Lent 2016, Day 44: March 24 (Luke 22:39-71)

Things are moving faster now. There is a growing anxiety among the disciples. Jesus has shocked them many times tonight. He told them one of them will betray Him (did no one hear Him say it was Judas?) and sparked an argument, one that naturally devolves into the same argument they’ve been having for months: who is the greatest, who loves Jesus most.

Jesus again shocks them – and shuts them up – by washing their feet. This doesn’t have the same cultural impact for us today, but it was electrifying then. It would have shattered (and it did) all of the disciples’ notions about what it meant to be a servant, a leader, The Messiah. 

Peter refuses to allow Jesus to wash his feet (“It’s just not right, this isn’t something You should be doing!” he scolds). When Jesus warns Peter he will have no part of Him, Peter goes to the other extreme (“Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head!”).

What, we wonder, did Judas think? And how did it feel to watch Jesus kneel before him and then to sneak out on clean feet to go betray His Lord? But then, Jesus was only a Rabbi to Judas so he most likely completely missed the point. This act of servanthood may even have helped drive Judas out the door and into the fickle arms of the Priests.

Jesus hints at a change to their ministry. When He first sent out the 70, He gave them strict instructions not to take anything with them. But now? Now He encourages them to take swords.

“Look,” say the disciples, “here are two swords!”

“It is enough,” says Jesus.

Clearly something has changed, something is going to happen. Clearly, they will soon be under some kind of attack. Jesus teaches from the time they sit down to dinner until they reach Gethsemane. John, the trusted confidante, devotes whole chapters to His gorgeous conversation. Luke just wants us to know that when they reach this garden on the Mount of Olives they are exhausted from grief. They are physically and emotionally drained. Spent. And the night is just beginning.

This is their usual camping spot, so they are undoubtedly going about their usual bedtime routine. Jesus, however, has other ideas.

“Watch and pray that you may not fall into temptation.”

This is a bummer. Everyone is tired, everyone just wants to go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day. Can’t we just sleep? Do you really need us to sit in on another of your marathon prayer sessions? (Their reluctance is a little disrespectful.)

There are a couple of curious things here. Jesus knows an armed mob is coming for Him, and He doesn’t want the disciples to join Him on the cross. Why doesn’t He just dismiss the disciples to keep them safe? What sort of temptation is Jesus warning them about?

The first question is the easiest. He seemingly puts the disciples in danger of the mob by keeping them with Him in order to keep them safe. When the mob arrives, Jesus cuts a deal: My life for theirs. It also fulfills Zechariah: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. Lastly, it ensures that they will be able to serve as proper witnesses to these events.

We know that the temptation didn’t involve sleep because He wakes them at one point and tells them to get up and again pray that they not fall into temptation. So what is it?

Earlier, Jesus told Simon that Satan had asked to “sift” them all. Judas’ abrupt departure to betray Jesus to the Jews shows what temptation he faced and how he fared. In just a few hours, Peter will deny Jesus three times out of fear. Jesus warns him and instructs him to strengthen his brothers when he turns back. What will the remaining 10 disciples be tempted to do?

In Matthew, Jesus predicts they will all “fall away because of Me” so it’s likely that Jesus is urging them to pray for the time that’s coming when they will be torn apart, leaderless. Very soon now Jesus will be dead and buried, and Peter will be awash in grief and remorse. They are not expecting the Resurrection so it’s going to be a very discouraging time.

The disciples will be very vulnerable – not to physical attack or harassment from the Pharisees but from spiritual attack designed to undermine their unity and fragment the group.

Because they are human, they are going to think, rethink, and overthink everything. They will obsess over every detail in an effort to figure out what went wrong, what they should have said, what they should have done. Don’t bother, says Jesus, don’t waste your time. Just watch. Just pray.

The key here, hints Jesus, is to stick together, to be brothers – one family – and strengthen one another. The disciples – confused, shortsighted and exhausted – don’t comprehend this early teaching about the future church. They just want to go to bed. Sadly, they don’t see that prayer is their best defense against this coming dark night of the soul. It is their best chance of seeing Sunday dawn with the Resurrection of their Lord.