Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 26:36
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
36. Gethsemane ]=the oil press; “over the brook Cedron, where was a garden” (John).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
36 46. The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
Mar 14:32-42; Luk 22:39-46; Joh 18:1
In St Luke’s account Mat 26:43-44 are peculiar to his Gospel. The use of the rare word “agony” by the same evangelist has given the title to this passage.
St Luke also relates that “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” There is, however, some reason for doubting the genuineness of these verses.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jesus agony in Gethsemane – This account is also recorded in Mar 14:32-42; Luk 22:39-46; Joh 18:1.
Mat 26:36
Then cometh … – After the institution of the Lords Supper, in the early part of the night, he went out to the Mount of Olives.
In his journey he passed over the brook Cedron Joh 18:1, which bounded Jerusalem on the east.
Unto a place – John calls this a garden. This garden was on the western side of the Mount of Olives, and a short distance from Jerusalem. The word used by John means not properly a garden for the cultivation of vegetables, but a place planted with the olive and other trees, perhaps with a fountain of water, and with walks and groves; a proper place of refreshment in a hot climate, and of retirement from the noise of the adjacent city. Such places were doubtless common in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Messrs. Fisk and King, American missionaries were at the place which is commonly supposed to have been the garden of Gethsemane in 1823. They tell us that the garden is about a stones cast from the brook of Cedron; that it now contains eight large and venerable-looking olives, whose trunks show their great antiquity. The spot is sandy and barren, and appears like a forsaken place. A low broken wall surrounds it.
Mr. King sat down beneath one of the trees and read Isa 53:1-12, and also the gospel history of our Redeemers sorrow during that memorable night in which he was there betrayed; and the interest of the association was heightened by the passing through the place of a party of Bedouins, armed with spears and swords. A recent traveler says of this place that it is a field or garden about 50 paces square, with a few shrubs growing in it, and eight olive-trees of great antiquity, the whole enclosed with a stone wall. The place was probably fixed upon, as Dr. Robinson supposes, during the visit of Helena to Jerusalem, 326 a.d., when the places of the crucifixion and resurrection were believed to be identified. There is, however, no absolute certainty respecting the places. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. ii. p. 484) supposes it most probable that the real Garden of Gethsemane was several hundred yards to the northwest of the present Gethsemane, in a place much more secluded than the one usually regarded as that where the agony of the Saviour occurred, and therefore more likely to have been the place of his retirement. Nothing, however, that is of importance depends on ascertaining the exact spot.
Luke says that Jesus went as he was wont – that is, accustomed – to the Mount of Olives. Probably he had been in the habit of retiring from Jerusalem to that place for meditation and prayer, thus enforcing by his example what he had so often done by his precepts the duty of retiring from the noise and bustle of the world to hold communion with God.
Gethsemane – This word is made up either of two Hebrew words, signifying valley of fatness – that is, a fertile valley; or of two words, signifying an olive-press, given to it, probably, because the place was filled with olives.
Sit ye here – That is, in one part of the garden to which they first came.
While I go and pray yonder – That is, at the distance of a stones cast, Luk 22:41. Luke adds that when he came to the garden he charged them to pray that they might not enter into temptation – that is, into deep trials and afflictions, or, more probably, into scenes and dangers that would tempt them to deny him.
Mat 26:37
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee – That is, James and John, Mat 10:2. On two other occasions he had favored these disciples in a particular manner, suffering them to go with him to witness his power and glory, namely, at the healing of the rulers daughter Luk 8:51, and at his transfiguration on the mount, Mat 17:1.
Sorrowful – Affected with grief.
Very heavy – The word in the original is much stronger than the one translated sorrowful. It means, to be pressed down or overwhelmed with great anguish. This was produced, doubtless, by a foresight of his great sufferings on the cross in making an atonement for the sins of people.
Mat 26:38
My soul is exceeding sorrowful – His human nature – his soul – was much and deeply affected and pressed down.
Even unto death – This denotes extreme sorrow and agony.
The sufferings of death are the greatest of which we have any knowledge; they are the most feared and dreaded by man; and those sufferings are therefore put for extreme and indescribable anguish. The meaning may be thus expressed: My sorrows are so great that under their burden I am ready to die; such is the anxiety of mind, that I seem to bear the pains of death!
Tarry ye here and watch with me – The word rendered watch means, literally, to abstain from sleep; then to be vigilant, or to guard against danger. Here it seems to mean to sympathize with him, to unite with him in seeking divine support, and to prepare themselves for approaching dangers.
Mat 26:39
And he went a little further – That is, at the distance that a man could conveniently cast a stone (Luke).
Fell on his face – Luke says he kneeled down. He did both.
He first kneeled, and then, in the fervency of his prayer and the depth of his sorrow, he fell with his face on the ground, denoting the deepest anguish and the most earnest entreaty. This was the usual posture of prayer in times of great earnestness. See Num 16:22; 2Ch 20:18; Neh 8:6.
If it be possible – That is, if the world can be redeemed – if it be consistent with justice, and with maintaining the government of the universe, that people should be saved without this extremity of sorrow, let it be done. There is no doubt that if it had been possible it would have been done; and the fact that these sufferings were not removed, and that the Saviour went forward and bore them without mitigation, shows that it was not consistent with the justice of God and with the welfare of the universe that people should be saved without the awful sufferings of such an atonement.
Let this cup – These bitter sufferings. These approaching trials. The word cup is often used in this sense, denoting sufferings. See the notes at Mat 20:22.
Not as I will, but as thou wilt – As Jesus was man as well as God, there is nothing inconsistent in supposing that, as man, he was deeply affected in view of these sorrows. When he speaks of His will, he expresses what human nature, in view of such great sufferings, would desire. It naturally shrunk from them and sought deliverance. Yet he sought to do the will of God. He chose rather that the high purpose of God should be done, than that that purpose should be abandoned from regard to the fears of his human nature. In this he has left a model of prayer in all times of affliction. It is right, in times of calamity, to seek deliverance. Like the Saviour, also, in such seasons we should, we must submit cheerfully to the will of God, confident that in all these trials he is wise, and merciful, and good.
Mat 26:40
And findeth them asleep – It may seem remarkable that in such circumstances, with a suffering, pleading Redeemer near, surrounded by danger, and having received a special charge to watch – that is, not to sleep – they should so soon have fallen asleep.
It is frequently supposed that this was proof of wonderful stupidity, and indifference to their Lords sufferings. The truth is, however, that it was just the reverse; it was proof of their great attachment, and their deep sympathy in his sorrows. Luke has added that he found them sleeping for sorrow – that is, on account of their sorrow; or their grief was so great that they naturally fell asleep. Multitudes of facts might be brought to show that this is in accordance with the regular effects of grief. Dr. Rush says: There is another symptom of grief, which is not often noticed, and that is profound sleep. I have often witnessed it even in mothers, immediately after the death of a child. Criminals, we are told by Mr. Akerman, the keeper of Newgate, in London, often sleep soundly the night before their execution. The son of General Custine slept nine hours the night before he was led to the guillotine in Paris. – Diseases of the Mind, p. 319.
Saith unto Peter … – This earnest appeal was addressed to Peter particularly on account of his warm professions, his rash zeal, and his self-confidence. If he could not keep awake and watch with the Saviour for one hour, how little probability was there that he would adhere to him in the trials through which he was soon to pass!
Mat 26:41
Watch – See Mat 26:38. Greater trials are coming on. It is necessary, therefore, still to be on your guard.
And pray – Seek aid from God by supplication, in view of the thickening calamities.
That ye enter not into temptation – That ye be not overcome and oppressed with these trials of your faith so as to deny me. The word temptation here properly means what would test their faith in the approaching calamities – in his rejection and death. It would try their faith, because, though they believed that he was the Messiah, they were not very clearly aware of the necessity of his death, and they did not fully understand that he was to rise again. They had cherished the belief that he was to establish a kingdom while he lived. When they should see him, therefore, rejected, tried, crucified, dead – when they should see him submit to all this as if he had not power to deliver himself – then would be the trial of their faith; and, in view of that, he exhorted them to pray that they might not so enter temptation as to be overcome by it and fall.
