St Mark Chapter XIV : Verses 32-42
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| My soul is sorrowful even unto death... J-J Tissot |
[33] And he taketh Peter and James and John with him; and he began to fear and to be heavy.
[34] And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you here, and watch.
[35] And when he was gone forward a little, he fell flat on the ground; and he prayed, that if it might be, the hour might pass from him.
[36] And he saith: Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chalice from me; but not what I will, but what thou wilt.
[37] And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping. And he saith to Peter: Simon, sleepest thou? couldst thou not watch one hour?
[38] Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
[39] And going away again, he prayed, saying the same words.
[40] And when he returned, he found them again asleep, (for their eyes were heavy,) and they knew not what to answer him.
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| Sleep ye now, and take your rest. J-J Tissot |
[42] Rise up, let us go. Behold, he that will betray me is at hand.
[32] Et veniunt in praedium, cui nomen Gethsemani. Et ait discipulis suis : Sedete hic donec orem. [33] Et assumit Petrum, et Jacobum, et Joannem secum : et coepit pavere et taedere. [34] Et ait illis : Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem : sustinete hic, et vigilate. [35] Et cum processisset paululum, procidit super terram : et orabat ut, si fieri posset, transiret ab eo hora :
Notes
32. they come to a farm called Gethsemani. Three names descriptive of Gethsemani are given by the evangelists, farm, garden, country place. Gethsemani signifies olive-press.
It was a country place outside the city walls. As no gardens were allowed in Jerusalem except those on the roofs of the houses, many of the wealthier classes had gardens on the adjacent mountain slopes. We may conclude that Gethsemani belonged to a disciple of Christ, since Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place ; because Jesus had often resorted thither together with his disciples (St John xviii. 2).
Eight ancient olive trees now mark the traditional site. These trees could not have existed in the time of our Lord, since Josephus tells us that Titus and Adrian, during the siege, felled all the trees within ninety stadia of Jerusalem, but they must have existed before the Saracens conquered Jerusalem in 636 A.D., since only a tax of one medin is paid for these trees, whereas for trees planted after the Turkish occupation the tax was half the produce of the fruit of each. It is possible that these trees now standing sprang from the trunks of the trees that stood there in our Lord’s time.
he saith to his disciples: Sit you here (i.e. to eight of them). A flat stone, at a little distance from the grotto of the agony , is said to mark the spot where the eight disciples were left to watch and pray (if the words quoted by St Luke apply to all the disciples) (xxii. 39, 40).
Sit you here , while I pray. St Matthew gives, till I go yonder and pray. Possibly this was not the first time the Apostles had slept while Jesus prayed, since He sometimes spent whole nights in prayer ; and as it often happened that the Son of man had not where to lay his head , the disciples must have shared His privations.
while I pray. Jesus, as man, had to prepare His soul for the awful conflict that was at hand.
33. he taketh Peter and James and John. These three apostles had been allowed to witness the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the transfiguration. There was a peculiar fitness in our Lord’s choice of them, since St Peter, as the future Head of the Church, could thus bear witness to the agony of Christ, and the sons of Zebedee, who had offered to drink of our Lord’s chalice, would learn what they had really asked. St Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the two sons of thunder , had strong, ardent characters, and this may explain why Jesus chose them as special witnesses and favoured them more than the other apostles.
he began to fear. The word began shews that Jesus allowed the human passion of fear to disturb His soul. Thus we read at the grave of Lazarus, Jesus groaned in the spirit and troubled himself. “Fear and sorrow, heaviness and sadness, and every other passion must be ever completely subject to Him. They cannot affect Him but when He wills it, and as much as He wills it” (Gallwey , S.J.). Jesus, as man, feared death ; He shrank naturally from the awful sufferings which He foreknew awaited Him. Our Lord allowed only the three privileged disciples to see Him in His weakness. Perhaps the sight of His terrible agony would have been too great a trial for the faith of the other eight.
and to be heavy. A dull, weary tedium and loathing of life, a state of stupor and mental depression. This heaviness was probably caused by the isolation of His position and by the inutility of His sufferings for many, since souls would be lost in spite of His passion, among these Judas, one of the Twelve.
34. he saith to them ; to St Peter, St James, and St John.
