The Redemptive Mystery Agony in Gethsemane
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THE REDEMPTIVE MYSTERY of the AGONY IN GETHSEMANE [FOR THE PRIVATE USE OF STUDENTS] REV. JOSEPH HENCHEY, CSS 2001 Electronic Edition: 2006 Latest updated on Founder’s Feast, 2018 GETHSEMANE TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 TABLE of CONTENTS Presentation 5 The Name Garden – Desert – Garden A. The Temptations of Jesus 7 1. The Desert 2. Temptation/Trial 3. Stan B. The Literary Style of the Temptation Accounts 18 1. Background 2. Structure C. A Special Look at Luke [4:1-13] 21 1. The Humanity of Jesus 2. The Temptation and the Passion 3. Temptation and Paradise: Christ and the New Adam Summary 25 1. The Synoptic Perspective 2. Temptation and the Church 3. Jesus: The Model of the Christian ††††† I. The Fundamental Meaning of the Agony of Gethsemane 27 Introduction 27 A. The Agony as Fear of Death 28 B. Agony as the Experience of Abandonment by God 33 C. Gethsemane and the Messianic Trial 41 Conclusion 46 II. The Synoptic Accounts of the Agony in the Garden 48 [Mk 14:32-42; Mt 26:36-46; Lk 22: 39-46] Presentation 48 A. Mk 14:32-42 49 Introduction 49 1. Gethsemane and Temptation 51 2. The Disciples and the Temptation/ trial 51 3. Christ and the Temptation/ trail 57 GETHSEMANE TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 4. Reflections on Jesus’ Agony 62 Introduction [I] Struck by God [II] Rejected by Men 5. Doctrinal Synthesis 69 Premise 1] Introductory Verses [vv. 32, ff.] 2] The Agony 3] The Prayer of Jesus 4] Lessons from this Prayer 5] The Handing Over 6] The Disciples ††† B. Mt 26:36-46 80 [I] Christology 80 1. Your Will be done! 2. Ecclesial Implications a. Fulfillment of Abraham/ Isaac b. The Suffering Servant of Yahweh c. The Son of Man Summary [II] Discipleship 94 [III] Doctrinal Synthesis: Jesus and the Disciples 97 † C. Lk 22:39-46 105 [I] Temptation/Trial 105 [II] Jesus in His Anguish 109 [III] The Father’s Will and the Angel 119 [IV] Pray not to put in test 121 [V] Doctrinal Synthesis 123 [VI] Prayer as the Major Theme of Luke 128 † First Excursus: Comparison between Mk and Mt 131 [I] Doctrinal Perspectives of Mk 131 [II] Trinitarian Perspectives in Mk [Abba!] 138 [III] Comparison between the Two Accounts 134 GETHSEMANE TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 [IV] Mt’s Over-All Perspective 139 ††† Second Excursus: Four Interpretations of the Sweat of Blood 155 1. Mario Galizzi 155 2. David Stanley, SJ 156 3. G.G. Gamba 157 4. André Feuillet 163 ††† Third Excursus: Luke’s Style in the Gospel and in Acts 167 ††† Fourth Excursus: Other Biblical & Doctrinal Reflections 174 Introduction 174 [I] Possible Johannine References: Gospel and Apocalypse 174 [A] The Gospel – Jn 12:20-33 – Judgment and the Hour 174 [B] The Apocalypse: Witness = Martyr 180 † [II] The Document to the Hebrews 5:7-8 185 [A] Analysis of the Text 185 [B] Brief Comparison with the Gospels 187 † [III] Doctrinal Reflections 189 [A] Enrichment for Spirituality 189 [B] Christ’s Sufferings Redeems Human Pain 195 [C] Gethsemane and Moral Evil 202 [D] Gethsemane and the Trinity 208 ††††† FINAL SUMMATION 216 [A] Apologetic and Paranetic [Exhortatory] 216 [B] Gethsemane and History 220 Brief Bibliography 225 † ††† † GETHSEMANE PRESENTATION 5 The Redemptive Mystery of the Agony in GETHSEMANE Presentation The Name: St. Jerome understood this to have come from one of Isaiah’s warnings to Samaria: … Woe to the haughty crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of its proud splendor overlooking the lush valley, to those prostrated by wine [cf. Is 28:1] Others, though, see its explanations more from the Greek word GB SAMMANI, oil plot. Only Mk [14:32] and Mt [26:36] give the name, and it is presented as a field, an extended area most likely, a grove of olive trees. John calls it a Garden [18:1].1 ††† Garden – Desert – Garden = Creation – Sin – Redemption The Garden [cf. Gn 2:8] God plants a Garden in Eden, which might have been part of a tree grove [cf. Ezk 31:8]. The cultivation of vegetable gardens was widely practiced in the ancient Orient –but, less frequently that of parks: these were generally laid out only by the great Kings. Here there may have been the faint idea of the conception of Yahweh as the owner of the park. The narrative clearly presents this as a holy region, enclosing God’s presence and, therefore, guarded by the Cherubim [cf. Gn 3:24]. Eden seems to be the proper name of a land in the distant east. The narrative speaks in rather an imprecise manner of a Garden in Eden, and also of the Garden of Eden [cf. Gn 2:15; 3:23, f.]