The spirit indeed is willing … – The mind, the heart is ready and disposed to bear these trials, but the flesh, the natural feelings, through the fear of danger, is weak, and will be likely to lead you astray when the trial comes. Though you may have strong faith, and believe now that you will not deny me, yet human nature is weak, and shrinks at trials, and you should therefore seek strength from on high. This was intended to excite them, notwithstanding he knew that they loved him, to be on their guard, lest the weakness of human nature should be insufficient to sustain them in the hour of their temptation.
Mat 26:42-44
It is probable that our Lord spent considerable time in prayer, and that the evangelists have recorded rather the substance of his petitions than the very words. He returned repeatedly to his disciples, doubtless to caution them against danger, to show the deep interest which he had in their welfare, and to show them the extent of his sufferings on their behalf
Each time that he returned these sorrows deepened. Again he sought the place of prayer, and as his approaching sufferings overwhelmed him, this was the burden of his prayer, and he prayed the same words. Luke adds that amid his agonies an angel appeared from heaven strengthening him. His human nature began to sink, as unequal to his sufferings, and a messenger from heaven appeared, to support him in these heavy trials. It may seem strange that, since Jesus was divine Joh 1:1, the divine nature did not minister strength to the human, and that he that was God should receive strength from an angel. But it should be remembered that Jesus came in his human nature not only to make an atonement, but to be a perfect example of a holy man; that, as such, it was necessary to submit to the common conditions of humanity – that he should live as other people, be sustained as other people, suffer as other people, and be strengthened as other people; that he should, so to speak, take no advantage in favor of his piety, from his divinity, but submit it in all things to the common lot of pious people. Hence, he supplied his wants, not by his being divine, but in the ordinary way of human life; he preserved himself from danger, not as God, but by seeking the usual ways of human prudence and precaution; he met trials as a man; he received comfort as a man; and there is no absurdity in supposing that, in accordance with the condition of his people, his human nature should be strengthened, as they are, by those who are sent forth to be ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation, Heb 1:14.
Further, Luke adds Luk 22:44 that, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The word agony is taken from the anxiety, effort, and strong emotion of the wrestlers in the Greek games about to engage in a mighty struggle. Here it denotes the extreme anguish of mind, the strong conflict produced in sinking human nature from the prospect of deep and overwhelming calamities.
Great drops of blood, Luk 22:44. The word rendered here as great drops does not mean drops gently falling on the ground, but rather thick and clammy masses of gore, pressed by inward agony through the skin, and, mixing with the sweat, falling thus to the ground. It has been doubted by some whether the sacred writer meant to say that there was actually blood in this sweat, or only that the sweat was in the form of great drops. The natural meaning is, doubtless, that the blood was mingled with his sweat; that it fell profusely – falling masses of gore; that it was pressed out by his inward anguish; and that this was caused in some way in view of his approaching death. This effect of extreme sufferings, of mental anguish. has been known in several other instances. Bloody sweats have been mentioned by many writers as caused by extreme suffering. Dr. Doddridge says (Note at Luk 22:44) that Aristotle and Diodorus Siculus both mention bloody sweats as attending some extraordinary agony of mind; and I find Loti, in his Life of Pope Sextus V., and Sir John Chardin, in his History of Persia, mentioning a like phenomenon, to which Dr. Jackson adds another from Thuanus. It has been objected to this account that it is improbable, and that such an event could not occur. The instances, however, which are referred to by Doddridge and others show sufficiently that the objection is unfounded. In addition to these, I may observe that Voltaire has himself narrated a fact which ought forever to stop the mouths of infidels. Speaking of Charles IX of France, in his Universal History, he says: He died in his 35th year. His disorder was of a very remarkable kind; the blood oozed out of all his pores. This malady, of which there have been other instances, was owing to either excessive fear, or violent agitation, or to a feverish and melancholy temperament.
Various opinions have been given of the probable causes of these sorrows of the Saviour. Some have thought it was strong shrinking from the manner of dying on the cross, or from an apprehension of being forsaken there by the Father; others, that Satan was permitted in a special manner to test him, and to fill his mind with horrors, having departed from him at the beginning of his ministry for a season Luk 4:13, only to renew his temptations in a more dreadful manner now; and others that these sufferings were sent upon him as the wrath of God manifested against sin that God inflicted them directly upon him by his own hand, to show his abhorrence of the sins of people for which he was about to die. Where the Scriptures are silent about the cause, it does not become us confidently to express an opinion. We may suppose, perhaps, without presumption, that a part or all these things were combined to produce this awful suffering. There is no need of supposing that there was a single thing that produced it; but it is rather probable that this was a rush of feeling from every quarter – his situation, his approaching death, the temptations of the enemy, the awful suffering on account of peoples sins, and Gods hatred of it about to be manifested in his own death – all coming upon his soul at once sorrow flowing in from every quarter – the concentration of the sufferings of the atonement pouring together upon him and filling him with unspeakable anguish.
Mat 26:45
Sleep on now and take your rest – Most interpreters have supposed that this should be translated as a question rattler than a command,
Do you sleep now and take your rest? Is this a time, amid so much danger and so many enemies. to give yourselves to sleep? This construction is strongly countenanced by Luk 22:46, where the expression. Why sleep ye? evidently refers to the same point of time. There is no doubt that the Greek will bear this construction, and in this way the apparent inconsistency will be removed between this command to sleep, and that in the next verse, to rise and be going. Others suppose that, his agony being over, and the necessity of watching with him being now past, he kindly permitted them to seek repose until they should be roused by the coming of the traitor; that while they slept Jesus continued still awake; that some considerable time elapsed between what was spoken here and in the next verse; and that Jesus suffered them to sleep until he saw Judas coming, and then aroused them. This is the most probable opinion. Others have supposed that he spoke this in irony: Sleep on now, if you can; take rest, if possible, in such dangers and at such a time. But this supposition is unworthy the Saviour and the occasion. Mark adds, It is enough. That is, sufficient time has been given to sleep. It is time to arise and be going.
The hour is at hand – The time when the Son of man is to be betrayed is near.
Sinners – Judas, the Roman soldiers, and the Jews.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 26:36-39
A place called Gethsemane.
The language and tone befitting our prayers to God
To a thoughtful and inquiring mind, nothing will be more manifest than the decorum of our Saviours addresses to the throne of grace. He is never betrayed into flights and ecstasies; never uses any phrase which is not marked by the strictest rules of soberness and truth. In His agony in the garden, when, if ever, the mind of an afflicted and sorrowful man, overwhelmed with grief, and preparing for trial and for death, might be expected to break forth into piteous cries and strong phrases, there is not one word which betrays the slightest excess. His soul is wrung with pain. He is very sorrowful. He is sorrowful even unto death. His agony is, perhaps, unspeakable; but not one impassioned cry, not one indecorous expression, not one familiar word, escapes his lips. His prayer is such as befits a son who honours his father, and who seems to have ever present to his mind the dignity of that parent. Now compare this with the prayers of ignorant and uneducated men-with the loud cry, the coarse phrases, the vehement gesticulations, the monstrous apostrophes they employ; above all, with the familiar way in which they speak of God and address themselves to Him, and judge between them and Jesus Christ. Jesus came to set us an example, as well in what He said as in what He did. He taught us how to pray. He showed on this great occasion, an occasion which none beside will ever experience, what is to be the tone and manner of our addresses to God. He was dignified in the midst of His distress. His holy father was an object of the devoutest reverence, so devout that He never presumes either then, or at any time, to use familiar language to Him..His prayer was such that it might have been listened to by the greatest prince or the pro-roundest scholar, yet it was a prayer so simple that any one can use it. Every sentence, every word, every syllable, is suitable to the majesty of heaven and the weakness of man. He never descends to low phrases and conversational terms, nor forgets, for one moment, that He is in intercourse with the Father of spirits. (George Wray, M. A.)
Submission to the Divine will
Payson was asked, when under great bodily affliction, if he could see any particular reason for the dispensation. No, he replied; but I am as well satisfied as if I could see ten thousand; Gods will is the very perfection of all reason.
Duty of submission
I know no duty in religion more generally agreed on, nor more justly required by God Almighty, than a perfect submission to His will in all things; nor do I think any disposition of mind can either please Him more, or become us better, than that of being satisfied with all He gives, and contented with all He takes away. None, I am sure, can be of more honour to God, nor of more ease to ourselves. For if we consider Him as our Maker, we cannot contend with Him; if as our Father, we ought not to distrust Him; so that we may be confident, whatever He does is intended for our good; and whatever happens that we interpret otherwise, yet we can get nothing by repining, nor save anything by resisting. (Sir Wm. Temple.)