My soul. A distinct reference to our Lord’s human soul, shewing that He had a perfect human nature.
is sorrowful: literally, seized with fear.
even unto death. Jesus’ sorrow was great enough to have caused death if God had not upheld Him. St Luke in his account, refers to Christ’s sufferings in Gethsemani as an agony. Jesus was perfect man, and as such He willed to suffer, not only bodily pains, but interior anguish.
Christ did this that He might know the weight of our infirmities, and feel all and more than all the sorrows which the human heart can experience. Thus He can sympathize with us all in our trials and weakness and desolation. For we have not a high-priest who cannot have compassion on our infirmities : but one tempted in all things, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace ; that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid (Heb. iv. 15, 16). The sorrow that overwhelmed the all-holy soui of Christ was the weight of the sins of humanity. Jesus our Substitute was charged with the guilt of every sin that ever has been or ever will be committed. The anger of God smote Him, as though He had been guilty of these crimes, for on Him God laid the iniquity of us all. “ These iniquities, like a mighty flood, overwhelmed the soul of Jesus, and He was simultaneously moved by fear, sadness, and sorrow, together with a stupor and insensibility and a loathing weariness of life ” ( MacEvilly ).
stay you here. A local tradition points out a spot on the right of the Grotto of the Agony, and but a few feet from it. From this place they could have heard our Lord’s words. It was here, too, when the three apostles slept, that Judas gave the traitor’s kiss ; hence the spot is called the terra damnata (the accursed ground).
and watch .... with me (St Matt.). Jesus in His hour of agony, longed for human sympathy, but even this was denied, and His disciples, for whom He gave His blood, slept when they should have watched and prayed.
35. when he was gone forward a little. A local tradition points out a grotto close to the Chapel of “ the Sepulchre of our Lady,” as the spot where Jesus prayed in His agony. St Luke describes the distance our Lord advanced as about a stone's cast (xxii. 41), but this evangelist does not mention that the three apostles were nearer to Jesus than the eight.
he fell flat on the ground. Jesus first knelt, and then as His agony increased He prostrated Himself, and finally fell flat on the ground. The different postures of Jesus, His frequent visits to the three apostles, shew the restlessness of one wrestling with a mighty sorrow. Jesus, our Surety, took the attitude of a criminal, to teach us to humble ourselves before God for our many sins.
if it might be. Christ does not refer to absolute possibility, but to what was possible, consistently with God’s scheme for man’s redemption. It was the cry of Christ’s humanity that, if possible, He might escape the awful sufferings and humiliation that awaited Him.
the hour might pass. The bitterness of the hour, that is, of His Passion ; in verse 36 we have the same prayer in other words, remove this chalice from me.
36. Abba, Father. St Matthew has O my Father. Abba is the Aramaic word for father. St Mark translates it for his Gentile converts. Possibly the disciples knew no other language (until after Pentecost).
all things are possible to thee. This is the conditional part of Jesus' prayer. These words have been variously interpreted —
(a) As a prayer for a death less terrible.
(b) As a request that His Father would advance the hour.
(c) As a petition that His death might not be through the agency of the sin of man.
remove this chalice. Jesus refers to His Passion as a bitter potion which He must drink. Thus He had said previously, The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (St John xviii. 11). Though the “ chalice ” came through the instrumentality of the wicked, yet God allowed the crimes of men to bring about the death of Christ, and so accomplish His eternal designs. Jesus foresaw all the details of this chalice ; He Himself Shad enumerated them a short time before. Behold we go up to Jerusalem , and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests , and to the scribes and ancients , and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and spit on him, and scourge him, and kill him: and the third day he shall rise again (x. 33, 34).
not what I will, but what thou wilt. These words shew the perfect submission of the will of Christ to His heavenly Father, in spite of His natural shrinking from torments and death. Jesus had two wills, the divine and the human.
The Monothelites, who taught that Jesus had no separate human will, but only a divine one, were condemned by the Third Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680, under Pope Agatho.
37. he cometh. This is the first time during His agony that Jesus went to His apostles for sympathy.
findeth them sleeping. When he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow (St Luke xxii. 45). Great grief has a stupefying effect. The Apostles were weary, and the unusual emotion of the solemn paschal supper, the changed demeanour of their Master, His weakness and anguish, made them heavy with sorrow, and in spite of their real affection for our Lord, they slept.
It is very probable that they did strive to obey His command, watch and pray, but they were overcome by drowsiness at least part of the time. The use of the imperfect tense in the original Greek, implies that their eyes were continually heavy with sleep, which indicates some efforts having been made to keep awake.
he saith to Peter : to the one who had promised to surpass the others by his devotedness.
