by Donald Senior, C.P.

The pace of the passion story begins to quicken. Jesus and his disciples leave the supper room and go to a secluded grove of olive trees (Luke locates Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives). There Jesus takes three of his disciples and begins a vigil of intense and anguished prayer. His words evoke Psalm 42--"My soul is sorrowful even to death" (26:38). The master who had taught his disciples the importance of direct, honest and trusting prayer (6:5-15) now prays with all his heart as he looks into the face of death. Jesus falls prostrate on the ground and opens his spirit to God: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will." (26:39). All of the mystery of Jesus is expressed in this prayer: a human being clinging to life and fearing death; a faithful child of God who places all of his future in the hands of a loving Father.

Three times Jesus' repeats his intense prayer. He had asked his disciples to keep vigil with him but they are overwhelmed with sleep and once more fail their master. Their sleep is symbolic of their spiritual torpor--they are not prepared for the fury of death that is about to sweep through Gethsamene and threaten the life of Jesus.

The storm of death arrives when Judas leads a large crowd armed with swords and clubs into the garden to arrest Jesus (26:47). Once again Matthew's Gospel gives special attention to this doomed disciple. With scorching irony a kiss becomes the sign of treachery. As he had at the supper, Judas masks his betrayal with seemingly innocent words: "Hail, Rabbi!" But Jesus sees deeply into the soul of Judas and even in the very instant of betrayal addresses him as "friend".

The armed mob takes Jesus captive but in a futile gesture one of the disciples draws a sword and severs the ear of the high priest's servant. In Matthew's account this becomes an opportunity for Jesus to teach. He warns the disciple not to return violence for violence--those who live by the sword die by the sword. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had urged his disciples not to turn to violence (5:21-26, 38-42); a child of God must love even the enemy (5:43-48). If it were a simple matter of displays of power, God could overwhelm Jesus' attackers with legions of angels. But God's reign revealed in the scriptures would not be imposed by violence. Jesus' fidelity would take him into the valley of death but, ultimately, the scriptures would be fulfilled and love would defeat violence and death.

But for now the forces of evil seem to have the upper hand. Faced with that prospect the disciples succumb to fear and desert Jesus to his captors.

Email questions or comments about this page to Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P. Copyright 1997, Passionist Publications, Union City, NJ USA. Passionist Publications reserves all rights to text, illustrations, and HTML.