My will, not thine, be done, turned Paradise into a desert. Thy will, not mine be done, turned the desert into Paradise, and made Gethsemane the gate of heaven. (E. de Pressense, D. D.)
A visit to Gethsemane
The interest attached to the events belonging to the course of our Redeemer becomes more touching and more absorbing as they advance towards the close, etc.
I. What was the place called Gethsemane? There were reasons why this garden should be selected, at once obvious and important. Knowing what He had to undergo, the Lord Jesus wanted privacy; the disciple who was to betray Him knew the place, etc.
II. The emotion of which the place called Gethsemane was the scene. It was the emotion of sorrow.
1. Its intensity. Formerly His sorrow had been chastened and subdued, while now it burst forth irrepressibly and without reserve. Presented in the Evangelical narratives.
2. Its cause. The solitude of the cause of the Saviours emotion, is exclusively this, that He was not only a martyr, but a Mediator, and that He suffered as an expiation on behalf of human sin. He was feeling the immense and terrible weight of propitiation.
3. Its relief and end. Support conveyed as an answer to His prayers, through the ministration of an angel, invigorating Him for the endurance of the final and fearful crisis which was before Him. He is enthroned in the loftiest elevation.
III. The impressions which our resort to the place called Gethsemane ought to secure.
1. The enormous evil and heinousness of sin.
2. The amazing condescension and love of the Lord Jesus.
3. The duty of entire reliance upon the Saviours work, and entire consecration to the Saviours service. For that reliance, genuine and implicit faith is what is required-faith being the instrument of applying to whole perfection of His work, etc. Who can do other than recognize at once the obligation and the privilege of entire consecration? (J. Parsons.)
The soul-sorrow of Jesus
I. That the bodily sufferings of Jesus, however acute and protracted, could not constitute a sufficient atonement for sin. Nor meet the demands of a violated law. The bodily suffering is no adequate compensation for the evil committed. The soul is the chief sinner. The sufferings of Christ in His body could not be a sufficient atonement for sin because they did not exhaust the curse pronounced by the law against transgression.
II. The severity of the mediators sorrow. When He made His soul an offering for sin.
1. He suffered much from the temptations by which He was assailed.
2. From the ingratitude and malignity of man.
3. The soul-sorrow of Christ was produced by the sensible withholding of all comforting communication from heaven, and by the feeling of forsakenness in the hour of distress.
4. The sorrow of the Redeemers soul rose to its height when he did actually endure the wrath of God due to our sins. (J. Macnaughton.)
The representative human conflict
Our Savours conflict in Gethsemane was a representative conflict, and it reveals to us the meaning of human life, and the struggle through which we must pass.
I. There are only two wills in the world-Gods wilt, and mans will.
II. The blessedness of man, the creature, must lie in the harmonious working together of these two wills.
III. These two wills are at present in antagonism.
IV. How can these two wills be brought together into harmony? Answer-
1. Not by any changing of the perfect will of God.
2. Mans will is wrong, imperfect, misguided, it may be changed, it ought to be changed, it must be changed. Here is the proper first sphere of a redeeming work. What shall change it? The truth as it is in Jesus. The work wrought out for us by Jesus. The grace won for us by Jesus. The constraining of the love of Jesus. The power of the risen and living Jesus. (Selected.)
The soul-passion of Christ
What is the explanation we are to give of this passage in our Lords life? One explanation which has been offered is that Gethsemane witnessed a last and more desperate assault of the evil One; but for this the Bible gives no clear warrant. Certainly, the evil One, after his great defeat on the mountain of the Temptation, is said to have departed from our Lord for a season, aa expression which seems to imply that he afterwards returned; but, so far as the text of Scripture can guide us, he returned to assail not the Workman hut the work. What took place in Gethsemane is totally unlike the scene in the Temptation. At the Temptation, our Lord is throughout calm, firm, majestic. He repels each successive assault of the tempter with a word of power. The prince of this world came, and had nothing in Him, But in Gethsemane He is overcome by that, whatever it was, which pressed on Him. He is meek, prostrate, unnerved, dependent (as it seems) on the sympathy and nearness of those whom He had taught and led. There He resists and vanquishes with tranquil strength a personal opponent; here He sinks as if in fear and bewilderment to the very earth, as though a prey to some inward sense of desolation and collapse. His own words, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, point to some great mental trouble; and if He was suffering from a mental trouble, what, may we dare to ask, was its provoking cause?
I. Was it not, first of all, an apprehension, distinct, vivid, and overpowering, of what was presently coming? In Gethsemane, by an act of His will, our Lord opened upon His human soul a full view and apprehension of the impending sufferings of His passion and death; and the apprehension was itself an agony. The whole scene, the succession of scenes, passed before His mental eye; and as He gazes on it, a heart sickness-outcome and proof of His true Humanity-seizes on Him, and He shrinks back in dread from this dark and complex vision of pain.
II. He was, so to speak, mentally robing himself for the great sacrifice-laying upon His sinless soul the sins of a guilty world. To us, indeed, the burden of sin is as natural as the clothes we wear; but to Him the touch of that which we take so easily was an agony, even in its lightest form; and when we think of the accumulated guilt of all the ages clinging around and most intimately present to Him, can we wonder that His bodily nature gave way, that His Passion seemed to have been upon Him before its time, and that His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. (Canon Liddon.)
The Christians Gethsemane
Surely He did not address these words, at once so imperative and so plaintive, to His apostle alone. They were words for all time, warning us not so to remember Calvary as to forget Gethsemane. Good indeed it is to retire to this inmost sanctuary of the human soul, to retire from a world of men, a world which chiefly fixes its eye on the outward and the material, and which passes its years in struggles and efforts that often leave no more traces upon anything that really lasts, then do the busy little children on the seashore, who diligently pile up their sand castles in face of the rising tide. The soul of Jesus in Gethsemane was, above all things, in contact with realities, but they are the realities of the world of spirits at the least not one whir less real than the stones and the gases of the world of matter. The soul of Jesus in Gethsemane was engaged in a fearful struggle, but it was a struggle with issues reaching not into the next few weeks or years of some puny human life here below, but into the most distant vistas of the eternal world. It is not at all times that even good Christians can enter into the meaning of this solemn scene, but there are mental trials which interpret it to us, and which in turn are by it (if we will) transfigured into heavenly blessings.
I. There is the inward conflict which often precedes our undertaking hard or unwelcome duty or sacrifice. The eye measures the effort required, the length and degree of endurance which must be attempted ere the work is really done; and, as the eye traverses the field before it, all the quick sensibilities of feeling start up and rehearse their parts by anticipation, and cling to and clog and embarrass the will, holding it back from the road of duty. Struggles such as this between inclination and duty may be at times sorrowful to the soul, even unto death. When they come on you, brace yourselves by watching and praying with Jesus in Gethsemane, that you may learn to say with Him, Not my will, but Thine, be done.
II. There are forms of doubt respecting Gods goodness and providence, which are a great trouble at times. Not self-caused doubts, but embarrassments which beset earnest and devout souls under stress of great sorrow or calamity. The best remedy for these is to kneel in spirit side by side with Jesus m Gethsemane; it is prayer such as His was that struggles under a darkened heaven into the light beyond.
III. Desolateness of soul, making Gods service distasteful. Prayer becomes insipid and unwelcome, duty is an effort against the grain, the temper is dejected. Tempted to give up all in disgust, and let things take their chance for time or eternity. They who experience this can but kneel in Gethsemane with the prayer, O, my Father, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
IV. The approach of death. This may indeed come upon us suddenly as a thief in the night, but may also be ushered in, as it generally is, by a preface of weakened health and lingering sickness. In many cases it has happened that at the very beginning of an illness which was to end with life, a clear presentiment of this has been graciously vouchsafed. I was sitting at luncheon, said one of the best of Christs servants in this generation, and I suddenly felt as never before: I felt that something had given way. I knew what it meant, what it must mean. I went up into my room; I prayed God that He would enable me to bear what I knew was before me, and would at the last receive me for His own Sons sake. It was the close of a life as bright as it was beautiful, in which there was much to leave behind-warm and affectionate friends, and an abundance of those highest satisfactions which come with constant and unselfish occupation; but it was the summons to another world, and as such it was obeyed. Death is always awful, and the first gaze at the break-up of all that we have hitherto called life must ever have about it a touch of agony. And yet, if Jesus in Gethsemane is our Shepherd, surely we shall lack nothing; yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil, for He is with us who has gone before, His rod and His staff comfort us. (Canon Liddon.)
