Agony in the Garden

Last updated
Christ in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann, 1886 Christ in Gethsemane.jpg
Christ in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann, 1886

The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is an episode in the life of Jesus, which occurred after the Last Supper and before his betrayal and arrest, all part of the Passion of Jesus leading to his crucifixion and death. This episode is described in the three Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament. [1] [2] [3] According to these accounts, Jesus, accompanied by Peter, John and James, enters the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where he experiences great anguish and prays to be delivered from his impending suffering, while also accepting God's will.

Contents

This episode is a significant event in Christian tradition, especially in Catholic devotional practices. The agony of Jesus in the Garden is the first (or second) station of the Scriptural Way of the Cross (modern version of the Via Crucis) and the first "sorrowful mystery" of the Dominican Rosary, and it is the inspiration for the Holy Hour devotion in the Eucharistic adoration. It has been a frequent theme in Christian art depicting the life of Jesus.

Gospel narratives

Agony in the Garden by El Greco, c. 1590 El Greco 019.jpg
Agony in the Garden by El Greco, c. 1590

According to the Synoptic Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus retreated to a garden to pray. Each gospel offers a slightly different account regarding narrative details. The gospels of Matthew and Mark identify this place of prayer as Gethsemane. Jesus was accompanied by three Apostles: Peter, John and James, whom he asked to stay awake and pray. He moved "a stone's throw away" from them, where he felt overwhelming sadness and anguish, and said "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I, would have it." Then, a little while later, he said, "If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it, Your will be done!" (Matthew 26:42; [4] in Latin Vulgate: fiat voluntas tua) [5] He said this prayer thrice, checking on the three apostles after each prayer and finding them asleep. He commented: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". An angel came from heaven to strengthen him. During his agony as he prayed, "His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down upon the ground" (Luke 22:44). [6]

At the conclusion of the narrative, Jesus accepts that the hour has come for him to be betrayed. [7]

Tradition

In Agony in the Garden, Jesus prays in the garden after the Last Supper while the disciples sleep and Judas leads the mob, by Andrea Mantegna c. 1460. Andrea Mantegna 036.jpg
In Agony in the Garden , Jesus prays in the garden after the Last Supper while the disciples sleep and Judas leads the mob, by Andrea Mantegna c. 1460.

In Roman Catholic tradition, the Agony in the Garden is the first Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary [8] and the First Station of the Scriptural Way of the Cross (second station in the Philippine version). Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions. These Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ do not involve a petition for a living or dead beneficiary, but aim to "repair the sins" against Jesus. Traditionally, prayers honoring the Agony in the Garden are most influential during the Holy Hour. Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Catholic prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary. [9] [10] [11]

In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus. [12]

Catholic tradition holds that Jesus's sweating of blood was literal and not figurative. [13]

Holy Hour

In the Catholic tradition, Matthew 26:40 [14] is the basis of the Holy Hour devotion for Eucharistic adoration. [15] In the Gospel of Matthew:

Then He said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death; remain here, and watch with Me.'

— Matthew 26:38 [16]

Coming to the disciples, He found them sleeping and, in Matthew 26:40, asked Peter: "So, could you not watch with Me one hour?" [15]

The tradition of the Holy Hour devotion dates back to 1673 when Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque stated that she had a vision of Jesus in which she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. [17] [18] [19]

Commentary

Martin Pable, OFM Cap suggests that Jesus experienced fear, loneliness, and perhaps a sense of failure. [20]

Justus Knecht gives three possible causes for Christ's sadness and agony:

  1. He saw before him the many and inhuman torments which awaited him. He pictured all these terrible sufferings, enduring them in anticipation.
  2. Christ took the sins of men on himself, so as to offer satisfaction to the divine justice in their stead. Now that he was on the point of completing his work of redemption, the horrible mass of evil, abomination and guilt came before his soul and filled it with abhorrence and aversion.
  3. He knew beforehand how many souls would be eternally lost in spite of his bitter Passion and death, because they would not believe in him and would not love him. [21]

