Tuesday, March 31

Scripture: Matthew 26:36-46

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

KEEPING WATCH

In a very real way, Jesus’ request to Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemane seems familiar to me. It’s one that has come to my mind on some evenings when the sun is just a memory. Gripped with a sense of foreboding about an upcoming challenge, I have often longed—and sometimes asked—for a few close friends to come and sit with me. In these times, being with a large group won’t help. I know that what I have to do, I ultimately have to do alone, but the presence of those who know me best comforts me.

On the other hand, what Jesus asks astounds me. While being fully human, he was also fully God. What need does God have to be comforted? And if Jesus felt that need (keeping in mind the task he had before him and the incredible suffering it entailed) he must have known how incapable the three were of keeping watch with him. According to Matthew, Jesus had just told Judas that he knew Judas would betray him and he told Peter that Peter would deny him.

In Lisbeth Zwerger’s vision of Jesus Praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James, and John are each sleeping by their own individual trees. Their isolation from one another is emphasized by the barrenness of the landscape and the disciple who is completely turned away in the foreground. Their distance from the figure of Jesus on the horizon is further marked by the way the trees seem to hide them from his line of sight. Rather than providing comfort, they look like they need comfort, like children who have fallen asleep during a game of hide-and-seek out of worry that they might not be found. Dark clouds gather overhead, and Jesus appears to walk right into them alone.

Jesus knew this would be the case, but he asks the three to keep watch with him anyway. John, who also records Jesus’ foreknowledge of Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial, says that Jesus called his disciples “friends” at dinner. He called them friends because he had shared with them everything that God the Father was doing and they were included in his plan.  

It is only in this context that I can understand Jesus’ request. He continues to teach us as we participate in his suffering. Go to Dark Gethsemane, as performed by Page CXVI, expresses this musically and lyrically. The first verse opens with one singer, solitary strings and only a few piano chords, while the bridge between verses marks the time with the strings’ tremolo and piano chords like strokes of the clock. The words remind us not to turn away from Christ’s grief and suffering because we have much to learn from it.  Only at the end does the sound become full along with the repeated final lines, “He wept, we wept.”

Though “it is finished,” we continue weeping and learning how to die. As Jesus says, greater love has no one than he lay down his life for his friends. Let us love one another as he loved us. Loving one another, we also love him. Be alert to those who need you to keep watch with them in their hour of temptation and trouble right now.

PRAYER

God,
The love you show us through Jesus Christ
Surpasses all understanding.
Help us to learn from him
To share what troubles our hearts
And to keep watch with those in sorrow
So that your love might flow more freely through us
Through your Holy Spirit who unites us.
Amen.

Monica Cure, Assistant Professor, Torrey Honors Institute