Reflecting on Mark's Gospel - Mark 14:32-42

 Visiting Gethsemane provided some of the most memorable moments of my two visits to the Holy Land. The garden sits at the foot of the Mount of Olives, just a short distance from the now sealed Golden Gate to the city of Jerusalem. Its ancient olive trees make it a cool and dark place. It is indeed a place that speaks of prayer, of suffering, of betrayal, of being overcome by sleep. This is the place of that tremendous phrase – not what I want, but what you want.

It was the end of a long day during a tense time and they had just shared dinner. It is not entirely surprising that, when Jesus went off to pray, the accompanying disciples, the inner circle of Peter, James and John, failed to keep watch and fell asleep. We might expect that they would have remained more alert owing to Jesus’ distress and agitation. But it is difficult to fight off sleep in such circumstances of tiredness after a good meal, and they failed. What is surprising is that it happened three times. Jesus is in anguish of prayer, and the disciples sleep. In some ways it is a reversal, though unacceptably so, of when Jesus slept through the first part of the storm as they sailed across Lake Galilee.

It is significant that, as Douglas Hare (Mark) points out – “here we see that Jesus was not God’s robot, moving without question or emotion towards his death on the cross.” Jesus is both human and divine and here struggles desperately with what faces him. Of course, he will do what God wills, but if there is another way, aside from what is now looking inevitable, then he is ready to take it. As Hare states – “the passage presents Jesus as a healthy young person who wants to live, not die.” Hare adds the point that – “Mark presents the agony of Gethsemane as a testing of Jesus’ willingness to conform his will to God’s will.”

However, although the question is raised, this is not a serious wobble. Jesus is on a path that needs to be followed, and he tells his disciples that it is time to move on. Why? It is because he is about to be betrayed.