Christs agony in the garden
I. We dwell more on the bodily anguish of our Lord than the metal. We figure to ourselves the external woes of which flesh was the subject rather than those griefs which were within the soul. We must not, forget that others besides Christ have died the most cruel deaths with fortitude. The bodily sufferings of Christ were but an inconsiderable part of His endurances. It was in soul rather than in body that our Saviour made atonement for transgression. You must be aware that anguish of soul more than of the body is the everlasting portion which is to be swarded to sinners; so we may expect that the soul-agony of a surety or substitute would be felt more than the bodily. Indeed, in the garden there was no bodily suffering, no spear, nails.
II. Exceeding sorrowful unto death The soul cannot die, yet so exceeding was Christs sorrow that He could speak of it as nothing less than actual death. The soul was the sin-offering.
1. We would have you be aware of the enormous cost at which you have been ransomed.
2. It gives preciousness to the means of grace thus to consider them as brought into being by the agonies of the Redeemer. Will you trifle with them?
3. Having spoken not only of the exceeding sorrowfulness of Christs soul, but of the satisfaction which that sorrowfulness yields, I would not conclude without a vision of His glorious triumphs. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Divine sorrow
I. The causes of his sorrow.
1. That gloom may have been the sense of the near approach of death with all the dread misgivings which beset the spirit in that supreme hour.
2. It may have been the sense of loneliness, of the ingratitude, the failure of His disciples and countrymen.
3. Or it was the sense of the load of human wickedness entering into His soul, so as almost to take possession of it. He who knew no sin was made sin for us. These troubled His soul.
4. This scene is the silent protest against the misery of wrong-doing, against the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
II. The great example of how and in what spirit we ought to pray. There is something higher in the efficacy and in the answer of prayer than the mere demanding and receiving the special blessings for which we ask. The cup did not pass from Him; but in two ways His prayer was granted.
1. In the heavenly strength that was given to Him to bear all the sorrows laid upon Him. The very act of prayer gives strength, will open our souls to supporting angels.
2. Not the substitution of the will of Christ for the will of the Eternal God, but the substitution of the will of the Eternal God for the will of His most dearly beloved Son. Great as is the will, holy as are the desires, Divine as are the aspirations that go up from earth, there is something greater, holier, Diviner yet; and that is the will that rules the universe, the mind which embraces within its scope the past, the present, and the future, this world and the next, the seen and the unseen. Without the agony, without the cross, Christianity and Christendom would not have been. If any act or event in the worlds history was essential to its onward progress, essential to the elevation and purification of the individual man, it was the anguish which this night represents to us. This is the apparent conflict, but real unity of the sorrows of Gethsemane and Calvary with the perfect wisdom and mercy of the Supreme Intelligence. It is this conflict and this unity which lend such a breathless interest to the whole story of this week, which breathes at once the pathos and the triumph, the grief and the joy, through its example and its doctrine, through all its facts and all its poetry, through all its stirring music and all its famous pictures. And it is a conflict and a unity which still in its measures continue, and shall continue, as long as the will of humanity struggles and toils on earth to accomplish the will of Divinity. Not our will, but Gods will be done. Not our will, for we know not what is best for us. We still see as through a glass very darkly, the end is not yet visible. But Gods will be done, for He knows our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. His will, His supreme will in nature and in grace, let us learn to know; and having learned, to do it. Thy will be done. Make Thy will our will. Make Thy love our love. Make Thy strength perfect in our weakness, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. (Dean Stanley.)
Prayer
I. The right of petition. We infer it to be a right.
1. Because it is a necessity of our nature. Prayer is a necessity of our humanity rather than a duty. The necessity to
(1) that of sympathy;
(2) the necessity of escaping the sense of a crushing fate.
2. We base this request on our privilege as children-My Father.
3. Christ used it as a right, therefore we may. You cannot help praying if Gods Spirit is in yours.
II. Erroneous notions of what prayer is. They are contained in that conception which He negatived, As I will. A common conception of prayer is, that it is the means by which the wish of man determines the will of God. The text says clearly, Not as I will. The wish of man does not determine the will of God. Try this conception by four tests.
1. By its incompatibility with the fact that this universe is a system of laws.
2. Try it by fact.
3. Try it by the prejudicial results of such a belief. Gives unworthy ideas of God. Consider the danger of vanity and supineness resulting from the fulfilment of our desires as a necessity.
4. It would be most dangerous as a criterion of our spiritual state if we think that answered prayer is a proof of grace. We shall be unreasonably depressed and elated when we do or do not get what we wish.
III. The true efficacy of prayer-AS Thou wilt. All prayer is to change the will human into submission to the will Divine. Hence we conclude-
(1) That prayer which does not succeed in moderating our wish, in changing the passionate desire into still submission, is no true prayer;
(2) That life is most holy in which there is least of petition and desire, and most of waiting upon God; in which petition often passes into thanksgiving. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Prayer to seek Gods will, not mans wish
Practically then, I say, Pray as He did, till prayer makes you cease to pray. Pray till prayer makes you forget your own wish, and leave it or merge it in Gods will. The Divine wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it. There appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. That was the true reply to His prayer. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Submission a progress
Let us come into the presence of the Suppliant-this most human, yet most Divine Person, who is wrestling here in an agony even more spiritual than mortal. It is night. Christ has left the guest-chamber. He has crossed the brook Kedron. He has entered a garden, oftentimes His resort during His visits to Jerusalem, at the foot of the slope of Olivet; He has come hither to pray. Such prayer must be secret. He leaves His disciples at the entrance. Even secret prayer may be the better for having friends near. So with a touching union of love and humility He entreats His three disciples to watch with Him. See the example of suffering which is here set before us in Christ.
I. That all sorrow, all suffering, even if it be anguish, is A cup. It is something definite, of a certain measure. It is of the Fathers mingling; the cup of medicinal love.
II. Concerning this cup itself You may pray. There is not the distress upon earth as to which we ought not to pray.
III. But how pray.
1. As to a Father.
2. Again with an If. You must recognize the possible impossibility.
3. With an earnest confession of the comparative value of two wills-your will and Gods. Jesus went away the second time, and prayed. And what was this second prayer? O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done. This second prayer asks not at all for the removal of the cup. The first was prayer with submission; the second is submission without even prayer. Here is an example, set us by our Lord, of a progressive, growing submission to the mighty hand of God. I do not mean that our Lord had to learn, in the garden of Gethsemane, a lesson of obedience unknown before. How was Christ made perfect, but in the sense of a transition from disobedience to obedience. Yet, thus, in a constant development of obedience under a course of increasing difficulty. The earthly life of Christ was a perpetual going forward. Let this cup pass. Was it not an added trial that the Saviour, like an apostle (2Co 12:8-9) had asked relief, and not been answered? Beyond the submission of the will lies the silencing of the will; beyond the desire to have only if God will, the desire that God only may will, whether I have or not. All of us have wishes, strong impulses of the will towards this and-that; it is a part of our nature. By what steps shall they pass unto our final good?
1. We must turn them into prayers. Everything evil will refuse that test. You cannot turn a sinful wish into prayer.
2. The next step is not only to pray your wishes, but to pray them in a spirit of submission.
3. Then nothing remains but the act of submission, pure, simple, unconditional, absolute. No longer, Let this cup pass, but If this cup may not pass, Thy will be done. All this I leave to Thee; I ask not; I desire not; I pray not longer concerning it, only Thy will be done. (C. J. Vaughan, D. D.)
The figure of the cup
Do we not use the same kind of language ourselves, having still no such thought as that the cup of anguish we speak of, or pray to be taken away, is a judicial infliction? This figure of the cup is used in Scripture for all kinds of experience, whether joyful or painful. Thus we have the cup of salvation, the cup of consolation, the cup of trembling, of fury, of astonishment, of desolation. Whatever God sends upon man to be deeply felt, and by whatever kind of providence, whether benignant, or disciplinary, or retributive, is called his cup. (Horace Bushnell.)
