Holy Land Homily: Agony in the Garden

Domus Flevit Church. Image ICN/JS

Deacon Patrick van der Vorst gave this homily today, 12 April 2023, at Dominus Flevit Church, on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Garden of Gesthemane on the second day of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

2 Samuel 15
John 18:1 and Matthew 26:36-46

Today we find ourselves on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives in the Old Testament is mentioned numerous times. Our First Reading of the Book of Samuel tells us how David went up the Mount of Olives weeping. But also in the New Testament do we find numerous mentions of the very place we are now. There are three main accounts:

Firstly, on this Mount Jesus ascended into Heaven as told in the Acts of the Apostles. Secondly, the Mount of Olives is mentioned as part of the route from Jerusalem to Bethany and the place where Jesus stood when he wept over Jerusalem. The Evangelist Luke describes this that Jesus wept (Dominus flevit, the latin for 'the Lord wept'), when he looked from here to Jerusalem and saw the Beauty of the temple knowing that it would soon be destroyed. This became true, as roughly 40 years after Jesus stood on this very place, the temple was indeed destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, with only a portion of the western wall remaining.

The third mention of the Mount Olives, and the one I want to concentrate on in today's homily , is the Mount of Olives described as the start of the Passion of Christ. For at the bottom of this mount is the Garden of Gesthemane.

The Gospel reading we just listened to describes to us in painful detail Christ's agony in the garden. The agony in the garden is the first of the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, and it is also the first station of the cross. Christ's passion starts here! Two thousand years ago, Jesus was here, weeping, at a loss, in pain, crying, asking his Father 'do I really need to go through all of this'…. But his obedience and total love of his Father then made him accept what had to be done.

For Jesus the Garden of Gesthemane is the deep breath before the plunge!

It is the moment the dark clouds are gathering…

Even though the cross is not yet mentioned in our reading, the cross is already very present. For what is a cross? A cross consists of a vertical beam, and a horizontal beam. Well this vertical and the horizontal that will save mankind is already present here:

The vertical: Jesus is praying to God. We hear this powerful exchange between Jesus and his father. Jesus asks his Father ' My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" and a bit later: 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done." We witness this beautiful intimacy of prayer by Jesus in his full divinity to his father.
A further vertical so to speak is when the angel from heaven comes to comfort and strengthen Jesus.

But also the horizontal is strongly present in the agony in the garden, as this is where we see the full humanity of Jesus. Just like any human being, Jesus was in pain, suffering , anxious,… He was there with some his friends, disciples… He lived an earthly life, like any of us… And he did what he dis for us.

The agony in the garden reveals Jesus in his full divinity, the vertical; and also in his full humanity, the horizontal… And that cross would soon become a physical cross that he would have to carry through the streets of Jerusalem, just across this valley… which is where we will find ourselves tomorrow.

Here in this garden is where Jesus, before his physical suffering through being scourged, being crowned with thorns and crucified, went through immense psychological pain. So this is the very place where Jesus draws close to us as a brother and as a friend. This is where Jesus tells us through his own suffering:

- You know, Patrick, if you feel lonely: I have been there. I felt so alone on this Mount.

- You know, Christopher, your struggle with addiction, I know your pain, I am there to help.

- You know Caroline, all your health problems, I have gone though the most severe of physical pains too…

So for us today, this very place is where we want to remember all our close friends who are going through immense personal suffering at this very moment. This is the place where we remember our friends who are going through their own Gesthemane moment at this very time. And it is hard to see someone who we love so much, go though deep personal suffering.

As friends, the pain of our close friends becomes also our pain. We see someone we care about suffer and we want to do something about the situation. But we don't know what to do, we feel powerless. We want to take away their pain, but we can't. So we become frustrated and at times even angry. And that is fine. There is nothing wrong with being frustrated or angry. These are normal feelings welling up inside us. But it is what we do with these feelings what matters. And all we can do is place these feelings in front of God, here, on the Mount of Olives. We ask God to take our tears for all our friends who we want to remember who are suffering and we simply offer them to God, saying "here I am, you know what is in my heart and please help my friend".

It is a simple prayer, but it is a beautiful prayer.

This tear shaped church, built on the very spot where Jesus wept and shed his own tears lends itself perfectly for such a simple, yet powerful prayer.

Gesthamene is an olive grove. In fact the word Gesthamene in Hebrew means 'oil press'. What an oil press does is putting immense pressure on the olives… but by doing som it ultimately extracts the very best out of the olive: its precious oil. Pressure, hurt, suffering squeezes us too, but we have to pray and trust that ultimately it too can bring out something very precious out of too at times.

What did Jesus ask from his friends, his disciples in his moment of agony? To simply be there with him and stay awake…

Stay with me, remain here with me, watch and pray…