(Verse 29.) But I say to you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. He transitions from the physical to the spiritual, citing that the vineyard transplanted from Egypt is the people of Israel, to whom the Lord speaks through Jeremiah: I planted you a true vine, but how you have turned into the bitter fruit of a foreign vine (Jeremiah 2:21). And the prophet Isaiah sings in a song to his beloved, and the entire Scripture testifies accordingly. He says, therefore, that he will in no way drink of this vine until the kingdom of his Father comes. The kingdom of the Father, I believe, is the faith of believers, as the Apostle also confirms: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Therefore, when the Jews have received the kingdom of the Father (notice that he says Father, not God), every Father is named the Son. When, I say, they have believed in God the Father, and the Father has brought them to the Son, then the Lord will drink of their wine, and, reigning in Egypt in the likeness of Joseph, he will be intoxicated with his brothers (Genesis 43).
26:30
(Vers. 30.) And having sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. This is what we read in a certain psalm: All the fat of the earth have eaten and adored (Ps. XXI, 30). According to this example, whoever is satisfied with the Savior's bread and intoxicated with the chalice can praise the Lord and ascend to the Mount of Olives, where there is refreshment from labors, consolation from sorrow, and knowledge of true light.
26:31
(Verse 31.) Then Jesus said to them: All of you will be scandalized by me in this night. He predicts that they will suffer, so that when they have suffered, they will not despair of salvation, but by repenting, they will be freed. And he specifically added, in this night you will be scandalized; for just as those who get drunk, get drunk at night: likewise those who are scandalized, endure in the night and in darkness (I Thess. 5). But let us say: The night has passed, and the day is at hand (Rom. 13:12).
26:32
(Verse 32.) For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. This is also written in different words by the prophet Zachariah; and (if I am not mistaken) it is said by the voice of the prophet to God: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered (Zech. 13:7). In the sixty-eighth Psalm, which is completely devoted to the Lord, this meaning is also in agreement: For those whom you have struck, they have pursued. But the good shepherd is struck, so that he may lay down his life for his sheep; and out of many flocks of errors, one flock is made, and one shepherd (John. X) . This testimony is further explained in the book that we wrote about the Best Way of Interpretation.
26:33
(Verse 33.) But Peter, answering, said to him: Even if all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized. It is not rashness, nor falsehood; but it is the faith of the apostle Peter, and a fervent affection towards the Lord and Savior, of whom we have spoken above.
26:34
(Verse 34.) Jesus said to him: Truly I say to you, that in this night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And Peter, with fervor of faith, promised, and the Savior, as if God, knew the future. And note that Peter will deny in the night, and deny a third time. But after the rooster crowed, and the darkness diminishing, the approaching light was announced, he turned and wept bitterly, washing away the stains of denial with tears of repentance.
26:36
(Verse 36.) Then Jesus came with them to a village called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' Gethsemane means 'very fertile valley,' in which he ordered the disciples to sit for a little while and wait for the Lord to return, while he prayed for everyone alone.
26:37
(Verse 37) And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sad and sorrowful. What we have said above about the passion and pre-passion is also shown in the present chapter, that the Lord, in order to prove the truth of his assumption as a man, was truly saddened, but so that the passion would not dominate his soul, he began to be saddened through pre-sorrow. For it is one thing to be saddened, and another thing to begin to be saddened. But He was saddened not by the fear of suffering, for which He had come, that He might suffer; and He had reprimanded Peter for his timidity; but on account of the most unfortunate Judas, and the scandal of all the apostles, and the rejection of the Jewish people, and the destruction of miserable Jerusalem. Hence Jonas also, grieving over the withering of a gourd or a ivy, was grieved (Jonah 4), unwilling to lose his former shelter. But if the sadness of the soul is interpreted by the heretics not as the affection of the Savior towards those who are about to perish, but as the suffering, let them answer how they explain that which is said through Ezekiel in the person of God: And in all these things you have saddened me (Ezekiel 16, Septuagint version).
26:38
(Verse 38.) Then he said to them, My soul is sorrowful, even to death; wait here, and watch with me. The soul is saddened and not, however, by death, but is saddened even unto death, until he frees his apostles by his suffering. And what he commanded: wait here, and watch with me, he does not forbid sleep, the time of which was not imminent with danger, but he forbids sleep of unfaithfulness, and dulness of mind. Therefore, let those who suspect that Jesus took on an irrational soul declare how he could be saddened and know the time of sadness. Although even dumb animals die, they do not know the reasons or the time until which they must be saddened.
26:39
(Verse 39) And going forward a little, he fell on his face, praying and saying: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Having given the apostles the command to endure and keep watch with the Lord, he advanced a little and fell on his face, showing the humility of his mind in the appearance of his flesh, and he said in a gentle way: My Father, and he asked that, if possible, the cup of suffering pass from him, about which we have spoken above. But, he does not ask to be spared out of fear, but out of mercy for the earlier people, so as not to drink from the cup that they have offered. Therefore, he specifically does not say, let this cup pass from me, but let this cup pass, that is, the cup of the Jewish people, who cannot claim ignorance as an excuse, if they kill me, having the Law and the prophets, who daily prophesy about me. Yet, turning back to himself, what he had hesitantly declined from the perspective of a human, he confirms from the perspective of God the Son. However, not as I want, but as you. No, he says, let this not be done, which I speak with human emotion; but because of what I descended to earth by your will.
26:40
(Verse 40.) And he came to his disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, 'So you could not watch with me one hour? He who said above, 'Even if all are scandalized in you, I will never be scandalized,' now cannot overcome sleep due to the magnitude of sorrow.'
26:41
(Verse 41.) Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. It is impossible for the human soul not to be tempted. Hence, in the Lord's Prayer, we say: Lead us not into temptation, which we cannot bear (or be able to bear) (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4). Not completely rejecting temptation, but praying for the strength to endure it. Therefore, at present, it does not say: Watch and pray, lest you be tempted; but, lest you enter into temptation, that is, lest the temptation overcomes and conquers you, and keeps you within its grasp. For example, the martyr, who sheds his blood for the confessing the Lord, is indeed tempted; but he is not caught in the snares of temptations. However, whoever denies, falls into the traps of temptation.
The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. This is against the reckless ones, who think they can achieve whatever they believe. Therefore, as much as we trust in the ardor of the mind, so much do we fear the fragility of the flesh. But nevertheless, according to the Apostle, in the spirit the works of the flesh are put to death (1 Peter 3).
26:42