Jesus prays at Gethsemane, in 𝘓𝘶𝘬𝘦.

Luke 22.39-46.

Of the three different versions of Jesus praying at Gethsemane found in the synoptic gospels, Luke has the shortest version. Mainly because the other synoptics tell of Jesus praying thrice, but Luke only has him pray once. So he’s not coming back two other times to find his students asleep, wake them, remind them to pray, then go off and pray again.

Plus there’s this odd bit someone inserted about an angel, and sweat pouring off of Jesus in such quantities it’s like he’s bleeding. The story of it was told in the second century, and someone decided to insert it into the gospels in the third—either here in Luke 22.43-44, or right after Matthew 26.39. Preachers love to quote it to claim Jesus was sweating blood—ignoring the word ὡσεὶ/oseí, “like,” which clearly shows it was like blood, not literally blood. But that’s a whole other article.

Anyway once you ignore verses 43-44, which I put in brackets ’cause they were added to the text by the Textus Receptus the Luke passage gets even shorter. A little less intense, actually. Going off to pray three different times makes it sound like Jesus was really wrestling with his request. Praying once doesn’t give you that impression. Maybe that’s why the ancients inserted the bit about Jesus soaking himself in sweat. Well anyway, let’s get to the passage:

Luke 22.39-46 KWL

39Leaving the seder, Jesus goes as usual to Mt. Olivet,

and {his} students go with him.

40Coming to the place, Jesus tells his students,

“Pray to not enter into temptation.”

41Jesus draws away from the students—

like as far as a stone’s throw—

and takes to his knees and is praying,

42saying, “Father, if you¹ will,

take this cup away from me!

Only don’t do my will,

but yours.”

43{A heavenly angel appears to Jesus,

strengthening him.

44Being in agony, Jesus is fervently praying,

and his sweat is becoming like drops of blood,

pouring out onto the ground.}

45Rising from the prayer, coming to the students,

Jesus finds them sleeping from the grief.

46Jesus tells his students, “You’re² sleeping?

Rise up and pray, lest you² come to temptation.”

Because of the uniqueness of verses 43-44, preachers love to quote that bit, and ignore the rest. After all, if you wanna talk about Jesus’s intense spiritual struggle in Gethsemane, you’ve got the Mark and Matthew versions. The only thing Luke appears to offer is this “new” bit of information about an angel strengthening an extremely moist Jesus. Plus centuries of Christian commentators pointing out how very human Jesus’s flop sweat makes him sound. Plus, of course, all the preachers who suck at reading comprehension, and claim he sweat blood.

So for a change let’s not look at that part, and focus on what Luke actually did write.

Sleeping from the grief.

The one thing Luke has which the other synoptics does not, is a reference to the λύπης/lýpis, “grief, pain, sorrow” of Jesus’s students.

We know they were exhausted—they had to prepare a passover seder, then eat the big feast, have several glasses of wine, listen to the Exodus story, talk about suffering and redemption, listen to Jesus teach ’em a bunch more things Jn 13-16 and pray for them, Jn 17 and now it was time for an overnight prayer vigil. Most of us who haven’t had a full day like that, can barely stay up for prayer vigils. We fall asleep mid-prayer. So I can totally sympathize with the students conking out on Jesus. And I can totally sympathize with Jesus thrice coming back to wake them—he knew what was coming, and knew they needed to be prayed up.

But we tend to miss the fact these students were sad. Luke informs us Jesus told him his time had come; he was getting betrayed that night; the end was near. Lk 22.21-38 John, which was likely written to fill in the blanks John found in Luke, expands Jesus’s teachings into full chapters. Jesus was trying to encourage his kids, but you’re not gonna miss the fact he’s about to be violently taken away from them, there’s nothing they can do to stop it, and Jesus doesn’t want them to stop it, because this is how he saves the world.

So while Jesus is praying his heart out, it’s entirely likely his students were also praying their hearts out. But Jesus was in the habit of regularly praying for hours on end. He’d been praying like this all his life; they’d been praying like this for only the last few years since they started following Jesus. There’s no way they had his stamina. Of course they’d fall asleep.

Was it impatient of Jesus to come back, find ’em sleeping, and rebuke them? Not really. I suspect most people who talk about Jesus frustratedly telling them to wake up and keep praying, are reading their own impatience and frustration into Jesus’s behavior. All the gospels tell us is Jesus told them to wake up and keep praying. When I’ve been to prayer vigils where people fell asleep, some of us had the duty of going round to the sleepers and gently waking them up. We presumed they didn’t want to fall asleep; if they wanted to sleep they’d be at home doing just that. They came to pray, and they’d be disappointed if they woke up in the morning and found they’d slept through hours of prayer time. That’s largely colored my thinking about Jesus’s attitude when he woke up his slumbering students: “You guys can’t stay awake an hour? You guys were so eager to. But your flesh is weak.” Mk 14.37-38 It wasn’t said in frustration, but amusement. Of course they can’t. They’re kids.

And they’re already mourning for their Lord, and that takes a whole lot of energy out of you. Makes you fall asleep faster.

So that’s what we see in Luke: Jesus beginning his own passion, and Jesus’s students about to experience some of their own suffering—to a far lesser degree, because they weren’t getting martyred just yet.