Luke 22:39-52
New Catholic Bible
The Passion
39 The Agony in the Garden.[a] Jesus then went forth and made his way, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 After withdrawing from them about a stone’s throw, he knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
43 [b]Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and gave him strength. 44 In his anguish, he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like great drops of blood falling on the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, he found them sleeping, exhausted by grief. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
47 Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested.[c] While he was still speaking, a crowd of men suddenly approached, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He came up to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ disciples realized what was about to happen, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck a servant of the high priest, slicing off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, “Stop! No more of this!” He then touched the servant’s ear and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come for him, “Why are you coming forth with swords and clubs as though I were a bandit?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Luke 22:39 Tempted to refuse the terrible and humiliating trial of the cross, Jesus struggles in prayer to accept the will of the Father. The divine aid that he receives, as once Elijah did (see 1 Ki 19:7-8), does not mitigate the tragedy of the moment. This passage remains one of the great texts on the distress of human beings in the face of their death. It is intended to be a lesson, as is emphasized, from its beginning to its end, by the repeated invitation to pray so as not to be the prey of a temptation that seems to be all-consuming.
- Luke 22:43 These two verses are not found in some early mss.
- Luke 22:47 Immediately cutting short any resistance on the part of his disciples, Jesus heals the servant wounded by one of them—this is the single miracle in the account of the Passion. It is typical of Luke that the servant be healed (for tradition holds that Luke was a physician).
