Palm Sunday: Jesus’ and our Gethsemane
Metaphor of the cup
The phrase “unto death” suggests that Jesus’ sorrow is so intense that it threatens his life, echoing Sirach 37:2, “Is it not a sorrow like that for death itself when a dear friend turns into an enemy?”
Full of distress, Jesus prays that God spare him of the sufferings awaiting him, “Abba, Father … Take this cup away from me.” In the Hebrew Scriptures, the “cup” image is often used by the prophets to describe the suffering that God will bring on the enemies of God’s people (Isaiah 51:17 and Jeremiah 25:15).
Jesus prayer about this “cup” should be read in the light of his challenge to James and John to “drink the cup that I drink” (Mark 10:38-39) and his words over the cup at the Last Supper (“my blood of the covenant poured out for many”). In these cases, the metaphor of the cup refers to the suffering of Jesus.
At the end of his prayer, Jesus affirms his faith in God’s power and submits to his will. This prayer of God’s will to be done and Jesus addressing God as “Abba, Father” are noted as links of the Gethsemane narrative to the Lord’s Prayer. Since the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for the full coming of God’s kingdom (“Thy kingdom come”), these echoes are said to indicate an eschatological mood of the Gethsemane account.
Three times Jesus leaves his disciples to pray and return to find them sleeping. But in spite of the disciples’ persistent weakness and failures, Jesus invites them to accompany him as he moves forward to the cross. (“Get up. Let us go.”)
We may be human and weak, but we are invited to suffer for Christ and to hope in the coming of the kingdom.
Bibliography: Harrington and Donahue, Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Mark (Minnesota, 2002); Almazan, OFM, “Welcome to Our Bible Study: Passion Sunday B” (unpublished)
(Editor’s Note: The teaching commentary is sourced from Bat Kol Institute at https://www.batkol.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PalmSunday-March-29-2015-final.pdf. The Jerusalem-based institute offers courses for Christians to study the Bible within its Jewish milieu and using Jewish sources. Minerva Generalao heads Inquirer Research and is a Bat Kol Alumna [July 2014].)
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