Mark 14:40 — Community Reflections

MARK 14:40 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him — the heavy eyes communicate genuine physical exhaustion — it is past midnight, they have eaten the Passover, they are in the warmth of the spring night. They did not know what to say to him: the silence of shame. There is nothing adequate to say to the one who prayed while they slept.

Church Fathers on Mark 14:40

After that the Lord had foretold the offence of His disciples, the Evangelist gives an account of His prayer, in which He is supposed to have prayed for His disciples; and first describing the place of prayer, he says, 'And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane.'
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation

The place Gethsemane, in which the Lord prayed, is shewn up to this day at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The meaning of Gethsemane is, the valley of the fat, or of fatness. Now when our Lord prays on a mountain, He teaches us that we should when we pray ask for lofty things; but by praying in the valley of fatness, He implies that in our prayer humility and the fatness of interior love must be kept. He also by the valley of humility and the fatness of charity underwent…
Bede · 8th century

In the valley of fatness also, the fat bulls beset Him. There follows, 'And He saith to His disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray;' they are separated from Him in prayer, who are separated in His Passion; for He prays, they sleep, overcome by the sloth of their heart.
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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