This chapter highlights the most important happenings that transpired that night at the garden of Gethsemane shortly before the Son of man faced the wrath of the sinful Mankind. In this chapter, the writer puts it clear that Christ required a lot of comfort and consolation from His disciples, who he served with a lot of passion alongside the rest of the population who came to his summons. The Master has a special request for His disciples: To pray for Him and to pray for themselves. Apparently, this was the day Christ desperately needed the true love and compassion from His disciples whom He had served for as many years with a dedicated heart. This stage marks the turning point in life of Christ as well as wrapping up His works as would be expected by His Father. It is an opportunity for man to show the ultimate care and appreciation, for the love and compassion He had shown the world for all those years He was together with them, teaching, performing miracles, and walking together with disciples as they spread the Word of God.
According to this writer, Christ became strangely silent and His form changed. He had clearly done a lot for the sake of Mankind and this moment would wrap up all His works while still walking together with his disciples. It is a culmination of a highly anticipated exit of the Son of Man, and a conspicuously reluctant Mankind, whose mind is ruled by the devil. Now, He needs his disciples more than before mainly because he is evidently exhausted both physically and spiritually. He clearly feels unappreciated by the world despite serving them for a long period. All that he needs is prayers. Prayers for the world and for Christ. “Christ desired their presence near Him” (Pg 686). Christ meditates over the pain and suffering He had to go through all these for the sake of people who after all do not reciprocate. The writer analyses the ironic role that a section of the clergy plays in hampering His works. To make matters worse, one of His very disciples (Judas) He loved and cared for would betray Him while another (Peter) who actually belonged to His inner circle would deny Him. That is how complex the situation was, despite Christ being together with them for several years.
Furthermore, the writer brings into clear perspective the last prayers of Christ. This is more of a prayer but a plea and a challenging bargain with His Father. He knows that he done pretty well to his Father’s expectation but leaves it for Him to decide. The writer breaks down this moment when Jesus prayed to God at least three times, anxious to know his Father’s decision as far as his fate and that of the world are concerned. Meanwhile, the disciples were asleep when all these developments were unfolding (pg 694). Perhaps with prayers and intercessions of disciples, God would have changed His decision of accepting His Son sufferings. The kind of sleep discussed is more spiritual than literal and clearly shows the magnitude of sin in lives of Mankind even when in times of urgency. “The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak”, Jesus observed.
This chapter therefore brings out the most emotional side of the Christ sufferings as expected that he be crucified later on. In the end, God managed to make a hard choice of sacrificing his only beloved son for the sake of humanity. In the contemporary society, it would be unpopular decision for individuals to sacrifice what they love so much for the sake of this ungrateful majority.