Jesus praying
There are several instructive features in our Saviours prayer in His hour of trial.
1. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew even from His three favoured disciples. Believer, be much in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial.
2. It was humble prayer. Luke says He knelt, but another evangelist says He fell on His face. Where, then, must be thy place, thou humble servant of the great Master? What dust and ashes should cover thy head? Humility gives us good foot-hold in prayer. There is no hope of prevalence with God unless we abase ourselves that He may exalt us in due time.
3. It was filial prayer-Abba, Father. You will find it a stronghold in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You have no rights as a subject, you have forfeited them by your treason.
4. It was persevering prayer. He prayed three times. Cease not until you prevail.
5. It was the prayer of resignation-Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gethsemane
I. Gethsemane suggests our blessed Redeemers longing for human sympathy. Tarry ye here and watch with Me. It is a purely human feeling.
II. Reminds us of the sacredness of human sorrow and Divine communion.
III. Reveals the overwhelming depth and fulness of the Redeemers sorrow. Reminds us of the will of Christ yielded to the will of the Father.
IV. Has its lessons and influences for all our hearts. How it condemns sin! How it reveals the chiefest human virtue, and the power by which it may be attained! How it brings the Father close to our hearts in their sorrow and extremity! (W. H. Davison.)
The prayer in Gethsemane
I. The occasion of these words.
II. The matter of these words.
1. The person to whom He makes His address.
2. The matter of His request.
3. The manner or earnestness of it.
4. The submission of it. Enforce two things:
I. There is an aversion in human nature from the pangs and bitterness of death.
II. Notwithstanding that, there are grounds of submission to the will of God in it. (E. Stillingfleet.)
The Fathers cup
It is a Father that gives the cup.
1. A Father who knows what is fittest to be given us.
2. A Father who stands by His children to help and assist them.
3. A Father who will abundantly reward the taking of what He gives. (E. Stillingfleet.)
Our Lords example of resignation
To show how the Son of God exercised this virtue here upon earth.
1. We all desire the conveniences of life, and to be above dependence. For our sakes He became poor, and never complained on that account.
2. Hard labour attended with weariness is disagreeable. Our Saviours life, during His ministry, was a life of hardship and fatigue.
3. Hunger and thirst, when long endured, are enemies to our nature, and put us to violent uneasiness till they are satisfied. These our Lord often suffered.
4. To those who have the instructions of others committed to their care, it is agreeable to meet with persons teachable and of good capacities, and tiresome to inform slow understandings.
5. Return of baseness and treachery from our intimates whom we have loaded with benefits, are most grievous to be borne, and will wring from the mildest temper complaints. Even to Judas, Jesus showed great lenity.
6. A good man, whose office it is to instruct others in religion, will be grieved when his charitable labours are lost, and he hath to do with stubborn offenders, who are deaf to all reproofs and admonitions.
7. To be injured in our reputation, and exposed to malicious calumny, is a great trial of human patience. This our Saviour endured.
8. To see multitudes involved in a great calamity is a grief to a charitable man.
9. Future evils, when we see them coming and are sure we cannot escape them, torment us near if not quite as much as when they are present.
10. Men love life and are unwilling to lose it. Most painful and ignominious was the death which Christ endured. (J. Jortin.)
Inducements to resignation
1. A belief in the goodness of God.
2. The reward in heaven which we may secure.
3. The behaviour of our Lord which we should be anxious to imitate. (J. Jortin.)
Christs agony
In the garden Christ is exhibited to us in a two-fold character-as our surety and as our example. As our surety, suffering for us, and as our example, teaching us how to suffer.
I. O`ur surety.
1. How great were the sufferings of the Redeemer, and what was their true character.
2. How terrible the wrath of God is.
3. How great the guilt of sin is.
4. How great is the love of the Father and of the Son for sinners.
II. Our example. From it we learn-
1. That our being severely afflicted is no proof that we are not the children of God.
2. That it is not sinful to shrink from affliction or suffering of any kind, and to plead exemption from it.
3. The duty of submission to the will of God even under the greatest trials.
4. The efficacy of prayer in bringing support and comfort under affliction. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Storms beat round mountain souls
It has been said by a great poet, that great characters and great souls are like mountains-they always attract the storms; upon their heads break the thunders, and around their bare tops flash the lightnings and the seeming wrath of God. Nevertheless, they form a shelter for the plains beneath them. That marvellous saying finds an illustration in the lowliest, saddest soul the world has ever had living in it-the Lord Christ. Higher than all men, around His head seemed to beat the very storms of sin; yet beneath the shelter of His great, consoling, sustaining spirit, what lowly people, what humble souls, what poor babes as to wisdom, what sucklings as to the worlds truth, have gained their life in this world and eternal rest in God. (George Dawson.)
The broken will
Man must be thrown down that his will may be broken; and his will must be broken that God may reign within him. The will of God in man is life eternal. (George Dawson.)
Falling on His face
His great life lies before us, that we may strive to follow Him; and then, though falling on our faces as He fell, we may find ourselves able to rise up as He did. For in rising, He laid down His own will and took Gods will in its place. (George Dawson.)
Gods providence an argument for submission
His providence is comprehensive and complete; no unforeseen accidents in the freest and most contingent things, no unvoluntary obstruction in the most necessary things can break the entireness, or discompose the order of His providence. How exactly and easily does He manage and over-rule all things? The whole world is His house, and all the successive generations of men His family; some are His sons, and by voluntary subjection; others His slaves, and by just constraint fulfil His pleasure. Twas the saying of a wise king, instructed by experience, that the art of government was like the laborious travail of a weaver, that requires the attention of the mind and the activity of the body; the eyes, hands, and feet are all in exercise. And how often is the contexture of human councils, though woven with great care, yet unexpectedly broke? So many cross accidents interpose, so many emergencies beyond all prevention start up, that frustrate the designs and hopes of the most potent, rulers of this world. But God disposes all things with more facility than one of us can move a grain of sand. (W. Bates.)
Emblem of providence
The sun applies its quickening influences for the production and growth of a single plant, as particularly as if there were no ether things in the world to receive them; yet at the same time it passes from sign to sign in the heavens, changes the scenes of the elements, produces new seasons, and its active and prolific heat forms and transforms whatsoever is changed in nature. This is a fit resemblance of the universal and special operations of Divine providence. (W. Bates.)
Present comforts in affliction
The gracious soul has a taste and sight how good the Lord is, as an earnest of the fulness of joy in heaven. Hope brings some leaves of the tree of life to refresh us with their fragancy; but love, of its fruits to strengthen us. As transplanted fruits, where the soil is defective and the sun less favourable, are not of that beauty and goodness as in their original country; so heavenly joys in this life are inferior in their degree to those of the blessed above, but they are very reviving. (W. Bates.)
Resignation
The entire resignation of our wills to the disposing will of God is the indispensable duty of Christians under the sharpest afflictions.
I. What is consistent with this resignation?
1. An earnest deprecation of an impending judgment is reconcilable with our submission to the pleasure of God, declared by the event.
2. A mournful sense of afflictions sent from God, is consistent with a dutiful resignation of ourselves to His will.
II. What is included in the resignment of ourselves to God in times of affliction.
1. The understanding approves the severest dispensations of Providence to be good, that is, for reasons, though sometimes unsearchable, yet always righteous, and for gracious ends to the saints.
2. This resignment principally consists in the consent and subjection of the will to the orders of heaven.
3. The duty of resignation consists in the composure of the affections to a just measure and temper, when under the sharpest discipline.
III. The reasons to convince us of this duty of resigning ourselves and all our interests to God.
1. The first argument arises from Gods original supreme right in our persons, and all things we enjoy.
2. The righteousness of God in all His ways, if duly considered, will compose the afflicted spirit to quiet and humble submission.
3. His power is immense and uncontrollable, and it is a vain attempt to contend with Him, as if the eternal order of His decrees could be altered or broken.
4. His paternal love in sending afflictions is a sufficient argument to win our compliance with His will.
(1) All His sons are under the discipline of the rod; and who would be so unhappy as to be exempted from that number for all the prosperity in the world?
(2) Chastisement is the effect of His parental love. (W. Bates.)
