Mt. 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mk. 14:26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Lk. 22:39 And coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples followed Him.
This “hymn” that they sag is known as the Hallel. Six chapters of the book of Psalm that they sang from memory. How many of us could do that today? I couldn’t.
Source: Psalm 113 - 118
Mt. 26:36 Then Yeshua came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.”
Mk. 14:32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
Mt. 26:37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
Mk. 14:33 And He took Peter, James and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.
Mt. 26:38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
Mk. 14:34 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.
Lk. 22:40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Mt. 26:39a H went a little further and fell on His face.
Mk. 14:35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.
Lk. 22:41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed.
Mt. 26:39b And prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Mk. 14:36 And He said, “Abba Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Lk. 22:42 Saying, “Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done.
Lk. 22:43 Then an angel appeared to Him from Heaven, strengthening Him.”
Lk. 22:44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.:
There is only one passage in this Gospel in which Yeshua appears to lose His composure. And that, interestingly enough, is in a passage whose authenticity is hotly debated among textual scholars. The passage occurs in the context of Yeshua’s prayer on the Mount of Olives. Just before He is betrayed and arrested (Luke 22:39-46). In a large number of manuscripts the prayer is followed by the account, followed nowhere else among the Gospels, of Yeshua’s heightened agony and so-called bloody sweat (vv. 43, 44).. The scene closes with Yeshua rising from prayer and returning to His disciples to find them asleep. He then His repeats initial injunction for them to “pray, lest you enter into temptation..” Immediately Judas arrives with the crowds, and Yeshua is arrested..
One of the intriguing features of the debate about this passage is the balance of arguments back and forth over whether the disputed verses (vv. 43, 44) were written by Luke or were instead inserted by a later scribe. The manuscripts that are known to be earliest and that are generally conceded to be the best (Alexandrian text) do not, as a rule, include the verses. So perhaps they are a later scribal addition. On the other hand, the verses are found in several other early witnesses and are, on the whole, widely distributed throughout the entire manuscript tradition. So, were they added by scribes who wanted them in or deleted by scribes who wanted them out? It is difficult to say on the basis of the manuscripts themselves.
Luke’s passion narrative, as has long been recognized, is a story of Yeshua’s martyrdom, a martyrdom that functions, as do many others, to set an example to the faithful of how to remain firm in the face of death. Luke’s martyrology shows not only that only prayer can prepare one to die. What happens though, when the disputed verses (vv. 43, 44) are injected into the passage? On the literary level, the chiasmus that focuses the passage on Yeshua’s prayer is absolutely destroyed. Now the center of the passage, and hence its focus, shifts to Yeshua’s agony, an agony so terrible as to require a supernatural comforter for strength to bear it. It is significant that in this longer version of the story, Yeshua’s prayer does not produce the calm assurance that He exudes throughout the rest of the account; indeed it is only after He prays “yet more fervently” that His sweat takes on he appearance of great drops of blood.
Why, though, did scribes add these verses to the account? We are now in a position to answer that question. It is notable that these verses are alluded to three time by proto-orthodox authors of the mid to late second century (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Gaul, and Hippolytus of Rome); and what is more intriguing still, each time they are mentioned, it is in order to counter the view that Yeshua was not a real human being. That is, the deep anguish that Yeshua experienced according to these verses was taken to show that He was really a human being, that He really could suffer like the rest of us. Thus, for example, the early Christian apologists Justin, after observing that “His sweat fell down like drops of blood while He was praying,” claims that this showed “that the Father wished His Son really to undergo such suffering for our sakes,” so that we “may not say that He, being the Son of God, did no feel what was happening to Him and inflicted on Him.” It seems likely, then, that since these verses were not originally part of the Gospel of Luke, they were added for an anti-Docetic purpose, because they portrayed so well the real humanity of Yeshua.
Mt. 26:40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “What, could you not watch with Me one hour?”
Mk. 14:37 Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?”
Lk. 22:45 Then He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples. He found them sleeping from sorrow.
Mt. 26:41 “Watch and pray, less you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
Mk. 14:38 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”
Lk. 22:46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
Mt. 26:42 He went away for a second time and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
Mk. 14:39 Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words.
Mt. 26:43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
Mk. 14:40 And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
Mt. 26:44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mt. 26:45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Mk. 14:41 Then He came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough! The hour has come: behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Mt. 26:46 “Rise, let us be going. See, he who betrays Me is at hand.”
Mk. 14:42 “Rise up, let us go. See, My betrayer is at hand.”
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