Roger Baxter in his Meditations reflects on the angel comforting Christ, writing, "Good God! is it possible that the eternal Son of God should borrow comfort from His creatures? Observe how the Father of lights at last sends comfort to those who persevere in prayer. Imagine what reasons the angel might use in comforting your agonizing Saviour. He probably represented to Him the necessity of His passion for the redemption of mankind, and the glory that would redound to His Father and Himself. All this Christ understood infinitely better than the angel, yet He did not refuse the proffer of consolation, in order to teach you to respect the advice and consolation of your inferiors." [22]

Artistic depictions

Jesus on the Mount of Olives Taisten-Tabernakelbildstock 04.jpg
Jesus on the Mount of Olives

There are a number of different depictions in art of the Agony in the Garden, including:

Medical conjectures

Some in the medical field have hypothesized that Jesus's great anguish caused him to experience hematidrosis (a medical term for sweating blood).

In the traditional viewpoint (that Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke), it is believed that only Luke described Jesus as sweating blood because Luke was a physician. [24]

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Veronica</span> Christian saint

Saint Veronica, also known as Berenike, was a widow from Jerusalem who lived in the 1st century AD, according to extra-biblical Christian sacred tradition. A celebrated saint in many pious Christian countries, the 17th-century Acta Sanctorum published by the Bollandists listed her feast under July 12, but the German Jesuit scholar Joseph Braun cited her commemoration in Festi Marianni on 13 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passion of Jesus</span> Final period in the life of Jesus, before his crucifixion and death

The Passion is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week.

The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus to "remember him" when Jesus comes into his kingdom. The other, as the impenitent thief, challenges Jesus to save himself and both of them to prove that he is the Messiah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gethsemane</span> Garden by Jerusalems Mount of Olives

Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resonance in Christianity. There are several small olive groves in church property, all adjacent to each other and identified with biblical Gethsemane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of All Nations</span> Church constructed 1919–1924 in Jerusalem

The Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of Gethsemane or the Basilica of the Agony, is a Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annunciation</span> Announcement of the conception and birth of Jesus to Mary

The Annunciation is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Christian Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malchus</span> Subject of a miracle by Jesus according to the Bible

Malchus was the servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas who participated in the arrest of Jesus as written in the four gospels. According to the Bible, one of the disciples, Simon Peter, being armed with a sword, cut off the servant's ear in an attempt to prevent the arrest of Jesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temptation of Christ</span> Biblical narrative in the gospels

The temptation of Christ is a biblical narrative detailed in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus was tempted by the devil after 40 days and nights of fasting in the Judaean Desert. At the time, Satan came to Jesus and tried to tempt him. Jesus having refused each temptation, Satan then departed and Jesus returned to Galilee to begin his ministry. During this entire time of spiritual battle, Jesus was fasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew 26</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Matthew 26 is the 26th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter covers the beginning of the Passion of Jesus narrative, which continues to Matthew 28; it contains the narratives of the Jewish leaders' plot to kill Jesus, Judas Iscariot's agreement to betray Jesus to Caiphas, the Last Supper with the Twelve Apostles and institution of the Eucharist, the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and the subsequent vindication of Jesus' predictions, of betrayal by one of the twelve Apostles, and that he will, in the Denial of Peter, be disowned by his closest follower, Saint Peter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keys of Heaven</span> Metaphorical keys of Saint Peter

The Keys of Heaven, also called Saint Peter's keys, refers to the metaphorical keys of the office of Saint Peter, the keys of Heaven, or the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. It is explicitly referenced in the Bible in Matthew 16:19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiss of Judas</span> Kiss by which Judas Iscariot identified and betrayed Jesus Christ

The kiss of Judas, also known as the Betrayal of Christ, is the act with which Judas identified Jesus to the multitude with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests and elders of the people to arrest him, according to the Synoptic Gospels. The kiss is given by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper and leads directly to the arrest of Jesus by the police force of the Sanhedrin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic devotions</span> Catholic traditions

Catholic devotions are particular customs, rituals, and practices of worship of God or honour of the saints which are in addition to the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes devotions as "expressions of love and fidelity that arise from the intersection of one's own faith, culture and the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Devotions are not considered part of liturgical worship, even if they are performed in a church or led by a priest, but rather they are paraliturgical. The Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican publishes a Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

Holy actions are when Roman Catholics offer their work, prayers, apostolic undertakings, daily works, hardships of life, relaxations of body and mind, and family and marriage lives to the Lord, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Spirit of Love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Hour</span> Roman Catholic devotional tradition