Simon, steepest thou ? The words are spoken to Simon. This is the name Christ used when warning him. Simon , Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat (St Luke xxii. 31). This was St Peter’s name before his call to the apostleship, and now that he acts as nature rather than grace prompts, our Lord calls him by his former name. The words, though in the singular, apply also to St James and St John.
couldst thou not watch one hour ? To watch one hour ( i.e . for a brief space) was surely less painful than to accompany Jesus to prison and to death.
38. Watch ye : literally, keep awake, be vigilant.
pray that you enter not, etc. The object of their supplication is not that no temptation may assail them, but that they may have strength to conquer. Thus Jesus had petitioned His Father for the disciples. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil (St John xvii. 15).
The spirit indeed is uniting, but the flesh is weak. These words are taken by expositors in two senses : either as a motive for watchfulness on the part of the disciples, or as an excuse for their having fallen asleep. Both explanations may be correct. By their united protestation they had testified that the spirit was willing.
39. going away again. Once more Jesus returns to the bitter conflict, being in an agony he prayed the longer (St Luke xxii. 43). What a lesson to those Christians who, when in sorrow, are absorbed by their grief and neglect to pray.
saying the same words. In deep sorrow men speak little, and it is natural to repeat a short heartfelt prayer. Jesus repeated the same prayer with ever-increasing intensity and energy of will, till his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling clown upon the ground (St Luke xxii. 44). He prayed in order to conquer the natural horror of suffering which He felt as man.
It was in Gethsemani that Jesus in the days of his flesh with a strong cry and tears , offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence. And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered (Heb. v. 7, 8). Possibly St Paul had this mystery of suffering present to his mind when in his epistle to the Hebrews he writes, Think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself ; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin (Heb. Xii. 3, 4).
40. when he returned. A second time, Jesus seeks His disciples and again finds them sleeping. Our Emmanuel truly treads the wine-press alone, of His people there are none with Him.
their eyes were heavy : weighed down with fatigue and sorrow.
they knew not what to answer him. They were —
(а) Overcome by sleep.
(b) Awed by our Lord’s intense expression of suffering.
(c) Conscience-stricken for their cowardice.
(d) Stupefied and stunned with grief and forebodings of evil.
St Matthew supplies what is omitted, though implied, in St Mark’s account : And leaving them he went again , and he prayed the third time , saying the self-same word (xxvi. 44). Only one of the three would have known these details, hence we have here another proof that St Peter supplied St Mark with the matter for his gospel.
41. he cometh the third time. Jesus had triumphed, the angel had strengthened Him for the morrow ; His prayer obtained for Him, not the removal of the chalice, but the courage to drink to the dregs. It is thus that God often answers our prayers ; He strengthens us to bear the suffering, but He does not exempt us from it.
Sleep ye now , and take your rest. These words have greatly puzzled commentators. Some suppose them to be said in gentle irony, as though Jesus said reproachfully, Sleep on, if this be the time for sleep. Others think that He really allowed them to sleep for a short time until the traitor was close at hand, and that then He awoke them, saying, Rise up, let us go.
the hour is come — ( i.e . of his exterior Passion). The hour which He had prayed might pass, but which He now accepted, having by prayer conquered the repugnance of the flesh.
hands of sinners. Either the Gentiles to whom the Jews generally gave this name ( e.g . sinners and publicans), or the chief priests and Pharisees.
42. Behold, he that will betray me is at hand. These words shew how Christ by His prayer had prepared Himself for the supreme conflict with the powers of darkness. As when the days of his assumption were accomplishing that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem (St Luke ix. 51), so now Jesus goes resolutely forward to meet His enemies. In the prophetic words of Isaias, He could say, The Lord God is my helper , therefore am I not confounded ; therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded (l. 7).
