Matthew 26:36-46
New Catholic Bible
36 The Agony in the Garden.[a] Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to suffer grief and anguish.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful, even to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” 39 Moving on a little farther, he threw himself prostrate on the ground in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, allow this cup to be taken from me. Yet let your will, not mine, be done.”
40 Returning to the disciples, he found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Could you not keep watch with me for just one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went apart for a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 Then he came back again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
44 He left them there and went away again, praying for the third time in the same words as before. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up! Let us be going! Look, my betrayer is approaching.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 26:36 The first Christian community never succumbed to the temptation to make Jesus into a hero. Never did he appear more human and more pitiable than in this passage. His inner turmoil in the face of his approaching suffering and death could not be more profound than in this hour of the agony. Three times the prayer of the Our Father rises on the lips of Christ; it is a prayer of complete abandonment into God’s hand. And Jesus bears this “temptation,” this trial, alone as perhaps no other human could have done. He utters no word of resentment or pride at the moment when he accepts and confronts the ultimate and sorrowful stage of his mission.
