trust, and a host of other temptations.  When we feel alone, or betrayed, or abandoned, we are especially vulnerable.  In our own time, we have powerful forces of manipulation of purely earthly natures which work through media and money, slogans and movements.  The dangerous motivations of envy, greed, power, and position are equally present as in the story we read in the Gospels.  We still live in a world of those who lord it over others and terrify with their might.  The history of the 20th century has taught us nothing if we do not come to understand that, and we now move into a new century with far advanced technology for such ends.  Let us rely upon God, and follow as Christ has taught, through all things.  Let us not sleep through these times, but always remember to "Rise and pray, lest [we] enter into temptation," and know what we are to be about -- and what we're up against.  Ultimately the victory must be the Lord's.  "For," as St. Paul has written, "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12), and these remain with us as well.

 

 

And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly

 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

Yesterday we read that after the Passover supper 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."  This is Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemane.  My study bible says that it is the product of His human nature.  When He asks that the cup be taken away, He is revealing His human will.   But He submits His human will to the Father, and in so doing reveals that His divine will is one with the Father's.  Moreover, it gives us a model for ourselves:  each one of us must submit our own will to God's will (11:2).  My study bible explains that thus Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, and thereby conquers weakness.  It quotes the commentary of St. Gregory the Great:  "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.  This healing is mentioned only in the Gospel of Luke, the physician.  My study bible says that it indicates the manner in which we are to treat our enemies.  By patristic tradition, there is also a spiritual meaning here, in which we understand that it is Christ who gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see 8:8, 14:35). 

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."   In the New Testament, the understanding of light and darkness features prominently in various sayings of Jesus.  While He taught His truth openly in the temple, these men were afraid to seize Him before the people.  But here in the darkness there is the power of darkness, that which seeks to hide from the Light (see John 3:19-21; 13:30).

What is the power of darkness?  This is the hour when that which seeks the darkness strikes; it desires to work in a way that is hidden, and does so for a particular reason.  Jesus tells a truth that the people wish to hear.  When He engages in open controversy in the light, teaching daily in the temple, He does not do so in order to stir up a mob, nor to seize power under false pretenses, nor to sway people with lies.  But the power of darkness is that which embraces manipulation of all kinds, including violence and lies.  What we are given in today's verses of Luke's Gospel is not so much an exposition on darkness and light, as it is the quite essential teachings of Christ for how we seek to cope with the actions of the darkness, the times of its power, and its hour.  Most noticeable are  simply Jesus' repeated teachings to the apostles:  Pray that you may not enter into temptation.  When He finds them sleeping, after His own strengthening through prayer, He repeats this teaching to them:  Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  What stands out in today's reading is Christ's teaching to us for coping with the times of darkness and its power:  Prayer.  This is the first way to shore up strength and personal reserves for coping with the times when we are under tremendous personal stress and difficulty.  These will always be times for us of temptation.  Think about the challenges one faces in life.  Perhaps our greatest challenges are those times of terrible stress and fear.  We might be faced with a healthcare crisis, either for ourselves or for someone who we love.  We may be in the middle of a family drama at the time of the death of a loved one, always a stressful time no matter what the circumstances.  Perhaps we find ourselves as a victim of a crime, or a loved one or a friend.  Maybe there is a different and frightening threat involved in some aspect of our lives.  Holidays themselves can be stressful and trying, particularly for individuals coping with addictions and family trauma.  In every single case, prayer can be understood as recommended by Christ (and as reported by Luke the physician) as our first and last resort for coping with the times of darkness, times when we are threatened by something that gives rise to terrible fears.  It is important to punctuate these times with remembrance of God through prayer, because it is through prayer that we find ourselves bolstered to make the difficult decisions, and as Christ says, to keep the temptations away for falling into error and stumbling with our own human frailties.   Taking time out for regular prayer is a must for such times, such as during a hospital vigil, for example.  Prayer has a way of feeding our reserves of strength, shoring up our better natures, giving us the courage to make difficult decisions in hard circumstances -- particularly when temptation abounds during times of darkness and we are coping with the effects of evil in any form.  Practices such as prayers of the Hours (see this page on my blog for an example),  or intermittent prayer of any type are helpful.  One can do an internet search for prayers written for specific hours of the day (such as Compline or Vespers) or for specific occasions.  There are types of prayer which suit all times and every personal need and individual capacity.   Even the stressful time of shopping for gifts for Christmas -- a time meant to be joyful, but reported by so many to be otherwise -- is a good occasion for intermittent prayer.   A short phrase repeated to oneself at any time in silence (such as the Jesus Prayer or "Lord have mercy") may be a helpful practice for getting us through it in gratitude.  This season, while we celebrate the birth of our Savior, can also be a time of disappointments, old hurts revisited, and a feeling that we are missing out on what others have.  In today's reading, in this reporting of the worst of times, both Jesus' example -- His action of prayer -- and His repeated teaching to the apostles, are the best ways to understand the true medicine we need for our souls to help us make the best choices, even in the worst of circumstances with seemingly only bad options all around.  Let us consider, as we head into the holidays, that we live in an imperfect world.  We don't practice magic.  Instead, we have faith and the tools and weapons of prayer, the whole armor of God, that He gives us and teaches to us.  They are with us and ready for us always. 

Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation

 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

Yesterday we read that Christ warned, "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 is the product of His human nature.  In asking that the cup be taken away, He reveals His human will.  He submits His human will to the Father, and thereby reveals the divine will to be one with the Father's -- He also shows that each person must submit his own will to God's will (Luke 11:2).  In His Incarnation Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, and thereby conquers weakness, says my study bible. Gregory the Great is quoted here:  "The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened."   We also note His repeated admonition to the disciples in this deep time of trial:  "Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation."   We observe the human weakness in the disciples, His companions, as they sleep because of sorrow. 

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.  My study bible points out that this healing by Christ is recorded only by St. Luke the physician.  It shows the manner in which we are to treat our enemies.   The Fathers, it says, see a spiritual meaning in the healing of the servant's ear, in that it's Christ who gives people the ability to hear the truth and thereby come to salvation (see Luke 8:8, 14:35).  It's seems that Jesus' words, "Permit even this," may be for forgiveness of the violence of the sword, something He didn't want.

As we observe Christ in this situation, it's important that we understand our conduct in the face of evil.  The greatest evil is happening:  He's been betrayed by His hand-chosen disciple Judas, one of the Twelve.  He's going to be put to death as a great criminal, on trumped up charges for the cause of envy by the leadership.  But His command is that He go willingly into this time of terrible injustice and extraordinary sin.  God walks through the evil of our world and becomes its "victim."  It is a voluntary sacrifice for reasons far beyond the understanding of those who perpetrate the crime.  And we note that the redemption of the Cross does not deny the evil or take away the reality of the evil; it overcomes.  It is God's purpose that uses everything for good, for the triumph of the spiritual truth.  But again, let's go to this scene and observe Jesus:  He's struck with His own sort of "conflict" -- the difference between the human and the divine, but as our example, submits to the will of the Father.  We can all see ourselves in this conflict in Christ.  Sometimes the things we're led to don't seem to make any sense in worldly terms, but we are to "go there" anyway.  Often we'll be asked to make sacrifices we don't want to make, but we "go there" anyway.  His words and His teaching to the disciples, to His friends who fall away in sleep and don't stay awake with Him this night, are to "rise and pray."  This again is an example for us in times of trial and evil.  It's how we're supposed to respond in our own times of trial, or observation of evil around us.  Often "bad things" may trouble us in the middle of the night; His solution to "rise and pray" is a good one, until peace returns.  And we pray "lest we enter into temptation" -- so that we are guided into the right way of response in such times.    This becomes extremely important at those times.   Jesus then responds to Judas with a question:  "Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" giving him yet another chance for repentance and salvation.  He is always healing, always offering the gospel.   No matter what is happening, Jesus sticks to spiritual truth.  He's not to respond with violence of any kind, He doesn't amass a worldly army for this kingdom, and he heals the ear of the servant of the high priest.  Throughout all the trials and temptations, the fear of what will happen with His disciples, Jesus sticks to the will of the Father.  He knows His mission and He will stay with it.  To watch and pray is to do our best to stay on point, on mission, to know the commands we're given.  Let us remember how He responds in times of trial, and how He teaches us to be.  Let us do likewise.