(1) Luke 22:39–46. When Luke describes Jesus’ time of
prayer, he accentuates Jesus’ role as a combatant, the vulnerability of the
disciples, and the importance of prayer. Though clearly reliant on Mark’s
Gospel as a source text, Luke opts to depict the Mount of Olives as a
battlefield where Jesus counters Satan’s attacks (Arterbury, “Battle on the
Mount of Olives,” 37–51).
For
example, in Luke’s Gospel Jesus requests that the Father remove the cup—a
reference to Jesus’ suffering and death—from him; first and foremost, however,
Jesus seeks to be obedient to the Father (22:42). Next, even though 22:43–44
are missing in many early manuscripts, recent scholarship indicates that these
verses were more likely expunged from the original version of Luke’s Gospel in
response to heretical interpretations of them rather than added later by
scribes (Clivaz, L’Ange, 603–607;
Blumell, “Luke 22:43–44,” 5–7). At the very least, since Christian writers like
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tatian, and Hippolytus drew upon 22:43–44 as early as
the mid-second century, the evidence suggests that the earliest readers of
Luke’s Gospel likely read verses 43–44 in conjunction with this passage (Caird,
Saint Luke, 243). If so, 22:43–44
function as God’s immediate response to the prayer that Jesus voices in 22:42.
The Father does not remove the cup, but the Father immediately commissions an
angel to strengthen Jesus amid this time of hardship.
Some have
interpreted 22:42–44 and Jesus’ prayer for the removal of the cup as evidence
that Jesus is wavering in his resolve to die as an innocent martyr—something
that Jesus resolved to do as far back as 9:51. Frequently, these scholars
translate the Greek word agōnia in
22:43 as a type of “fearful anxiety” that places Jesus in desperate need of
divine comfort. Some scholars disregard 22:43–44 altogether as a later
corruption precisely because of this translation. They argue that Jesus is not
overwhelmed by his emotions at any other place in Luke’s Gospel. As a result,
they deem 22:43–44 to be inauthentic (e.g., Ehrman and Plunkett, “The Angel,”
401–16). Others consider 22:43–44 to be authentic, but they envision 22:42–44
as Jesus’ second temptation (cf. 4:1–13; e.g., Marshall, Luke, 828). They suggest that Jesus struggles to remain obedient to
the Father at the end of his life just as he did at the beginning.
Luke,
however, has already informed his readers in 4:13 that Jesus resisted all (Gk. pas) of the devil’s temptations from the beginning. As a result,
perhaps it is better to envision Luke 22:39–43 as the temptation of Jesus’
disciples. Luke has already revealed Satan’s behind-the-scenes work when Satan
takes possession of Judas and colludes with the chief priests and scribes
(22:1–6). Furthermore, as his parting words in the upper room, Jesus informs
his disciples that Satan demanded to sift all of them like wheat, to shake them
loose violently (22:31). He even encouraged them to buy swords and ready
themselves for battle (22:36). Even more, whereas Mark portrays Jesus as
grieved (Mark 14:34), Luke attributes grief to the disciples not Jesus (22:45).
Satan’s sifting of the disciples begins while Jesus and his disciples are on
the Mount of Olives in 22:39–46. Their time of vulnerability begins as soon as
they depart the upper room.
So if Jesus
is not full of anxious fearfulness, why does the Lord’s angel need to
strengthen Jesus? Many have noted that the better translation of the Greek word
agōnia in 22:44 connotes that Jesus
is in a state of “strain” or “combat” rather than a state of “agony” or
“anguish.” For example, the word agōnia
was commonly employed in antiquity to speak about wrestlers or athletes who
strained in competitive contexts (see e.g., Clivaz, L’Ange, 624–26; Brown, Death
of the Messiah, 1:190). As a result, rather than showing Jesus’ fearful
anxiety, Luke portrays Jesus as a wrestler or combatant who takes on the unseen
“power of darkness” (22:31–32, 53). The Lord strengthens Jesus so that he can
battle even more effectively.
This
reading of the text fits better with the sequence of events that Luke narrates.
For example, Jesus clearly asks that the cup of suffering be removed from him.
Next, even though the suffering (the impending crucifixion) is not removed, God
nevertheless sends an angel to strengthen Jesus. Jesus does not then become
weaker with anxiety after the angel arrives to strengthen him, as if God’s
assistance is ineffectual (cf. Ehrman and Plunkett, “The Angel,” 401–16).
Instead, Jesus relies on the strength that God’s angel provides to pray even
“more earnestly” as he battles the unseen “power of darkness” (22:53). Like a
wrestler, the divine assistance now buttresses Jesus as he battles the sifting
work of Satan (22:31–32). He prays so earnestly that he sweats like an athlete
or a combatant striving to overcome a foe.
Obviously,
if agōnia is translated to refer to
Jesus’ straining in a manner akin to an athlete, then Luke has greatly
accentuated the importance of prayer in Luke 22:39–46 in much the same way that
he has accentuated the importance of prayer throughout his Gospel (see Luke
1:8–25 above). Notice, for example, that only Luke includes two injunctions by
Jesus whereby he instructs the disciples to pray. Jesus exhorts them to pray
before the time of prayer on the Mount of Olives (22:40) and before the time of
the arrest on the Mount of Olives (22:46). Prayer is the proper response in
both cases. Moreover, Jesus explains to them clearly why they need to pray. He
asks them to pray so that they “may not come into the time of trial” or
“temptation.” The Greek word peirasmos
can connote either an outward trial or an inward temptation (22:40, 46).
Furthermore, Jesus’ words recall the model prayer that Jesus shared with his
disciples in 11:1–4. His last petition was, “And do not bring us into the time
of trial” (peirasmos) (11:4). In both
Luke 11 and 22, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray to God for assistance when
facing trials and/or temptations.
In
addition, given that Jesus just warned his disciples that Satan was about to
“sift” them like wheat (22:31) and encouraged them to ready themselves for
battle by buying swords (22:36), Jesus’ injunctions to pray appear to fall
within the context of a cosmic battle. Prayer is the means by which Jesus
exhorts the disciples to face their time of trial and/or temptation. Prayer is
depicted as the weapon—or perhaps the armor—that they need more than physical
swords (22:38, 50–51). Most important, Jesus has already informed his disciples
in 22:31–32 that he has countered/will counter Satan’s attempt to destroy
Peter’s faith as well as the faith of all the disciples. Strikingly, the only
explanation that Jesus gives for the survival of Peter’s faith is that he has
prayed for Peter. In essence, even Jesus relies on prayer when seeking to
counter Satan’s attacks against the disciples.
Jesus
therefore appears to employ prayer as his primary defense on the Mount of
Olives. As Satan begins to sift the disciples and their faith like wheat
(22:31–32), Jesus does what the disciples are incapable of doing for
themselves. He stays awake and prays. Like a boxer who has been strengthened in
his corner, Jesus relies on divine strength and charges forth to pray even more
earnestly (22:44). He seeks to protect his followers from the unseen assault of
Satan himself by means of prayer (22:31–32). Moreover, Jesus teaches his
disciples that prayer is the proper response amid both their temptations (e.g.,
the temptation to fall asleep at a pivotal moment) and their trials (e.g., the
arrest of their leader) (Arterbury, “Battle on the Mount of Olives,” 45–51). (Andrew
E. Arterbury, Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary
[Reading the New Testament, 2nd series; Marcon, Ga.: Smyth & Helwys
Publishing, Incorporated, 2019], 197-99)