. Eden is almost synonymous for Paradise [cf. Is 51:3; Ezk 28:13; 31:9].2 The fact that God has ‘planted’ this Garden is an expression of a very open anthropomorphism; - this is God Who shapes clay like a potter – breathes and walks on the evening breeze. Eden might once have referred to some real land, appears sometimes as the Garden where God Himself dwells [cf. Is 51:3; Ezk 28:13; 31:9 – Ezk 28:11-19 is the closest biblical parallel to Gn 2-3]. One hypothesis is that both Ezk and the Tradent “J” have drawn on a common mythology from which one has appropriated some of the details.3 1 Cf. K. W. Clark, ‘Gethsemane’, in: The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Nashville/NY: Abingdon Press. Vol. I, p. 387. 2 G. van Rad, Genesis. OT Library. London: SCM 1972, pp. 78, f. 3 cf. B. Vawter, On Genesis – A New Reading. Garden City NY: Doubleday 1977, pp. 68, f. GETHSEMANE PRESENTATION 6 The Desert: this, too, is present in the creation story: the world was a formless void, a trackless waste [cf. Gn 1: 2+]. God’s Word created the Garden, which returned to a desert because of sin. The Exodus story is redemption from slavery, across the desert, to the land flowing with milk and honey – the annual harvest seemed to be Creation re-visited. The Return to Eden is also a theme of hope.4 The story of Creation began in what seems to have been a beautiful park, a kind of oasis. The harmony and peace that reigned there was disrupted, the Covenant of Peace was turned aside. The beautiful garden where all was in harmony became an arid desert. The Israelites groaned [a Lamentation Liturgy?] in their slavery, and their cry came up to God. Exodus became a New Creation – as later the Babylonian Captivity would be reversed from slavery to service. The Prophet, II-Is, speaks of this transformation: … In the wilderness, I will plant cedar trees, acacias, myrtles, olives. In the desert, I will plant juniper, plane tree and cypress, side by side, so that all may see and know… that the hand of Yahweh has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it … [II-Is 41:17, f.] A specific mention of a New Eden appears in the prophetic writings: … Yes, Yahweh has pity on Zion, has pity on all her ruins; turns her desolation into Eden, her wasteland into a Garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of music … [Is 51:3]. As has been noted, Ezechiel reflected often on Eden, the Garden of God: … You were once an exemplar of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty: you were in Eden, in the Garden of God … [Ezk 28:12]. … I made [the cedar] lovely with branching green. It was the envy of every tree in Eden, in the Garden of God…. [Ezk 31:9]. Ezk saw the transformation of the desert into a fertile Garden, or ground, once again. This is the result of the fulfillment of the promise of the living waters:5 … Everyone will say: this land, so recently a waste, is now like a Garden of Eden, and the ruined cities once abandoned and leveled to the ground, are now strongholds with people living in them… [Ezk 36 :35]. ††† 4 cf. C. Mesters, OCD, Paraíso terrestre: saudade ou esperança? Petrópolis: Vozes Ltda. 1971; G. Cussen, SJ, Un jardin en Eden, nomme’ Gethsemani. Cahiers de Spiritualité’. Quebec 1978. 5 J. Steinmann, Le prophète Ezechiel – et les débuts de l’exil. Paris: du Cerf 1953, pp. 127, ff.; 194, ff. GETHSEMANE PRESENTATION 7 Jesus’ Trial In The Desert … During His life on earth, He offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the One Who had the power to save Him out of death, and He submitted so humbly that His prayer was heard … [Heb 7:5]. The Synoptic account of this episode presents some terms, the understanding of which is of greatest assistance in coming to grasp the deeper meaning of the mystery. These terms are: - Desert: [cf. Mt 4:1; Mk 1:12; Lk 4:1 [4 x]; - To Tempt; the Tempter; Temptation: [11 x]; - Devil : [cf. Mt 4 :1, 5, 8, 11 ; Lk 4 :2, 3, 6, 13 [8 x] ; - Satan: [cf. Mt 4:18; Lk 1:13 [2 x]. To call to mind even rapidly, the meaning of these terms had throughout the mentality of the OT in Judaism and also in the NT – would imply remembering a well determined background, in which the Gospel narrative is framed. A. The Temptations of Jesus 1. The Desert: this is a very profound term, when one recalls the extensive history and spirituality which developed in the religious experience of Israel.