telling the story ~ betrayal
Composition version: yes.
lyrics
in the secrets of the night
where plots are made
and plans are laid
every treason has a price
a traitor paid
for a man betrayed
is this you, my companion
the one I chose, the one I knew
friend untrue brings my passion
from one so close, could this be true
in the garden on the ground
a watch to keep
while others sleep
friends and foes, their weapons drawn
(it's the hour of darkness)
a quiet kiss
it ends like this
is this you, my companion...
could this be true
is this you...
narrative
the wrestling
The Son of Man overcame the tempter once, in the wilderness, immediately following His anointing. But yet once more He must face temptation. And here, after His triumph over the earlier temptation, the representative Man has brought us out of the wilderness into a Garden, Gethsemane. Here, He is not completely alone, as a few of His closest followers are a stone's throne away. For now.
The accounts of the Garden temptation of Jesus do not focus upon the idea that this is a Satanic temptation this time. If it is possible, the battle is even bigger than that. For now, the Word who has always lived from eternity in the bosom of God the Father - the one who is the delight of His Father and who delights in the Father - this one must now wrestle with the unthinkable. Somehow, in some mysterious way that we cannot penetrate, He is about to be the abandoned one.
He is going to die with the Father's face turned away.
It is not the fear of the whips or even the excruciating pain of the cross, then, that makes Jesus shrink back. In truth, despite His unquestionably great bodily suffering, many of Jesus' followers have died in fashions that were more torturous on a strictly physical level. And they often did so cheerfully, manfully, singing psalms of joy.
But they did not experience what He must experience. For He must become abandoned, so that they need not suffer that abandonment. And it is that which makes Him recoil: "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me."
But then: "Yet not My will, but Your will, be done." And one last time, He binds Himself to the path which has ordered His life from the beginning. He throws in His lot with death.
the kiss of death
And it is then, in the hour of decision, that the betrayer arrives with officers bearing swords and clubs. This man, who had been sent on missions for Jesus, who had spoken for Jesus and even engaged in works of healing, has come to give the kiss of death. He has made a deal with the leaders of the nation: he will turn over the Messiah for thirty pieces of silver.
The friends of Jesus are badly outnumbered, but perhaps there is a fleeting thought that God will grant a stunning miracle of arms, as He had done so often in times past. So Jesus' leading follower, Simon, draws a sword in preparation to fight if need be. He even chops off an ear.
But Simon's path is not the path of the Son of Man, as is powerfully demonstrated when He reaches out and heals the man that Simon has injured. No, He is ready for this.
But He must do it alone. "Let these go their way," He says, referring to His followers. And the followers, seeing Jesus being taken quietly, are at that instant only all too eager to make tracks. They flee.