Lk 22, 39-46 Father not my will but yours be done

(Lk 22, 39-46) Father not my will but yours be done

[39] Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. [40] When he arrived at the place he said to them, "Pray that you may not undergo the test." [41] After withdrawing about a stone's throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, [42] saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done." [43] (And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. [44] He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.) [45] When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. [46] He said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test."

(CCC 612) The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani (Cf. Mt 26:42; Lk 22:20), making himself "obedient unto death". Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…" (Phil 2:8; Mt 26:39; cf. Heb 5:7-8). Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death (Cf. Rom 5:12; Heb 4:15). Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the "Author of life", the "Living One" (Cf. Acts 3:15; Rev 1:17; Jn 1:4; 5:26). By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for "he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree" (1 Pt 2:24; cf. Mt 26:42). (CCC 2606) All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry of the incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising his Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation. The Psalter gives us the key to prayer in Christ. In the "today" of the Resurrection the Father says: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession" (Ps 2:7-8; cf. Acts 13:33). The Letter to the Hebrews expresses in dramatic terms how the prayer of Jesus accomplished the victory of salvation: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him" (Heb 5:7-9).