ACC ~ Mark 14 v26 - 37

OVERVIEW:

Jesus’ human vulnerability is the focus of patristic comment. This is clearly portrayed in his ordeal in Gethsemane, yet without diminishing his deity (ORIGEN). He is speaking here in his fully human voice, which naturally shrinks from death, as does ours (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus treaded the winepress of suffering alone (JEROME). The cup of suffering does not pass away simply by being avoided. His freely chosen obedience demonstrates by its unpretentiousness the eternal mystery of his humiliation (HILARY OF POITIERS). Jesus taught patience in suffering by himself becoming patient in suffering (AUGUSTINE). He felt the anguish of death (EPHREM THE SYRIAN). His sadness was not caused by death as such but was finished and removed by death, and in this sense he was “sorrowful unto death.” We with our temporally bound minds cannot grasp or measure his almighty power that stooped to suffer for us (HILARY OF POITIERS).

14:30 | Before the Cock Crows Twice

PETER DID NOT KNOW HIS WEAKNESS

AUGUSTINE: God knows in us even what we ourselves do not know in ourselves. For Peter did not know his weakness when he heard from the Lord that he would deny him three times. [1] TRACTATE ON JOHN 32.5. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 26:33-35; Mk 14:29-31; Lk 22:31-34; Jn 13:36-38.

[2] Cetedoc 0278, 32.5.19; FC 88:44.

14:31 | I Will Not Deny You

THE FLIGHT OF PETER

JEROME: One of twelve deserted; eleven remained loyal. The cross came; they fled; one remained—Peter, one with One. This one himself fled, and would that he had! He denied Christ. We may say, then, that the entire human race was lost. Because it had perished, the complaint of the Lord crucified is: “The wine press I have trodden alone, and of my people there was no one with me.” [1] Then was the Psalm fulfilled: “Help, O Lord! For no one now is dutiful.” [2] “There is none who does good, no not even one.” [3] He who has promised: “Even if I should have to die with thee, or be imprisoned, I will not deny thee,” [4] denied him. ON THE PSALMS, HOMILY 54. [5]

[1] Is 63:3.

[2] Ps 12:1-2.

[3] Ps 14:1-3; Rom 3:12.

[4] Mt 26:35; Mk 14:31.

[5] Cetedoc 0592, 143.270; FC 48:390.

14:34 | My Soul Is Very Sorrowful Even unto Death

HIS DEITY DID NOT CANCEL OUT HIS HUMANITY

ORIGEN: He was troubled, as we are told, in the hour of death, as he himself confesses when he says, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.” [1] He was finally led to that death which is considered the most shameful of all. On the third day he rose again. [2] When, therefore, we see in him some things so human that they appear in no way to differ from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine that they are appropriate to nothing else but the primal and ineffable nature of deity, the human understanding with its own narrow limits is baffled, and struck with amazement at so mighty a wonder. It does not know which way to turn, what to hold to, or how to establish itself. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.6.2. [3]

[1] Mt 26:38; Mk 14:34.

[2] Cf. Mt 28:6; Mk 16:6; Lk 24:5; 1 Cor 15:4.

[3] OBP 358; OFP 109.

THE CAUSE OF HIS SADNESS

HILARY OF POITIERS: What is meant by “sorrowful even unto death?” [1] It cannot mean the same as “to be sorrowful because of death”; for where there is sorrow because of death, it is the death that is the cause of the sadness. But a sadness even unto death implies that death is the completion, not the cause, of the sadness. ON THE TRINITY 10.36. [2]

[1] Mt 26:38; Mk 14:34.

[2] Cetedoc 0433, SL 62A, 10.36.4; NPNF 2 9:191.

14:35a | He Fell to the Ground

HIS HUMAN AFFECTIONS

AMBROSE: He has fully taken upon himself the flesh of humanity, and with it human affections. So you read in Scripture that “going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.” [1] Here he speaks not in the voice of God but as fully human. For how could God be ignorant of the possibility or impossibility of anything? Or is anything beyond God’s ability, when as Scripture itself says: “For you nothing is impossible?” [2] ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.5.42. [3]

[1] Mk 14:35.

[2] Cf. Lk 1:37.

[3] Cetedoc 015, 2.5.17; NPNF 2 10:228*.

14:35b | If It Were Possible

THE WEAKNESS THAT BELONGS TO HUMAN NATURE

CHRYSOSTOM: How is it, then, that in his prayer he says: “If it be possible?” [1] He is showing the weakness that belongs to a human nature. Human nature would prefer not to be torn from the present life. It would draw back and shrink from death. Why? Because God has implanted in human nature a love for the life of this world. ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD 7.46. [2]

[1] Mt 26:39.

[2] TLG 2062.015, 48.765.3-8; FC 72:204. God gave Jesus the same human nature as we have, a nature that shrinks from death.

