The Gospel for SATURDAY, June 25, 2005
Luke 22:39-51
He then left to make his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, with the disciples following. When he reached the place he said to them, ‘Pray not to be put to the test.’ Then he withdrew from them, about a stone’s throw away, and knelt down and prayed. ‘Father,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.’ Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief. And he said to them, ‘Why are you asleep? Get up and pray not to be put to the test.’ Suddenly, while he was still speaking, a number of men appeared, and at the head of them the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, who went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?’ His followers, seeing what was about to happen, said, ‘Lord, shall we use our swords?’ And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. But at this Jesus said, ‘That is enough.’ And touching the man’s ear he healed him. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
Pray not to be put to the test
Rendered as "... lead us not into temptation," in the Lord's Prayer, this is sometimes given as "deliver us from the time of trial."
A Reflection
Jesus was at the nexus of His career. He could fold his tent, hit the road as a traveling rabbi/healer, and live on safely in the Palestinian countryside, carrying out most of what He felt His mission should be.
Not only was He a target for the Romans, on a hair-trigger to keep violent crowds from being generated by rabble-rousers (like Jesus, they thought), He had sensitized the temple elites by His habit of mingling with sinners and tax collectors -- God forbid, eating with them! -- and disturbing the fragile order established by the Sanhedrin.
But those same temple elites -- who with the Romans had reduced much of Israel to destitution, stolen their land, and subjugated them under a twisted interpretation of Torah -- had put Jesus into their crosshairs, and Jesus' options had all run out. The temple police were on their way to seize him.
And Jesus the man was certainly looking for the way out of the fix that He had deliberately worked his way into.
He told His followers to pray for deliverance from the same sort of trial He was enduring. But they didn't understand Him, yet.
They almost welcomed the trial, as they saw it, surprising the temple police with drawn swords to engage in a defining battle to protect their Messiah.
They, like the rest of Israel, had no idea of the Messiah that YHWH had sent. They wanted David on a white horse. They got someone whose idea of messiahship was serving the least of them ... as their servant.
When we see our more activist sisters and brothers using verbal swords, condemnation, words of separation, and active anger, what is our response? Are we, when we join their ranks, lining up with the temple elites? When we draw our swords at the instant of confrontation, are we lining up with the Israel, expecting David's "greater son"?
Or do we say, "That is enough," and go about healing others?
A Collect
Father, you teach us through Jesus to pray to you to be spared trials; hear us Father, and spare us. Amen.
2:36:45 PM 
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