Wednesday in Holy Week, April 13. “Get up and pray”

Prepare to Listen.  In your silence, offer this prayer: Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.  O LORD, make haste to help me!
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 22:39-46
39He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. 40When he reached the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’ 41Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, 42‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.’  [[43Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength.  44In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.]]  45When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of grief, 46and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping?  Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
If we only had Luke’s version of Jesus’ prayer, we’d never sing, “lest I forget Gethsemane.”  Matthew and Mark name it but Luke simply calls it the place.  We also might never sing the next line of that hymn, “lest I forget thine agony.”  Unlike Matthew and Mark, Luke doesn’t focus on Jesus’ agony.  The two verses (43-44) about angels and bloody sweat aren’t in some of the reliable ancient manuscripts (hence the brackets) and without them, Jesus appears calm, controlled.  He “knelt down, and prayed” and when done, he got up and returned to the disciples. [1]
 
Luke’s focus isn't on Jesus' agony.  It's on prayer.  He begins and ends with Jesus’ exhortation, “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”  The second time, adding, “Get up and pray.”  Prayer is also at the center of the story, Jesus’ prayer to the Father that this cup" be removed.  The trial was imminent, Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, and, since it was common to arrest the leader’s associates, the disciples were also in danger.  There was also the greater trial of the clash between Jesus and the forces of the satan and evil so that God’s kingdom, our redemption “would emerge on the other side.”[2]  Pray, said Jesus, that you may not come into this trial.
 
Luke’s focus on prayer reminds us of the urgency to pray, to get up (be disciplined) and pray.  Every day we’re bombarded with trials and temptations that will lead us away from Jesus and his way of truth and love.  Prayer, in words or silence, keeps us in the presence of God, and thus will keep us faithful.  Get up, therefore, and pray for yourself and for the Church around the world.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What challenged you in this passage today?
 
Respond to Jesus
For all those today who are experiencing serious trials, Lord in your mercy keep them.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Get up and pray.
[1] Read the passage again without vv. 43-44 and you’ll see the lack of emphasis on Jesus’ agony.
[2] Wright, N. T.  Luke for Everyone.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  2001, p. 270.