Sunday, July 23, 2023

Julian the Apostate on Jesus' Sufferings in Gethsemane

  

The episode in Gethsemane is pitiful in Julian’s eyes. He chooses to attack Luke's version in particular:

 

Furthermore, Jesus prays in such language as would be used by a pitiful (αθλιος) wretch who cannot bear misfortune with serenity (ευκολως), and though he is a god is reassured by an angel. And who told you, Luke, the story of the angel (Lk 22:43), if indeed this ever happened? For those who were there when he prayed could not see the angel; for they were asleep. Therefore when Jesus came from his prayer he found them fallen asleep from their grief and said: “Why do you sleep? Arise and pray,” and so forth. And then, “And while he was yet speaking, behold a multitude and Judas (Lk 22:46-47).” That is why John did not write about the angel, for neither did he see it. (Julian Against the Galilaeans 95 [RB: this is a work by the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate, c. 361-363])

 

Aristotle’s use of ευκολως (“serenely,” “with good grace”) perhaps shows the context of Julian’s critique of Jesus’ pain: “Still, nobility shines through even in such circumstances, when a man bears may great misfortunes with good grace not because he is insensitive to pain but because he is noble and high minded.” Julian’s attack is twofold. First, Christ does not exhibit proper equanimity in the face of misfortune. Second, the narrative of the angel is inherently doubtful since none of the disciples could have seen it. Julian argues that John’s silence with regard to the angel supports his critique. (John Granger Cook, The Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2002], 297-98)

 

Further Reading:


Lincoln H. Blumell, "Luke 22:43–44: An Anti-Docetic Interpolation or an Apologetic Omission?,” TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 19 (2014): 1–35.