The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  The Agony and Arrest on the Mount of Olives (22:39–53)

  39Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” 41After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, 42saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” [43And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. 44He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.] 45When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. 46He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

  47While he was still speaking, a crowd approached and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas. He went up to Jesus to kiss him. 48Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” 49His disciples realized what was about to happen, and they asked, “Lord, shall we strike with a sword?” 50And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. 51But Jesus said in reply, “Stop, no more of this!” Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed him. 52And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”

  OT: Gen 3:19; 4:10–11

  NT: Matt 6:10; Luke 11:2, 4; 21:37; Acts 1:16; 21:14; 27:23; Col 1:13; Heb 5:7. // Matt 26:30, 36–41, 47–56; Mark 14:26, 32–38, 43–49; John 18:1–11

  Catechism: watchful prayer, 2612; Jesus at prayer, 2600; divine will and human will, 475, 2605, 2824; Jesus with angels, 333; Jesus’ agony, 612; Judas’s betrayal, 1851

  [22:39]

  After the meal, despite knowing that he would be betrayed (22:21), Jesus led the way and the disciples followed. He went across the Kidron Valley (John 18:1) to the Mount of Olives, according to his custom (Luke 21:37)—Judas would thus be able to find him (22:47). On Passover night, pilgrims to the festival were obliged to remain within the greater Jerusalem area (see Deut 16:7), whose boundary included Bethphage (Luke 19:29).30

  Figure 20. Olive trees in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. [© Baker Publishing Group]

  [22:40]

  The place is unnamed in Luke, but the other Gospels specify a “garden” named “Gethsemane” (Matt 26:36; Mark 14:32; John 18:1–2).31 The first scene there (Luke 22:39–46) is framed by Jesus’ words to the disciples to pray so that they may not undergo the test (vv. 40, 46; “enter into temptation,” RSV). This directive recalls the last petition in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation” (11:4 RSV). Indeed, that prayer will be especially urgent now as they continue facing trials (see 22:28).

  [22:41–42]

  Likewise echoing the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prayed by addressing his Father (11:2). The details regarding his prayer—that he withdrew about a stone’s throw and was kneeling—are recalled at the martyrdom of Stephen, who prays while kneeling as stones are thrown at him (Acts 7:58–60). Moreover, Jesus’ insistence that the will of the Father be done is echoed in Acts when a group of disciples recognize Paul’s similar resolve that “the Lord’s will be done” (Acts 21:14). Jesus in his suffering and death is thus presented as a martyr, like the prophets of old (Luke 11:49–51; 13:34) and as the model for his own disciples. However, Jesus’ death also goes one step further because it is sacrificial: this cup that God is giving him is the sacrifice of the New Covenant in his blood that will be poured out in his death (22:20; see Catechism 612).

  LIVING TRADITION

  Jesus’ Human Will and Divine Will

  The Third Council of Constantinople (AD 681) taught that because of Jesus’ two natures, divine and human, there are in Jesus two wills, divine and human, and the human will acts in conformity with the divine will: “His human will is compliant; it does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will.”a With his human will, Jesus exercises his human freedom to obey the divine will. The Council thus ratified the teaching of St. Maximus the Confessor, who reflected on the words of Jesus’ prayer—“Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42)—and drew from them a practical lesson for Christians “of setting aside our own will by the perfect fulfillment of the divine.”b Pope Benedict XVI comments on these teachings and makes a similar application: “The human will, as created by God, is ordered to the divine will.” In other words, human beings attain their fulfillment by accomplishing God’s will. However, sin introduced opposition to God’s will, so that we experience obedience to God’s will as a threat to our freedom. Through his prayer, Jesus has overcome this opposition and “transformed humanity’s resistance, so that we are all now present within the Son’s obedience.”c By our union with Jesus (Gal 2:20), obedience to God’s will becomes possible.

  a. Denzinger 556; see John 6:38; Catechism 475.

  b. Maximus the Confessor, Opuscule 7.80D, in Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor (London: Routledge, 1996), 186.

  c. Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, 160–61.

  [22:43–44]

  Verses 43–44, accepted as canonical by the Catholic Church, are found in some of the oldest manuscripts (from the fourth and fifth centuries) but are missing from many others (including some from the third century). The NABRE thus puts them in brackets, as scholars are divided as to whether they are original to Luke’s Gospel or are a later addition to it based on an ancient tradition. However, St. Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century refers to the passage and says that it comes from the Gospels (probably Luke).32 The verses also have several phrases typical of Luke (e.g., compare Luke 1:11 and 22:43). For these and other reasons, there are many noted scholars who argue in their favor.33 The verses may have been intentionally omitted from manuscripts because of fears that they detracted from Jesus’ divinity.