Comforts in trial
The historian tells of a clear vein of water that springs from Mongibel, that great furnace, that always sends forth smoke or flames, yet is as cool as if it distilled from a snowy mountain. Thus the saints in the fiery trial have been often refreshed with Divine comforts, and such humble submissions and gracious thanksgivings have proceeded from their lips, as have been very comfortable to those about them. (W. Bates.)
Mans evil nature
Proud dust is apt to fly in Gods face upon every motion of the afflicting passions; and by the resistance of self-will He is provoked to more severity. (W. Bates.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 36. A place called Gethsemane] A garden at the foot of the mount of Olives. The name seems to be formed from gath, a press, and shemen, oil; probably the place where the produce of the mount of Olives was prepared for use. The garden of the oilpress, or olive-press.
Sit ye here] Or, stay in this place, while I go and pray yonder: and employ ye the time as I shall employ it – in watching unto prayer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark leaveth out yonder, Mar 14:32. Luke saith, Luk 22:39-41, He came out, and went, as he was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stones cast, and kneeled down, and prayed. Whether this Gethsemane were the name of a garden, or of a village wherein was a garden, is not much material for us to know. In Jerusalem, they say, they had no gardens, but their gardens were without the gates. Certain it is, it was on the other side of the brook Cedron, Joh 18:1, and either in or at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Thither Christ went with his disciples, that is, eleven of them; we shall hear of the twelfth by and by. Luke saith, that he bade his disciples pray that they might not enter into temptation: these words Matthew and Mark have, after Christs first return to them; they say he now said only,
Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then cometh Jesus with them,…. The eleven disciples,
unto a place called Gethsemane; the Syriac version calls it Ghedsiman; the Persic, Ghesmani, so the Arabic; the Vulgate Latin, and the Ethiopic, Gethsemani: in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel, and in the Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, it is called a “village”; and in the Ethiopic version, “a village of wine”; and in the Syriac and Persic versions, a place. Here, according to an Ethiopic writer, the Virgin Mary was buried by the apostles d. Its etymology is very differently given: some read, and explain it, as if it was , “a valley of fatness”, or “of olives”, as it is called in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel; see Isa 28:1; others as if it was , “a valley of signs”, or a very famous valley; so Mount Sinai is called e, , “Harsemanai”, the mountain of signs: but, to take notice of no more; the true reading and signification of it is,
, “an olive press”, or a press for olives: so we read f of a chamber in the temple which is called “the chamber”, , “Beth Semania”, or “Bethsemani”, where they put their wine and oil for temple service. It is very probable that at, or near this place, was a very public olive press, where they used to squeeze the olives, for the oil of them, which they gathered in great plenty from off the Mount of Olives; at the foot of which this place was; and a very significant place it was for our Lord to go to at this time, when he was about to tread the wine press of his Father’s wrath, alone, and of the people there were none with him: for it follows,
and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder: perceiving a time of distress was coming upon him, he betakes himself to prayer, an example worthy of our imitation; in the performance of which duty he chose to be retired and solitary, and therefore left eight of his disciples at a certain place, whilst he went to another at some distance, convenient for his purpose; who perhaps might be the weakest of the disciples, and not able to bear the agonies and distress of their Lord and Master.
d Ludolph. Lex. Ethiop. p. 554. e T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 89. 1. f T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 16. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Agony in the Garden. |
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36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. 44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
Hitherto, we have seen the preparatives for Christ’s sufferings; now, we enter upon the bloody scene. In these verses we have the story of his agony in the garden. This was the beginning of sorrows to our Lord Jesus. Now the sword of the Lord began to awake against the man that was his Fellow; and how should it be quiet when the Lord had given it a charge? The clouds had been gathering a good while, and looked black. He had said, some days before, Now is my soul troubled, John xii. 27. But now the storm began in good earnest. He put himself into this agony, before his enemies gave him any trouble, to show that he was a Freewill offering; that his life was not forced from him, but he laid it down of himself. John x. 18. Observe,
I. The place where he underwent this mighty agony; it was in a place called Gethsemane. The name signifies, torculus olei–an olive-mill, a press for olives, like a wine-press, where they trod the olives, Mic. vi. 15. And this was the proper place for such a thing, at the foot of the mount of Olives. There our Lord Jesus began his passion; there it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and crush him, that fresh oil might flow to all believers from him, that we might partake of the root and fatness of that good Olive. There he trod the wine-press of his Father’s wrath, and trod it alone.
II. The company he had with him, when he was in this agony.
1. He took all the twelve disciples with him to the garden, except Judas, who was at this time otherwise employed. Though it was late in the night, near bed-time, yet they kept with him, and took this walk by moonlight with him, as Elisha, who, when he was told that his master should shortly be taken from his head, declared that he would not leave him, though he led him about; so these follow the Lamb, wheresoever he goes.
2. He took only Peter, and James, and John, with him into that corner of the garden where he suffered his agony. He left the rest at some distance, perhaps at the garden door, with this charge, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder; like that of Abraham to his young men (Gen. xxii. 5), Abide ye here, and I will go yonder and worship. (1.) Christ went to pray alone, though he had lately prayed with his disciples, John xvii. 1. Note, Our prayers with our families must not excuse us from our secret devotions. (2.) He ordered them to sit here. Note, We must take heed of giving any disturbance or interruption to those who retire for secret communion with God. He took these three with him, because they had been the witnesses of his glory in his transfiguration (Mat 17:1; Mat 17:2), and that would prepare them to be the witnesses of his agony. Note, Those are best prepared to suffer with Christ, that have by faith beheld his glory, and have conversed with the glorified saints upon the holy mount. If we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with him; and if we hope to reign with him, why should we not expect to suffer with him?
III. The agony itself that he was in; He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. It is called an agony (Luke xxii. 44), a conflict. It was not any bodily pain or torment that he was in, nothing occurred to hurt him; but, whatever it was, it was from within; he troubled himself, John xi. 33. The words here used are very emphatical; he began lupeisthai kai ademunein—to be sorrowful, and in a consternation. The latter word signifies such a sorrow as makes a man neither fit for company nor desirous of it. He had like a weight of lead upon his spirits. Physicians use a word near akin to it, to signify the disorder a man is in in a fit of an ague, or beginning of a fever. Now was fulfilled, Ps. xxii. 14, I am poured out like water, my heart is like wax, it is melted; and all those passages in the Psalms where David complains of the sorrows of his soul, Psa 18:4; Psa 18:5; Psa 42:7; Psa 55:4; Psa 55:5; Psa 69:1-3; Psa 116:3, and Jonah’s complaint, Jon 2:4; Jon 2:5.
But what was the cause of all this? What was it that put him into his agony? Why art thou cast down, blessed Jesus, and why disquieted? Certainly, it was nothing of despair or distrust of his Father, much less any conflict or struggle with him. As the Father loved him because he laid down his life for the sheep, so he was entirely subject to his Father’s will in it. But,
1. He engaged in an encounter with the powers of darkness; so he intimates (Luke xxii. 53); This is your hour, and the power of darkness: and he spoke of it just before (Joh 14:30; Joh 14:31); “The prince of this world cometh. I see him rallying his forces, and preparing for a general assault; but he has nothing in me, no garrisons in his interest, none that secretly hold correspondence with him; and therefore his attempts, though fierce, will be fruitless: but as the Father gave me commandment, so I do; however it be, I must have a struggle with him, the field must be fairly fought; and therefore arise, let us go hence, let us hasten to the field of battle, and meet the enemy.” Now is the close engagement in single combat between Michael and the dragon, hand to hand; now is the judgment of this world; the great cause is now to be determined, and the decisive battle fought, in which the prince of this world, will certainly be beaten and cast out, John xii. 31. Christ, when he works salvation, is described like a champion taking the field, Isa. lix. 16-18. Now the serpent makes his fiercest onset on the seed of the woman, and directs his sting, the sting of death, to his very heart; animamque in vulnere ponit–and the wound is mortal.
2. He was now bearing the iniquities which the Father laid upon him, and, by his sorrow and amazement, he accommodated himself to his undertaking. The sufferings he was entering upon were for our sins; they were all made to meet upon him, and he knew it. As we are obliged to be sorry for our particular sins, so was he grieved for the sins of us all. So Bishop Pearson, p. 191. Now, in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where Christ now was, God gathered all nations, and pleaded with them in his Son, Joe 3:2; Joe 3:12. He knew the malignity of the sins that were laid upon him, how provoking to God, how ruining to man; and these being all set in order before him, and charged upon him, he was sorrowful and very heavy. Now it was that iniquities took hold on him; so that he was not able to look up, as was foretold concerning him, Psa 40:7; Psa 40:12.
