Holy Thursday always brings to my mind something that I have said on more than one occasion when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “Lord, let this cup pass from me.” Being selfish and wanting God to make my problems go away, I would oftentimes invoke this part of Jesus’ quote while omitting the second part where Jesus went on to say “Let not my will, but yours be done.”
This in turn leads me to recalling a conversation I had with my Cousin Father John years ago. I asked him about the line in the Eucharistic Prayer said at Mass during the Consecration – “Before He was given up to death, a death that He freely accepted, He took bread…..” I noted to John that based on Jesus’ Holy Thursday meltdown in the Garden, Jesus did not freely accept that He had to die. John disagreed and said that I was ignoring the second part of the quote where Jesus did accept His fate by telling God that He would do what needed to be done. Jesus wrestled with it but ultimately He did freely accept it.
However, John went on to explain to me that in my own way I had stumbled upon a bigger issue. He noted that there was much discussion in theological circles about Jesus and His quotes during His agony in the garden. Given that Jesus, the ultimate example of being bipolar, was both human and divine, the discussion about His actions in the Garden involves theologians trying to reconcile the two states and why Jesus was so conflicted. (To get a better idea of this discussion that John was referring to click here.)
Speaking of two things that go together but don’t make much sense when they do, here is a Christian rap artist for you. Not bad either.