  As Jesus prayed, an angel34 came to strengthen him (see 4:10; Mark 1:13). The angel appeared to him (see Luke 1:11) to confirm him at a crucial point in his mission—right before his passion—as did the voice from heaven at his baptism at the beginning of his public ministry (3:22) and the similar voice at the transfiguration right before his journey to Jerusalem (9:35). On those two occasions, Jesus was praying as he is doing here (3:21; 9:28–29).35

  During this “test” (22:40, 46), Jesus experiences agony (agōnia), meaning “anguish” or “distress” (2 Macc 3:14, 16; see Heb 5:7), though some understand it more in the sense of “struggle” (see Luke 13:24 for a related verb). He continues praying (22:41) so fervently that his sweat becomes like drops of blood falling. This phrase is often interpreted figuratively to mean profuse sweating, but others point out the rare medical condition, known in the ancient world, in which sweat becomes tinged with blood.36

  The test that Jesus here undergoes recalls how the devil earlier put him to the test (“temptation,” 4:13). There, Jesus proved to be the new Adam, in contrast to Adam who fell to temptation (see comment on 3:38 and 4:2). Because of his disobedience, Adam was punished, forced to survive “by the sweat” of his brow (Gen 3:19). Here, despite the sweat of this intense experience, Jesus remains obedient.37

  [22:45–46]

  Strengthened by prayer and the angel, Jesus rose (the verb is often used for his rising from the dead; e.g., Luke 18:33; 24:7, 46), suggesting that he has emerged victorious from the test and is ready to face the sufferings that lie ahead. In contrast, the disciples—with their strength sapped by grief (see Sir 38:18)—are sleeping, as were the three disciples at the transfiguration (Luke 9:32). They should instead get up (“rise,” RSV) like Jesus. After Jesus’ resurrection, Peter and the disciples at Emmaus will do just that (24:12, 33) on their journey of faith. Here, despite Jesus’ repeated exhortation to pray (see 22:40), they are not ready for the unfolding test.

  [22:47
–48]

  As he is still speaking, a crowd led by Judas approaches. In this arrest scene (vv. 47–53) as at the Last Supper, his betraying Jesus is portrayed as especially grave, not only because he is one of the Twelve apostles (22:3, 14) but also because he perverts signs of friendship such as table fellowship (22:21) and a kiss.

  [22:49–51]

  Seeing that Jesus is about to be arrested, his disciples ask him about using the sword (22:38). Not waiting for an answer, one of them cuts off the right ear of the high priest’s servant.38 In response, Jesus repairs the damage done: he healed the severed ear. His words—Stop, no more of this—put an end to the violence (Matt 26:52; John 18:11) and allow God’s plan to unfold through his arrest (Matt 26:54).

  [22:52–53]

  Those in the crowd accompanying Judas (Luke 22:47) are now identified as the chief priests and temple guards and elders—that is, many of those who have been plotting Jesus’ arrest (19:47; 20:1, 19; 22:2, 4). Jesus reproaches them for treating him as a robber, fulfilling the scripture passage he earlier mentioned (22:37), though he was with them in the temple area teaching each day (21:37). What they are doing is the work of the devil: their hour is associated with the power of darkness. However, through Jesus’ suffering, his followers will be “delivered . . . from the power of darkness” (Col 1:13).

  Jesus Is Denied by Peter and Mocked by Guards (22:54–65)

  54After arresting him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. 55They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them. 56When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said, “This man too was with him.” 57But he denied it saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58A short while later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them”; but Peter answered, “My friend, I am not.” 59About an hour later, still another insisted, “Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean.” 60But Peter said, “My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.” Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed, 61and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62He went out and began to weep bitterly. 63The men who held Jesus in custody were ridiculing and beating him. 64They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65And they reviled him in saying many other things against him.

  NT: Luke 12:9; 18:32. // Matt 26:57–58, 67–75; Mark 14:53–54, 65–72; John 18:12–18, 24–27

  Catechism: Peter’s tears of repentance, 1429

  [22:54]

  From the garden on the Mount of Olives, Jesus is taken to the house of the high priest.39 Caiaphas was the high priest in office (see Matt 26:57), though his father-in-law, Annas, a former high priest, remained influential (Luke 3:2; John 18:13, 24; Acts 4:6). Peter is following Jesus, seemingly “prepared” for the worst (Luke 22:33), though he remains at a distance (like the disciples at the cross, 23:49).

  [22:55–60]

  Jesus and his captors momentarily remain in the background, as the story focuses on Peter, who has joined a group seated by a fire in the middle of the courtyard. He cannot escape notice, however, as all eyes appear to be fixed on him. First a staring maid and then someone else saw him, recognizing that he was one of those with Jesus.40 For another person, it was Peter’s Galilean accent that gave him away (see Matt 26:73). Confronted by their comments, each time he denied any association with Jesus. After the third denial, the cock crowed in fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction (Luke 22:34).