3. He had a full and clear prospect of all the sufferings that were before him. He foresaw the treachery of Judas, the unkindness of Peter, the malice of the Jews, and their base ingratitude. He knew that he should now in a few hours be scourged, spit upon, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross; death in its most dreadful appearances, death in pomp, attended with all its terrors, looked him in the face; and this made him sorrowful, especially because it was the wages of our sin, which he had undertaken to satisfy for. It is true, the martyrs that have suffered for Christ, have entertained the greatest torments, and the most terrible deaths, without any such sorrow and consternation; have called their prisons their delectable orchards, and a bed of flames a bed of roses: but then, (1.) Christ was now denied the supports and comforts which they had; that is, he denied them to himself, and his soul refused to be comforted, not in passion, but in justice to his undertaking. Their cheerfulness under the cross was owing to the divine favour, which, for the present, was suspended from the Lord Jesus. (2.) His sufferings were of another nature from theirs. St. Paul, when he is to be offered upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith, can joy and rejoice with them all; but to be offered a sacrifice, to make atonement for sin, is quite a different case. On the saints’ cross there is a blessing pronounced, which enables them to rejoice under it (Mat 5:10; Mat 5:12); but to Christ’s cross there was a curse annexed, which made him sorrowful and very heavy under it. And his sorrow under the cross was the foundation of their joy under it.
IV. His complaint of this agony. Finding himself under the arrest of his passion, he goes to his disciples (v. 38), and,
1. He acquaints them with his condition; My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. It gives some little ease to a troubled spirit, to have a friend ready to unbosom itself to, and give vent to its sorrows. Christ here tells them, (1.) What was the seat of his sorrow; it was his soul that was now in an agony. This proves that Christ had a true human soul; for he suffered, not only in his body, but in his soul. We had sinned both against our own bodies, and against our souls; both had been used in sin, and both had been wronged by it; and therefore Christ suffered in soul as well as in body. (2.) What was the degree of his sorrow. He was exceedingly sorrowful, perilypos—compassed about with sorrow on all hands. It was sorrow in the highest degree, even unto death; it was a killing sorrow, such sorrow as no mortal man could bear and live. He was ready to die for grief; they were sorrows of death. (3.) The duration of it; it will continue even unto death. “My soul will be sorrowful as long as it is in this body; I see no outlet but death.” He now began to be sorrowful, and never ceased to be so till he said, It is finished; that grief is now finished, which began in the garden. It was prophesied of Christ, that he should be a Man of sorrows (Isa. liii. 3); he was so all along, we never read that he laughed; but all his sorrows hitherto were nothing to this.
2. He bespeaks their company and attendance; Tarry ye here, and watch with me. Surely he was destitute indeed of help, when he entreated theirs, who, he knew, would be but miserable comforters; but he would hereby teach us the benefit of the communion of saints. It is good to have, and therefore good to seek, the assistance of our brethren, when at any time we are in an agony; for two are better than one. What he said to them, he saith to all, Watch, Mark xiii. 37. Not only watch for him, in expectation of his future coming, but watch with him, in application to our present work.
V. What passed between him and his Father when he was in this agony; Being in an agony, he prayed. Prayer is never out of season, but it is especially seasonable in an agony.
Observe, 1. The place where he prayed; He went a little further, withdrew from them, that the scripture might be fulfilled, I have trod the wine-press alone; he retired for prayer; a troubled soul finds most ease when it is alone with God, who understands the broken language of sighs and groans. Calvin’s devout remark upon this is worth transcribing, Utile est seorsim orare, tunc enim magis familiariter sese denudat fidelis animus, et simplicius sua vota, gemitus, curas, pavores, spes, et gaudia in Dei sinum exonerat–It is useful to pray apart; for then the faithful soul develops itself more familiarly, and with greater simplicity pours forth its petitions, groans, cares, fears, hopes and joys, into the bosom of God. Christ has hereby taught us that secret prayer must be made secretly. Yet some think that even the disciples whom he left at the garden door, overheard him; for it is said (Heb. v. 7), they were strong cries.
2. His posture in prayer; He fell on his face; his lying prostrate denotes, (1.) The agony he was in, and the extremity of his sorrow. Job, in great grief, fell on the ground; and great anguish is expressed by rolling in the dust, Mic. i. 10. (2.) His humility in prayer. This posture was an expression of his, eulabeia—his reverential fear (spoken of Heb. v. 7), with which he offered up these prayers: and it was in the days of his flesh, in his estate of humiliation, to which hereby he accommodated himself.
3. The prayer itself; wherein we may observe three things.
(1.) The title he gives to God; O my Father. Thick as the cloud was, he could see God as a Father through it. Note, In all our addresses to God we should eye him as a Father, as our Father; and it is in a special manner comfortable to do so, when we are in an agony. It is a pleasing string to harp upon at such a time, My Father; whither should the child go, when any thing grieves him, but to his father?
(2.) The favour he begs; If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He calls his sufferings a cup; not a river, not a sea, but a cup, which we shall soon see the bottom of. When we are under troubles, we should make the best, the least, of them, and not aggravate them. His sufferings might be called a cup, because allotted him, as at feasts a cup was set to every mess. He begs that this cup might pass from him, that is, that he might avoid the sufferings now at hand; or, at least, that they might be shortened. This intimates no more than that he was really and truly Man, and as a Man he could not but be averse to pain and suffering. This is the first and simple act of man’s will–to start back from that which is sensibly grievous to us, and to desire the prevention and removal of it. The law of self-preservation is impressed upon the innocent nature of man, and rules there till overruled by some other law; therefore Christ admitted and expressed a reluctance to suffer, to show that he was taken from among men (Heb. v. 1), was touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb. iv. 15), and tempted as we are; yet without sin. Note, A prayer of faith against an affliction, may very well consist with the patience of hope under affliction. When David had said, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it; his very next words were, Remove thy stroke away from me,Psa 39:9; Psa 39:10. But observe the proviso; If it be possible. If God may be glorified, man saved, and the ends of his undertaking answered, without his drinking of this bitter cup, he desires to be excused; otherwise not. What we cannot do with the securing of our great end, we must reckon to be in effect impossible; Christ did so. Id possumus quod jure possumus–We can do that which we can do lawfully. We can do nothing, not only we may do nothing, against the truth.
(3.) His entire submission to, and acquiescence in, the will of God; Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Not that the human will of Christ was adverse or averse to the divine will; it was only, in its first act, diverse from it; to which, in the second act of the will, which compares and chooses, he freely submits himself. Note, [1.] Our Lord Jesus, though he had a quick sense of the extreme bitterness of the sufferings he was to undergo, yet was freely willing to submit to them for our redemption and salvation, and offered himself, and gave himself, for us. [2.] The reason of Christ’s submission to his sufferings, was, his Father’s will; as thou wilt, v. 39. He grounds his own willingness upon the Father’s will, and resolves the matter wholly into that; therefore he did what he did, and did it with delight, because it was the will of God, Ps. xl. 8. This he had often referred to, as that which put him upon, and carried him through, his whole undertaking; This is the Father’s will,Joh 6:39; Joh 6:40. This he sought (John v. 30); it was his meat and drink to do it, John iv. 34. [3.] In conformity to this example of Christ, we must drink of the bitter cup which God puts into our hands, be it ever so bitter; though nature struggle, grace must submit. We then are disposed as Christ was, when our wills are in every thing melted into the will of God, though ever so displeasing to flesh and blood; The will of the Lord be done, Acts xxi. 14.
