The Garden
This is the last meal Jesus has with his beloved friends, the 12 disciples. They all enter the Passover season by taking a Seder meal together and Jesus teaches the disciples something new with the symbolic food and drink. During this meal, Jesus also disorients his disciples by talking about a traitor among them.
Watch
Read
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Mark 14:32-42
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Luke 22:39-46
Watch
Practice
As you watch, reflect on these questions.
1. What would you see in this garden through the moonlight? Use your imagination!
2. What do you smell? The garden was thought of to be full of olive trees. What do olives or olive oil smell like?
3. What would you hear in the garden at night? The gentle sounds of nature and animals? Crickets or birds? Maybe the sound of people walking nearby? Maybe even the snoring of the disciples?
4. What do you feel during the cool night? The physical sensations of the wind on your skin or the branches and leaves touching you? Are you sitting on the hard ground or on grass? As a disciple, do you emotionally feel the chill of disorientation or fear of not knowing what is going to happen next or why you are there in a garden sitting with Jesus?