God’s story with God’s creatures begins in a garden: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Gen 2.15). The garden was God’s ideal environment for humanity, and God walked the garden (Gen 3.8) with God’s creatures. Matthew 26 finds us in another garden, one where “Jesus often met with his disciples” (Jn 18.2b). What unfolds in this garden mirrors that first garden – unveiling the tragic brokenness of even the most faithful of God’s creatures.
Jesus accompanies his disciples to a garden located “across the Kidron valley” (Jn 18.1) at the foot of the Mount of Olives (Lk 22.39) – “a place called Gethsemane” (Mt 26.36). Gethsemane means “oil press,” which makes sense due to the olive groves that likely covered this region in the time of Jesus. Jesus tells the company of his disciples to “sit” while he withdraws for prayer, which he often did. However, as in the Transfiguration (Mt 17; Mk 9), he calls Peter, James, and John (“the two sons of Zebedee”) to go with him. The calling out of these three disciples signals a heightened significance of the events Jesus knows will unfold in this place.
Matthew tells us that Jesus began to feel deep sorrow and to be deeply troubled (Mt 26.37). Jesus has already told his disciples that he will be taken away and crucified (Mt 26.2) and he understands better than anybody that this garden is where the story, like that of God’s original creatures, will take a tragic turn. These feelings of deep sadness and grief are more complex and layered than what is apparent on the surface of the events that will unfold in the garden. From his own imminent suffering to the faithlessness of his disciples that they cannot possibly begin to comprehend, to the suffering he knows those who believe will face, to the anguish he anticipates Judas will feel, and so much more – Jesus is deeply troubled as everything that has happened to this point in his life and ministry will come to a head here at Gethsemane. He tells Peter, James, and John that the psychological pain he is experiencing is akin to death itself (26.38). In other words, Jesus would rather succumb to the dreadful feelings he experiences than continue to experience them. Anyone who has experienced this depth of personal anguish has an insight into not only Jesus’ psyche but also the gravity of this step on Jesus’ journey.
Jesus encourages these three disciples to remain with him, which is something Peter has already pledged that he would do (Mt 26.35), and to remain aware of what is going on around them. Jesus asks them to do far more than simply keep their eyes open. The disciples are not there to protect Jesus, although that is likely what they are thinking. Jesus is not telling them to stand sentinel, but to have a heightened theological awareness around the events he knows will unfold before their eyes.
Jesus then falls prostrate before the Lord not too far away from them and cries out in terrible sorrow to his Father. “If it is possible” (26.39), the Incarnate One pleads, knowing within Himself that all things are possible but at the same time understanding that God does not actualize every possibility. He asks the Father to allow him to “skip over” the even deeper experiences of sorrow and human suffering that will come out of the events within the garden. The word translated “cup” in 26.39 figures in the Psalms as both an image of judgment (Ps 11.6, 75.8) and of rescue (Ps 23.5, 116.13). The overarching affirmation about the cup in the Psalms; however, seems to be that “[t]he Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot” (Ps 16.5). That is, the cup is always received from the Lord as a blessing – whether that “blessing” manifests to us as joy or suffering. Working from this Psalmic expression, Jesus shifts the language of his plea from the basis of “power” (if you can) to “will” (if you will). In this last refrain, Jesus confesses an internal conflict of will between his being the Son and also the Incarnate Lord: “But not as I will, but as you (will)” (36.39). It seems that in his humanity, Jesus wants things to turn out a certain way, but as God, he understands that in this case, the work God seeks to accomplish must come through intense psychological and physical suffering.
In stark contrast to the faithful devotion to God being played out in the life of Jesus in the garden, just feet away from lay the disciples, asleep (26.40). It turns out they could not join Jesus in being vigilantly aware of what is happening around them in the garden – even for one hour! Because they were not “awake,” they missed everything that was playing out before them as Jesus wrestled in prayer before the Father. They are unaware of the tragic possibility that is about to be realized in the garden. The apostles’ lack of awareness and their inability to actually “remain” with Jesus as they said they would speak powerfully to discipleship in every era.
Following a standard trope within the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, this cycle repeats itself three times. In each instance, Jesus prays to bypass the cup given to him by God, yet yields to the will of the Father. Meanwhile, in an ironic turn, the inner sanctum among Jesus’ disciples cannot seem to not only be vigilant to the point of simply keep their eyes open. The repetition of the narrative heightens the tragic irony that comes out of both Eden and Gethsemane. These places designed to nurture faithfulness become known markers in time when humanity rejected its Creator and Lord. At the end of the third cycle, Jesus essentially says, “It is too late!” (Mt 26.46) They could not mirror Jesus’ vigilance for even one hour, and now “the hour” (26.45) has arrived. Their lack of faith serves to foreshadow the scene that will emerge at Gethsemane, which we will explore in tomorrow’s exposition of Matthew 26.47-56.