Lit by the full moon of the Passover season, the trees twist and writhe as if mirroring Jesus’ anguish in Roy De Maistre’s “The Agony in the Garden.” The 1940 oil painting by the Australian artist seems to portray the moment at which Jesus—with arms aloft—entreats God to “let this cup pass” from him. Meanwhile, the disciples, enveloped within a womblike cradle (foreground), are sleeping, dead to the world.
After the Last Supper, Jesus went with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray while awaiting his arrest. Jesus takes Peter, James and John deeper into the garden, asking them to remain awake and to pray. Jesus agonizes over the fate that he knows is his. “My heart,” he tells them, “is ready to break with grief” (Matthew 26:38). As he anticipates the violence that is about to befall him, Jesus is yet able to address God with the familial, paternal “Abba”: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but yours” (Matthew 26:39).
The painting’s jagged lines portend a fateful set of events, irrevocably set in motion. Judas and a cohort of Roman soldiers will soon be upon the scene, their swords at the ready, their lanterns and torches overpowering the moonlight, shattering the quiet of the garden.
Jesus’s agony has, for many Christians, served to demonstrate the mystery of the one who is both God and man: Jesus’ humanity, overflowing with fear and trembling, shines through.
Lit by the full moon of the Passover season, the trees twist and writhe as if mirroring Jesus’ anguish in Roy De Maistre’s “The Agony in the Garden.” The 1940 oil painting by the Australian artist seems to portray the moment at which Jesus—with arms aloft—entreats God to “let this cup pass” from him. Meanwhile, the disciples, enveloped within a womblike cradle (foreground), are sleeping, dead to the world. After the Last Supper, Jesus went with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray while awaiting his arrest. Jesus takes Peter, James and […]
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