Sharon Delgado

“The terrible silence of God in response to Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane was more than a deathly stillness. Mystics have felt it too, in the dark night of the soul in which everything that makes life worth living dries up, and hope disappears from life. Martin Buber called it “the eclipse of God.” –Jürgen Moltmann

After overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, Jesus went on publicly teaching, healing, and denouncing the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in the temple for several more days, in the presence of the crowds who supported him. On the evening of Passover, he gathered privately with his disciples in a small room. The Synoptic Gospels vary in reporting the words of Jesus as he shares “the last supper” with his disciples. According to Matthew, Jesus blessed a loaf of bread and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he offered thanks over a cup of wine, and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:26– 28). Jesus’s words are repeated by Christians around the world and resound through the ages as the words of institution of the sacrament of Holy Communion.

John’s Gospel does not indicate that it was a Passover meal or mention Jesus offering bread or wine to his disciples but speaks of Jesus using this private occasion to explain to them what it means to follow him: to recognize that God is love and that God is present among them, to love one another as he has loved them, and to follow his example by being servants of one another. To demonstrate this form of servant ministry, Jesus washed their feet (John 13:1– 17). Foot- washing rituals are still carried out during Holy Week in Maundy Thursday services that commemorate this symbolic act.

After the meal, Jesus went out with his disciples to the Mount of Olives and the garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed about how events in Jerusalem would unfold. He told his disciples to stay and keep watch with him, but they kept falling asleep. Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt 26:39 NIV), and again, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matt 26:42).

This story of Jesus praying in Gethsemane, “Your will be done,” is sometimes used to back up the claim that Jesus’s sacrificial death was God’s will, perhaps even God’s primary purpose for Jesus. In other words, God’s preordained plan was for Jesus to die by crucifixion, and Jesus’s designated role of self- sacrifice and obedience to this plan was already set. This view supports satisfaction or substitutionary “payment” theories of the atonement, which do not make sense if the whole story of Jesus is considered. Such theories assign to Jesus only a passive role, ignore his freedom of choice and self- determination, and dismiss his passion for the coming of the kingdom of God “on earth as it is in heaven,” which was so central to his message.

A friend told me that one of her most striking experiences when visiting the Holy Land was at the Mount of Olives. As she stood there looking out over Jerusalem, she thought about Jesus on that final night before his crucifixion, praying through his decision to stay the course, which would take him into the city and to the certain death that awaited him there. Then she looked out in the other direction, realizing how easy it would have been for Jesus to take off in that direction, away from Jerusalem, to anonymity and freedom.

His choice was real, just as our choices are real for us.

Jesus prayed there in agony, knowing he had a choice. According to Luke, “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground” (Luke 22:44). He could foresee the likelihood of his death, considering the ways he had challenged the ruling authorities. He wanted the cup of suffering and violent death to pass from him. Still, he chose to be true to himself, to his followers, and to God by facing what awaited him in Jerusalem. Jesus must have understood faithfulness to God’s will in this set of circumstances to mean facing likely arrest and execution by the authorities, but this does not imply that this was God’s ultimate will or primary purpose for his life. Rather, Jesus had too much integrity to back down; he cared too much about others to run away. He trusted that God would be glorified, whether in his life or in his death. He stayed faithful to his calling, despite the personal cost, and entrusted the outcome to God.

This post is the third in the Holy Week 2025 Series: “Why Did Jesus Die: The Story Without the Dogma.” See also Palm/Passion Sunday: An Alternative to Empire and The Cleansing of the Temple: Direct Action as Exorcism. This Series is based on Sharon Delgado’s book, The Cross in the Midst of Creation: Following Jesus, Engaging the Powers, Transforming the World.

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