Additional Notes
32. Gethsemani, according to a well-attested ancient tradition, is situated at the foot of Mount Olivet, due east of Jerusalem about 700 feet from the modern St Stephen’s gate. It stands on the road which leads to Bethania, and on the right hand of a person going from Jerusalem to Bethania, while the brook Cedron lies on the left. The garden, as it now exists, is almost square, each side measuring about 168 feet. The grotto of the Agony stands a little back on the left hand. Gethsemani is at present surrounded by a low wall of rough-hewn stones. A chapel once stood over the grotto. The site of Gethsemani, as of many other places connected with the sacred Passion, was probably found by St Helena when she visited the Holy Land in 326 a.d. Eusebius, St Jerome, and other early writers speak of it as being thus situated. The Franciscan Fathers, who have charge of the sanctuary of the grotto, point out the places where the eight apostles rested and where the three slept. The grotto is fitted up as a chapel ; mass is said there occasionally. “ A flight of stairs 8 feet deep leads, on its western side, down into a cave about 55 by 29, and 10 feet high. The walls are unadorned, but traces of old Latin inscriptions and of frescoes are visible. On the south-east end are three altars. Over the main altar is a picture of an angel strengthening Jesus.” Close to the grotto is the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, which encloses the sepulchre that belonged to the parents of Our Lady.
The brook Cedron. The word Cedron or Kedron signifies “ black, ” and the stream is so called from the colour of its waters, which are darkened by the tunnel through which it flows, and by the blood of the sacrifices which flowed into it from the Temple mount. The bed of the brook was perfectly dry in summer, but during the rainy season it was a rapid torrent, fed only by rain. Its bed near Gethsemani was a deep ravine. Two bridges now span the stream, one on the road of the captivity leading from St Stephen’s gate, and one across the road that leads from the Golden Gate (the old Shu- shan gate).
Note.— (a) St John merely gives the moment when the Agony took place, but does not relate the event.
(b) St Luke alone mentions the appearance of the angel, and that Christ sweat blood “ being in an agony,” but his account is more summary than the others.
(c) St Matthew and St Mark agree in almost every detail, but St Matthew gives more clearly the threefold repetition of Christ’s prayer.
Comparison between the Temptation and the Agony in the garden. We are told by St Luke, in his account of Christ’s temptation in the desert, that “all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from him for a time” (iv. 13). It is supposed that Satan renewed his attack in the garden of Gethsemani. The words of our Lord seem to point to this conclusion, for in the cœnaculum Jesus had said : “ the prince of this world cometh ; and in me, he hath not anything ” (St John xiv. 30).
There is a certain analogy between the temptation in the desert at the beginning of our Lord’s public life and the Agony in the garden at its close. On each occasion we notice that —
(a) There were three distinct stages in the temptation.
(b) Jesus experienced physical pain.
In the desert He “ hungered.”In the garden He was “in an agony.”
(c) Jesus was assisted by the ministry of angels.
(d) Our Lord prayed in solitude.
As regards the points of contrast, St Augustine points out (Sermon cxxii. 2), that whereas in the desert, the devil proposed pleasant and seducing objects to win our Lord from His allegiance to God, in the garden he tried to overcome Christ’s constancy, by representing to Him all the sufferings and humiliations which awaited Him on the morrow ; “ having tried the door of desire and found it closed, the devil tried the door of fear, and again failed to effect an entrance.” We remark also, that in the desert Jesus expressed His intention to devote His life, as He had ever done, to serve God, while in the garden He freely accepted the chalice of death, for the glory of God. St Augustine goes on to say that as it was with the Master, so it must be with the disciples. They will need to conquer the lion and the adder , i.e. to resist both threats and flatteries ; and it was in order to teach us this lesson that Christ endured temptation.
The apparition of the angel. St Luke alone gives this detail (xxii. 43). From St Luke, it would seem that the angel appeared to our Lord at the beginning of His prayer. Jesus was truly man, and it was impossible that His perfect human nature should not feel an intense repugnance for suffering. The very perfection of His human body and soul, must have caused Him to endure greater anguish from physical and mental pain than ordinary human beings could feel, for sin has blunted in us, to a certain extent, the delicate sensitiveness of the perfect human nature in its state of original justice. MacEvilly says : “ The human nature of our Lord was strengthened by an angel , so that while His human nature was dissolving in the bloody sweat and tending to the last extremity, His sufferings were not allowed to terminate His life. Jesus was also strengthened spiritually , owing to the proposing to the intellect of the Man-God, of the motives which increased the resolution of His will to suffer, such as the decree of God to save the world by the death and torments of His Son ; the glory that would redound to Him, and the salvation that would come to men from these tortures ; the fulfilment of the several prophecies on this subject, etc. But the proposing of these motives still left the inferior man absorbed in grief and sorrow. Hence it is observed that it was not consolation but strength the angel came to bring Him ” ( Commentaries ).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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