  [22:61–62]

  Precisely at that moment, Jesus happens to be standing within view. Turning, he looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word spoken by Jesus that he would deny him. Remembering Jesus’ words always leads to greater understanding (24:6–8; Acts 11:16). Moreover, Jesus is here twice called Lord, which is what Peter called him not only when the denials were predicted (Luke 22:33) but also when he was aware of being “a sinful man” (5:8) and when Jesus spoke to him about being faithful (12:41–42). Realizing that he is a sinful man who has not been faithful to his Lord, Peter goes out to weep bitterly, perhaps remembering Jesus’ other words as well: “Whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God” (12:9).

  However, when Jesus turned toward Peter, hope was reborn for Peter’s own turning back in repentance, on account of Jesus’ prayer (22:32). Indeed, Peter’s sinning against Jesus three times in one day is more than covered by Jesus’ offer of sevenfold forgiveness for those who turn back (17:4). Later, Peter will thus preach to others that they should repent and “turn back” to God (Acts 3:19 ESV).

  [22:63–65]

  With Peter’s departure, attention shifts back to Jesus. Whereas the other Gospels refer to his being questioned by a high priest during the night (Matt 26:57–68; Mark 14:53–65; John 18:12–13, 19–24), Luke here just recounts the mistreatment he received from the men guarding him. They were ridiculing or mocking him, fulfilling his passion prediction (Luke 18:32) and giving a foretaste of things to come (23:11, 36). They also kept saying many other insults to him (see 23:39). In addition, there is physical abuse: they were beating him,41 precisely what the wicked tenants in the parable did to the servants—in other words, the prophets (20:10–12; see 11:49; 13:34). Indeed, deriding Jesus’ reputation as a prophet (though it was just verified by his accurate predictions regarding Judas and Peter), they blindfolded him and asked him to prophesy who struck him. Unwittingly, they fulfill what he earlier prophesied concerning his suffering (9:22; 17:25).

  Jesus before the Sanhedrin (22:66–71)

  66When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. 67They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us,” but he replied to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68and if I question, you will not respond. 69But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied to them, “You say that I am.” 71Then they said, “What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his own mouth.”

  OT: Ps 110:1; Dan 7:13–14

  NT: Luke 9:20; Acts 7:55–56. // Matt 26:63–65; Mark 14:61–64

  Catechism: Jesus before the Sanhedrin, 591, 596–97; Son of God, 443; Jesus at God’s right hand, 663–64

  [22:66]

  When day came (Matt 27:1; Mark 15:1; see John 18:24, 28), Jesus was brought in for questioning before Judaism’s judicial body in Jerusalem—namely, the council of elders with chief priests and scribes (see Luke 9:22; 20:1; Mark 15:1), also called the †Sanhedrin.

  [22:67–69]

  The leaders, wanting to know who Jesus claims to be, ask him two questions. First, is he the Messiah (christos)? The angel first announced to the shepherds that Jesus is the Messiah (Luke 2:11), and Peter confessed him as Messiah in the presence of the disciples (9:20). Moreover, while teaching in the temple, Jesus had referred to “the Messiah” in his question about David’s son (20:41). However, Jesus’ earlier experience when discussing authority with the Jewish leaders indicates that they will not believe it (20:5) nor will they respond if he asks them a question (20:3, 7). Nevertheless, he answers the question by interpreting the title for them: from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. The emphasis here is not on Jesus’ second “coming” (21:27) from God’s right hand (see Matt 26:64; Mark 14:62) but rather on his imminent exaltation following his death and resurrection to God’s right hand, to which Peter and the apostles, and also Stephen,42 will soon bear witness (Acts 2:33–34; 5:31; 7:55–56). The words about sitting “at the right hand” are from the psalm Jesus quoted earlier (see Luke 20:42; Ps 110:1), and the Son of Man title here refers to Daniel’s prophecy of a divine-human figure who receives everlasting dominion (Dan 7:13–14; see Ps 80:18). With these biblical
allusions, Jesus declares himself to be a messianic king with a divine identity.

  [22:70–71]

  None of this is lost on those interrogating him, who thus follow up with a second question: Are you then the Son of God? It was again an angel who first announced this title (Luke 1:35), and the voice from heaven confirmed it at key moments in Jesus’ ministry (3:22; 9:35). In response, Jesus indirectly affirms: You say that I am. That Jesus is again staking a claim to divine status is apparent to them. No more testimony is needed to charge him with blasphemy, since they have heard it from his own mouth. They can now hand him over to the Roman governor, as they have been hoping to do (20:20).

  1. Because of the reference to sacrifice, the Greek word pascha is here translated “Passover lamb” (see 1 Cor 5:7). Elsewhere in Luke, pascha is translated simply “Passover” but may refer to the weeklong feast (Luke 22:1), the meal on its first night (22:11, 15), or both the sacrifice and the meal (22:8). See Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Last Supper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 339–40, 395.