In Gethsemane, Jesus saw a sudden, menacing horror assaulting him. He was
completely dazed. He sweat drops of blood. He repeatedly asked his Father to
let something he called "this cup" pass from him. He applied at times to his
Father and at times to mere human beings for comfort. His soul was so desponding
that He would have
died then
and there had not the angel strengthened him.
What did He see coming at him? What was "this cup?" The world does not know.
Celsus
Critics of Jesus disapprove, ridicule, or mock him for his
behavior in Gethsemane. They compare him unfavorably to others who have faced
death, particularly death by execution. The classic example is Celsus.[1]
Celsus weighs Jesus in the scale of classical Pagan ideals
of bravery and courage. Compared to classical heroes, Celsus sees Jesus as
pathetically weak and whimpering. He used this picture of a "groveling" Jesus to
mock the Christian faith. Jesus would, in Celsus’ view, unravel civilization
with cowardice.
Socrates, Their Hero
Following in this mode, many have contrasted Jesus and
Socrates. Plato reports Socrates' serenity in the face of execution in
Phaedo. Socrates was in a prison cell. He took his cup of hemlock "without
trembling, or changing color or expression." He "raised the cup to his lips, and
very cheerfully and quietly drained it." His friends burst into tears. Socrates
rebuked them for their "absurd" behavior and urged them to "keep quiet and be
brave." He died without fear, sorrow or protest. In contrast, Jesus complains,
quakes, and asks that his cup may pass.
Were their two cups the same?
Stephen
The criticism becomes sharp and insulting when people
compare Jesus not to unbelieving heroes but to Jesus’ own followers. The first
case is Stephen. Stephen was killed, martyred. His own people stoned him. First
one stone, then another landed. It takes time to die that way.
For a Jew, this was not only pain and death. Stoning meant
he was cut off from the covenant, removed from his people. They judged him a
blasphemer. They stopped their ears from hearing his speech. They ran at him
with one accord. They cast him out of the city. They pelted him for as long as
it took for him to die.
How did Stephen behave? He took it. He called on God to
receive his spirit. He asked God not to charge them. That seems brave. It sounds
calm.
Take It Like a Man
Why couldn’t Jesus do that? Why couldn’t he take it like a
man? In Gethsemane, why did he behave so pitifully?
Why did Jesus pray three times for the cup to pass? Why did
he whine to his closest disciples about how badly he felt? Why did he tell them
of his soul anguish? If he really did sweat drops of blood, why did he carry on
so?
Unnumbered followers of Jesus have faced martyrdom, even
torture, with courage and serenity. Are the disciples greater than their master?
He does not seem to have given them much of an example. Why should they have to
do better than he did?
As rough as those last paragraphs sound, I’ve softened the
tone, taken off the edge from how the critics talk.
We will see in the next posting that, in modern times, the
criticism has not gotten milder.
________________________
1. Celsus was an eclectic Platonist
who lived in the second century. Celsus wrote the first serious criticism
of Christianity, Alethes Logos (The True Word or The True
Doctrine). His work is lost, but he influenced so many that in the
next century, Ambrose asked Origen to refute it. Origen did so in
Contra Celsum (Against Celsus). He answered Celsus paragraph by
paragraph, quoting what he refutes. From Origen’s work it is possible to
reconstruct more than three-quarters of Celsus’ work. Celsus brusquely
dismissed Christianity as a crude and bucolic onslaught on the religious
traditions and intellectual values of classical culture.
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