Holy Hour is the Roman Catholic devotional tradition of spending an hour in prayer and meditation on the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, or in Eucharistic adoration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. A plenary indulgence is granted for this practice. The practice is also observed in some Lutheran churches and some Anglican churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prayer in the Catholic Church</span> Roman Catholic beliefs on Christian prayer

Prayer in the Catholic Church is "the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." It is an act of the moral virtue of religion, which Catholic theologians identify as a part of the cardinal virtue of justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acts of reparation</span> Theological actions to expiate sins

Reparation is a Christian theological concept closely connected with those of atonement and satisfaction. In ascetical theology, reparation is the making of amends for insults given to God through sin, either one's own or another's. The response of man is to be reparation through adoration, prayer, and sacrifice. In Roman Catholic tradition, an act of reparation is a prayer or devotion with the intent to expiate the "sins of others", e.g. for the repair of the sin of blasphemy, the sufferings of Jesus Christ or as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary</span> Specific prayers and devotions in Catholic tradition

Catholic tradition and Mariology include specific prayers and devotions as acts of reparation for insults and blasphemies against Mary, mother of Jesus, often known as the Blessed Virgin Mary to Catholics. Similar prayers as Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ and Acts of Reparation to The Holy Trinity also exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic devotions to Jesus</span>

The Roman Catholic tradition includes a number of devotions to Jesus Christ. Like all Catholic devotions, these prayer forms are not part of the official public liturgy of the church but are based on the popular spiritual practices of Roman Catholics. Many are officially approved by the Holy See as suitable for spiritual growth but not necessary for salvation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tristis est anima mea (responsory)</span>

Tristis est anima mea is the second responsory of the Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday. The Latin text refers to Christ's Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, a part of his Passion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prayers of Jesus</span> Prayers made by Jesus in the canonical gospels

There are a number of times in which the canonical gospels describe Jesus Christ praying to God.

References

  1. ↑ Matthew 26:36–46
  2. ↑ Mark 14:32–42
  3. ↑ Luke 22:39–46
  4. ↑ Matthew 26:42
  5. ↑ Matthew 26:42
  6. ↑ Luke 22:44
  7. ↑ Matthew 26:46; Mark 14:41; cf. John 18:4: "Knowing all that was going to happen to Him"
  8. ↑ "The agony in the Garden: 1st Sorrowful Mystery". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  9. ↑ Slater, Thomas (1911). "Reparation"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  10. ↑ Delany, Francis Xavier (1911). "Raccolta"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  11. ↑ Christopher, Joseph P. (2003). The Raccolta. St. Athanasius Press. ISBN   978-0-9706526-6-9.
  12. ↑ Pope Pius XI (8 May 1928). "Miserentissimus Redemptor".
  13. ↑ Gillis, James Martin (1907). "Agony of Christ"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  14. ↑ Matthew 26:40
  15. 1 2 Stravinskas, Peter (1998). Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia. Huntingdon, Indiana: OSV Press. p. 498. ISBN   978-0-87973-669-9.
  16. ↑ Matthew 26:38
  17. ↑ Ball, Ann (2003). Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices. Huntingdon, Indiana: OSV Press. ISBN   978-0-87973-910-2.
  18. ↑ Wakefield, Gordon S. (1983). The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 347. ISBN   978-0-664-22170-6.
  19. ↑ Doll, Sister Mary Bernard (1910). "St. Margaret Mary Alacoque"  . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  20. ↑ "Lessons from Jesus' Agony in the Garden | Franciscan Media". www.franciscanmedia.org. February 24, 2018.
  21. ↑ Knecht, Friedrich Justus (1910). "LXIX. The Agony of Jesus in the Garden"  . A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture. B. Herder.
  22. ↑ Baxter, Roger (1823). "Christ's Bloody Sweat"  . Meditations For Every Day In The Year. New York: Benziger Brothers.
  23. ↑ "El Huerto de los Olivos". lugares.inah.gob.mx. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
  24. ↑ Edwards, William D.; Gabel, Wesley J.; Hosmer, Floyd E. (March 21, 1986). "On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ". JAMA . 255 (11): 1455–1463. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.621.365 . doi:10.1001/jama.1986.03370110077025. PMID   3512867.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.