Passion History, Part II

Here's Doctor Lee Maxwell's homily on the Second Part of the Passion History. He gave me permission to post it for the edification of any readers:

Wednesday of Reminiscere
Passion Account II (Gethsemane)

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Our Lord knew how difficult those three days would be for His disciples. He tried to prepare them ahead of time. He clearly told them what would happen to Him: “The Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (St. Matthew 20:18f)

And Jesus clearly told them what would happen to them that evening too. He, the Shepherd, would be struck, and they, the sheep, would be scattered. He knew that after He was arrested, His disciples would abandon Him and flee. But, good old Peter—he thought he was one of the strong ones, not the weak—he promises to stand by Jesus’ side through thick and thin: “Even if all the others forsake You, I will never forsake You.”

But our Lord knows the weakness of Peter’s flesh. He knows that Peter, and the others, would forsake Him and run away when the going really got tough. But He knows something else too: “Peter, My friend, before the rooster crows two times tonight, you will deny Me three times.” Peter bristles at those words and asserts even more strongly, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You!” And all the other disciples said the same thing.

Yes, the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. And twice more that evening Jesus tried to warn them: “Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation.” But we know what happened, don’t we? After the soldiers seized Jesus and arrested Him, all the disciples abandoned Him and fled. But Jesus did not abandon them, or His mission. He forged ahead. He went on to drink the cup of His suffering and cross, because He knew that this was His Father’s will to bring about the salvation of the world.

And what about us? Do we watch and pray every day, so that we do not enter into temptation? Of course, we pray in the Our Father, “And lead us not into temptation.” We ask our heavenly Father to preserve us “so that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.”

You see, this life is full of temptations. Some are obvious, but others are more subtle. But they all have this in common: The devil uses whatever means he can to drive a wedge between us and God, to get us to let go of God’s Word and go after whatever our little hearts desire. He uses the things of this world, like its cares and pleasures. But he also attacks our own sinful flesh, because he knows Jesus is right: The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

So, do we recognize temptation when it confronts us? Do we pray to God to strengthen our spirit and our flesh so that we can resist temptation? Do we avoid those things that God has forbidden, or do we expose ourselves to them so the tempter can work his power? St. James warns us about that: “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (1:14). It all begins with a thought. And when we entertain such sinful thoughts and delight in them—“when desire has conceived”—then we soon end up acting on them—“it gives birth to sin.” And if we go that far, then we have forsaken our Lord and fled from Him.

It is for this reason that our Lord forged ahead. He let Himself be betrayed and delivered over to those who condemned Him. He let Himself be mocked and scourged and crucified, all the while bearing the weight of the world’s sin. Yes, Caiaphas was right. It would be expedient that one Man should die for the people. Not only for that people, however, but for all people, suffering and dying on the cross for all, and then rising again on the third day to give them new life and a share in His Father’s Kingdom.

You were given that new life and that share in the Kingdom when you were baptized, which is where you died and rose again too. Remember the words of St. Paul? “We were buried with Him through Baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” What Christ did on the cross—an actual and real dying to sin—Baptism is for you—an actual and real dying to sin, a liberation from it. And so Paul’s urging, that “we also should walk in newness of life.”

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The Lord knows the weakness of your flesh too. As an antidote against that weakness, He gives you the gift of Himself: His very Body and Blood. And with His Body and Blood you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith to fortify you as you confront the temptations of the devil, the world, and your own flesh.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. As you continue your Lenten journey and prepare for the paschal feast, pray that you do not enter into temptation, and if you face it that you do not fall into sin. But if you do, remember that your Lord Jesus is waiting to receive you back through repentance and the forgiveness He won for you at the cross. He will cleanse your hearts and bring you to the fullness of grace that belongs to the children of God.