14:36a | Abba, Father, All Things Are Possible to Thee

WHETHER ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO GOD

HILARY OF POITIERS: The Father from whom every nature has derived its laws is not subject to the laws of nature. The Father who transcends every measure of power is not limited in anything, either by deficiency or by changeability in his nature. As the Son said: “Father, all things are possible to thee.” [1] So much so that the human mind cannot grasp as much as lies within his power. ON THE TRINITY 9.72. [2]

[1] Mk 14:36.

[2] Cetedoc 0433, SL 62A, 10 9.72.18; FC 25:394**; cf. NPNF 2 9:180.

14:36b | Remove This Cup from Me

PERSEVERING IN PRAYER THROUGH TEMPTATION

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: He knew what he was saying to his Father, and was well aware that this chalice could pass from him. But he had come to drink it for everyone, in order to acquit, through this chalice, the debt of everyone, [a debt] which the prophets and martyrs could not pay with their death. … He assumed flesh. He clothed himself with weakness, eating when hungry, becoming tired after working, being overcome by sleep when weary. It was necessary, when the time for his death arrived, that all things that have to do with the flesh would be fulfilled then. The anguish of death in fact invaded him, to manifest his nature as a son of Adam, over whom death reigns, [1] according to the word of the apostle. … Or alternatively, in this hour of his corporeal death, he gave to the body that which belonged to it, saying that all the sufferings of [his] body would show to the heretics and schismatics that his body was [real]. Did not this body of his appear to them, just as it was visible to everyone else? Just as he was hungry and thirsty, tired and had need of sleep, so too, he was afraid. Or, [he said that], so that it would be difficult for people in the world to say that it was without suffering and toil that our debts were remitted by him. Or [it was] to teach his disciples to confide their life and death to God. If he, who is wise on account of the wisdom of God, asked for what was fitting for him, how much more [should] ordinary people surrender their will to the One who knows all things. … If he who is fearless was afraid [of death], and asked to be delivered from it, although he knew that it was impossible, how much more should others persevere in prayer before temptation, so that, in time of temptation, they may be delivered from it. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON. [2]

[1] Cf. Rom 5:14, 17.

[2] CSCO 137:280, 282, 284; JSSS 2:292-96*.

HE PRAYS IN A HUMAN MANNER

HILARY OF POITIERS: Though with God nothing is impossible, yet for human nature it is impossible to ignore the fear of suffering. Only by trial can faith be proved. [1] Thus as a human being he prays in a human manner that the cup may pass away, but as God from God, his will is in unison with the Father’s effectual will. ON THE TRINITY 10.38. [2]

[1] 1 Pet 1:7.

[2] NPNF 2 9:192*. As son of Mary he shrinks from suffering; as God the Son his will remains in unity with that of God the Father.

WHAT PASSES AWAY?

HILARY OF POITIERS: He does not pray that the cup may pass around him. He prays that the cup may pass away from him, but it cannot pass away unless he drinks it. To pass away does not mean to depart from its place, but not to exist at all. [1] And this is indeed the very meaning that the apostles have in mind when they say: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” [2] ON THE TRINITY 10.42. [3]

[1] If the cup is to pass away finally, it must be drunk. It does not pass away by being avoided. If the cup passes around him and still exists for someone else to deal with, the cup has not fully passed away.

[2] Mt 24:35; Mk 13:31; Lk 21:33.

[3] Cetedoc 0433, SL 62A, 10.42.12; FC 25:430**.

14:36c | Yet Not What I Will but What Thou Wilt

WITHIN TIME FOR ETERNITY

HILARY OF POITIERS: Although he was obedient, it was a voluntary obedience. The only begotten Son humbled himself, and obeyed his Father even to the death of the cross. But was it as human or as God that he was subjected to the Father? His subjection is that of one to whom all things have been subjected. [1] This subjection is not a sign merely of a temporal obedience, for his allegiance is eternal. Rather it was an instance in time of the dispensation of the eternal mystery of his humbling. His actual humbling occurred within time. [2] Yet in its very unpretentiousness it displays the eternal mystery of his humiliation. ON THE TRINITY 11.30. [3]

[1] Cf. 1 Cor 15:27-28.

[2] As a series of events within time. Cf. Phil 2:6-8.

[3] Cetedoc 9433, SL 62A, 11.30.21; NPNF 2 9:212**.

EMBODYING OBEDIENCE

AUGUSTINE: To show sufferers that they need not despair, the true Savior became the good teacher by himself epitomizing the truth in his own person. He participated in our suffering in an empathic way, [1] knowing that through human frailty sorrow might steal in upon our hearts amid afflictions, and knowing that we would overcome it if we yield to God’s will above our own, mindful that God knows best those whose well-being he superintends. [2] HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.4.14. [3]

[1] Cf. Heb 2:9, 18; 4:15.

[2] Cf. 2 Pet 2:9; Jas 1:12.

[3] Cetedoc 9273, 3.4.14.285.11; NPNF 1 6:184**.