Matthew 26d

 It is not difficult to figure out what is heavy on Jesus’ mind. The Passover meal has many layers, but Matthew chose to record mainly Jesus’ claim that “one of you will betray me,” a statement that interrupted the conviviality of the shared meal. Jesus was obviously disturbed, and now the disciples were “greatly distressed.” 

 Perhaps the disciples regained their composure when Jesus promised to be with them in the bread and the wine. They sang ‘the (required) hymn’ to end the meal, then walked out of Jerusalem and up the Mount of Olives. When they arrived there, Jesus returned to the issue that was bothering him. Perhaps he had expected more support from the disciples, but he could see that that was not to be the case. 

Matthew 26: 31-35.  31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 

 First, “One of you will betray me” and now, “You will all fall away.” Not one, but all will ‘stumble’ because of Jesus. Because of Jesus what? Because Jesus is revealing the path that he must take, a path of suffering and death? Because Jesus will be arrested and will not defend himself? Because anyone who associates with Jesus will be treated by the authorities as part of a conspiracy? What kind of ending is this to three years of discipleship and fellowship?

 Jesus quotes from Scripture, from the scroll of the prophet Zechariah. St. Jerome called the book “obscurissimus liber,” which even if you don’t know Latin you can make out that it means ‘obscure book’ (Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, 1979, Page 474). Oddly enough, Zechariah is the second most quoted prophet after Isaiah, more than Jeremiah or Ezekiel.

 Why is God striking Israel's shepherd? Zechariah was written after the Exile and Return; we know because the prophet makes a reference to an event during Darius’ reign that occurred in 519 BC (Persian Empire). The prophet first recognizes God’s great act of salvation in releasing the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, and then the more recent act of salvation in arranging for the captive Jews to return from Babylon. However, the prophet sees that the Jews are again falling away from God. The prophecy foretells a time coming when God will punish the Jews, then bring the faithful ones back together after a final act of salvation that will incorporate the Nations, that is, the Gentiles as well. 

 Near the end, in Chapter 13, God speaks of removing the idols that the Jews have tolerated and silencing the false prophets who have been misrepresenting God. That is when God says, 

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones” (Zechariah 13: 7).

 In Zechariah Chapter 14, the scene is on the Mount of Olives, exactly where Jesus and the disciples are standing. Now God appears as the Savior and Defender of the penitent Jews and then a Savior of the penitent Gentiles. One God over all. 

“Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east.... On that day living water shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of it to the eastern sea and half of it to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one” (Zechariah 14: 3-4, 8-9).

 It is easier to see now why Jesus chose this passage to describe what was going to happen to him. Jesus’s death and resurrection is the final salvation event that brings in Israel and flows out to the Nations.   

Matthew 26: 32-35.  “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

 Peter skips over the good news. Did you see it? Jesus will be raised up and will meet them again despite the betrayal and abandonment. However, the disciples seem to be as unsettled by this claim as they were at the Passover meal when Jesus said one of them would betray him. They are shocked and all of them rush to deny any disloyalty. They are not listening closely to Jesus, nor are they able to see events the way Jesus sees them.

 Of course, they have not yet experienced the horror of the arrest, the abuse, and the threat to their own lives. Jesus knows; the disciples cannot imagine, and their willingness to follow Jesus wherever he goes will be sorely tested. Jesus also knows that God’s grace is great enough to forgive and restore them; that the future is better than the present.

26: 36-39.  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.” He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and agitated. Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want but what you want.” 

 An anthropological perspective will help us here. Wherever humans have existed in the past, as far as we can tell by the literature, written and oral, and  wherever humans now exist, two binding forces come into play: Culture (the webs of meaning that people weave so that they can understand the environment and each other) and Society (the organization of social relations in order to negotiate one’s survival in particular environments). In every society there are notions of family (not just the so-called nuclear family which is quite rare), friends and allies, teams and work groups. All are defined in ways that differ from ours (if you are an American reader) and from each other. 

 There is no culture without love and hate, sympathy and envy, grief and joy as well as hopes and fears though people might use different terms for emotions and divide them up differently. My point is that, as our creed says, Jesus was born of Mary fully human in every way, except without sin. Why would we be surprised at the feelings that Jesus displays here, and at his desire to have friends who will support him in his agony? He is human.

 Jesus was grieved and agitated; the Greek words used here could also be translated distressed and depressed. We would feel the same if we knew that events were in motion that would lead to our suffering and death, but our friends have little empathy for us because they are more worried about their own feelings than our pain.

 Jesus turned to the One person who did understand, but also the One who felt the necessity of what was occurring, that is, God the Father. On how many occasions has a son come to a father to ask to be relieved of some duty or danger, but the father knows that the son has to go through this, there is no way around it? Jesus the Man questions the path before him, but Jesus the Son of God learns submission to the will of God.

26: 40-41.  Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

 Jesus is not asking much of the disciples, or at least these three leaders, only that they stay awake to give him companionship and to support him with prayer.  

26: 42-44.  Again he went away for the second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 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. 

 Three times Jesus was tempted by the devil to choose another route to complete his mission, a route that did not go through suffering and death. Three times Jesus resisted temptation and quoted Scripture to support his decision. Three times Jesus has come to the Father in prayer to ask if there is another way, and three times he has submitted to the will of God.

 Three times the disciples are warned about betrayal (26: 23-25) and desertion (26: 31 and 34), and three times they deny that they are capable of these acts. They are unwilling to face up to their humanity. They are not prepared for the test; Jesus is.   

 In the garden, Jesus acknowledges the necessity of his path, but what does ‘drink this cup’ mean? There are some positive references to a cup, as in the 23rd Psalm: “my cup runneth over.” However, Jesus has already identified this particular cup. 

 “But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” (Matthew 20: 22-23). 

 This cup sounds like a difficulty. The prophets talk about “the cup of God’s wrath.” 

“Rouse yourself, rouse yourself! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the cup of staggering” (Isaiah 51: 17).

 “For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them’. So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as they are today…” (Jeremiah 25: 17).

“ Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘You shall drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide; it will bring scorn and derision; it holds so much. You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria; you shall drink it and drain it out and gnaw its sherds and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken’, says the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 23: 31-34).

 During the Passover meal, Jesus drank the cup of blessing (I Corinthians 10: 17), and now he faces the cup of wrath. This is another way of emphasizing that Jesus took upon himself the sins of us all, he suffered God’s wrath at those sins, and thus we do not have to suffer the punishment, not if we trust in what Jesus did. 

26: 45-46.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Now the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”

 A firm and confident Jesus arises from the third period of prayer. He rouses the disciples and is ready to meet his fate. I have always said that the best defense is a good offense; Jesus takes command of the situation by identifying the people coming up the hill, Judas, the temple police, and the high priests, and speaking to them before they speak. 

 Next week will bring us to a new phase in the story of Jesus and his love.