4. The repetition of the prayer; He went away again the second time, and prayed (v. 42), and again the third time (v. 44), and all to the same purport; only, as it is related here, he did not, in the second and third prayer, expressly ask that the cup might pass from him, as he had done in the first. Note, Though we may pray to God to prevent and remove an affliction, yet our chief errand, and that which we should most insist upon, must be, that he will give us grace to bear it well. It should be more our care to get our troubles sanctified, and our hearts satisfied under them, than to get them taken away. He prayed, saying, Thy will be done. Note, Prayer is the offering up, not only of our desires, but of our resignations, to God. It amounts to an acceptable prayer, when at any time we are in distress, to refer ourselves to God, and to commit our way and work to him; Thy will be done. The third time he said the same words, ton auton logon—the same word, that is the same matter or argument; he spoke to the same purport. We have reason to think that this was not all he said, for it should seem by v. 40 that he continued an hour in his agony and prayer; but, whatever more he said, it was to this effect, deprecating his approaching sufferings, and yet resigning himself to God’s will in them, in the expressions of which we may be sure he was not straitened.
But what answer had he to this prayer? Certainly it was not made in vain; he that heard him always, did not deny him now. It is true, the cup did not pass from him, for he withdrew that petition, and did not insist upon it (if he had, for aught I know, the cup had passed away); but he had an answer to his prayer; for, (1.) He was strengthened with strength in his soul, in the day when he cried (Ps. cxxxviii. 3); and that was a real answer, Luke xxii. 43. (2.) He was delivered from that which he feared, which was, lest by impatience and distrust he should offend his Father, and so disable himself to go on with his undertaking, Heb. v. 7. In answer to his prayer, God provided that he should not fail or be discouraged.
VI. What passed between him and his three disciples at this time; and here we may observe,
1. The fault they were guilty of; that when he was in his agony, sorrowful and heavy, sweating and wrestling and praying, they were so little concerned, that they could not keep awake; he comes, and finds them asleep, v. 40. The strangeness of the thing should have roused their spirits to turn aside now, and see this great sight–the bush burning, and yet not consumed; much more should their love to their Master, and their care concerning him, have obliged them to a more close and vigilant attendance on him; yet they were so dull, that they could not keep their eyes open. What had become of us, if Christ had been now as sleepy as his disciples were? It is well for us that our salvation is in the hand of one who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Christ engaged them to watch with him, as if he expected some succour from them, and yet they slept; surely it was the unkindest thing that could be. When David wept at this mount of Olives, all his followers wept with him (2 Sam. xv. 30); but when the Son of David was here in tears, his followers were asleep. His enemies, who watched for him, were wakeful enough (Mark xiv. 43); but his disciples, who should have watched with him, were asleep. Lord, what is man! What are the best of men, when God leaves them to themselves! Note, Carelessness and carnal security, especially when Christ is in his agony, are great faults in any, but especially in those who profess to be nearest in relation to him. The church of Christ, which is his body, is often in an agony, fightings without and fears within; and shall we be asleep then, like Gallio, that cared for none of these things; or those (Amos vi. 6) that lay at ease, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph?
2. Christ’s favour to them, notwithstanding. Persons in sorrow are too apt to be cross and peevish with those about them, and to lay it grievously to heart, if they but seem to neglect them; but Christ in his agony is as meek as ever, and carries it as patiently toward his followers as toward his Father, and is not apt to take things ill.
When Christ’s disciples put this slight upon him,
(1.) He came to them, as if he expected to receive some comfort from them; and if they had put him in mind of what they had heard from him concerning his resurrection and glory perhaps it might have been some help to him; but, instead of that, they added grief to his sorrow; and yet he came to them, more careful for them than they were for themselves; when he was most engaged, yet he came to look after them; for those that were given him, were upon his heart, living and dying.
(2.) He gave them a gentle reproof, for as many as he loves he rebukes; he directed it to Peter, who used to speak for them; let him now hear for them. The reproof was very melting; What! could ye not watch with me one hour? He speaks as one amazed to see them so stupid; every word, when closely considered, shows the aggravated nature of the case. Consider, [1.] Who they were; “Could not ye watch–ye, my disciples and followers? No wonder if others neglect me, if the earth sit still, and be at rest (Zech. i. 11); but from you I expected better things.” [2.] Who he was; “Watch with me. If one of yourselves were ill and in an agony, it would be very unkind not to watch with him; but it is undutiful not to watch with your Master, who has long watched over you for good, has led you, and fed you, and taught you, borne you, and borne with you; do ye thus requite him?” He awoke out of his sleep, to help them when they were in distress (ch. viii. 26); and could not they keep awake, at least to show their good-will to him, especially considering that he was now suffering for them, in an agony for them? Jam tua res agiture–I am suffering in your cause. [3.] How small a thing it was that he expected from them–only to watch with him. If he had bid them do some great thing, had bid them be in an agony with him, or die with him, they thought they could have done it; and yet they could not do it, when he only desired them to watch with him, 2 Kings v. 13. [4.] How short a time it was that he expected it–but one hour; they were not set upon the guard whole nights, as the prophet was (Isa. xxi. 8), only one hour. Sometimes he continued all night in prayer to God, but did not then expect that his disciples should watch with him; only now, when he had but one hour to spend in prayer.
(3.) He gave them good counsel; Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, v. 41. [1.] There was an hour of temptation drawing on, and very near; the troubles of Christ were temptations to his followers to disbelieve and distrust him, to deny and desert him, and renounce all relation to him. [2.] There was danger of their entering into the temptation, as into a snare or trap; of their entering into a parley with it, or a good opinion of it, of their being influenced by it, and inclining to comply with it; which is the first step toward being overcome by it. [3.] He therefore exhorts them to watch and pray; Watch with me, and pray with me. While they were sleeping, they lost the benefit of joining in Christ’s prayer. “Watch yourselves, and pray yourselves. Watch and pray against this present temptation to drowsiness and security; pray that you may watch; beg of God by his grace to keep you awake, now that there is occasion.” When we are drowsy in the worship of God, we should pray, as a good Christian once did, “The Lord deliver me from this sleepy devil!” Lord, quicken thou me in thy way, Or, “Watch and pray against the further temptation you may be assaulted with; watch and pray lest this sin prove the inlet of many more.” Note, When we find ourselves entering into temptation, we have need to watch and pray.
(4.) He kindly excused for them; The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. We do not read of one word they had to say for themselves (the sense of their own weakness stopped their mouth); but then he had a tender word to say on their behalf, for it is his office to be an Advocate; in this he sets us an example of the love which covers a multitude of sins. He considered their frame, and did not chide them, for he remembered that they were but flesh; and the flesh is weak, though the spirit be willing,Psa 78:38; Psa 78:39. Note, [1.] Christ’s disciples, as long as they are here in this world, have bodies as well as souls, and a principle of remaining corruption as well as of reigning grace, like Jacob and Esau in the same womb, Canaanites and Israelites in the same land, Gal 5:17; Gal 5:24. [2.] It is the unhappiness and burthen of Christ’s disciples, that their bodies cannot keep pace with their souls in works of piety and devotion, but are many a time a cloud and clog to them; that, when the spirit is free and disposed to that which is good, the flesh is averse and indisposed. This St. Paul laments (Rom. vii. 25); With my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin. Our impotency in the service of God is the great iniquity and infidelity of our nature, and it arises from these sad remainders of corruption, which are the constant grief and burthen of God’s people. [3.] Yet it is our comfort, that our Master graciously considers this, and accepts the willingness of the spirit, and pities and pardons the weakness and infirmity of the flesh; for we are under grace, and not under the law.
(5.) Though they continued dull and sleepy, he did not any further rebuke them for it; for, though we daily offend, yet he will not always chide. [1.] When he came to them the second time, we do not find that he said any thing to them (v. 43); he findeth them asleep again. One would have thought that he had said enough to them to keep them awake; but it is hard to recover from a spirit of slumber. Carnal security, when once it prevails, is not easily shaken off. Their eyes were heavy, which intimates that they strove against it as much as they could, but were overcome by it, like the spouse; I sleep, but my heart waketh (Cant. v. 2); and therefore their Master looked upon them with compassion. [2.] When he came the third time, he left them to be alarmed with the approaching danger (Mat 26:45; Mat 26:46); Sleep on now, and take your rest. This is spoken ironically; “Now sleep if you can, sleep if you dare; I would not disturb you if Judas and his band of men would not.” See here how Christ deals with those that suffer themselves to be overcome by security, and will not be awakened out of it. First, Sometimes he gives them up to the power of it; Sleep on now. He that will sleep, let him sleep still. The curse of spiritual slumber is the just punishment of the sin of it, Rom 11:8; Hos 4:17. Secondly, Many times he sends some startling judgment, to awaken those that would not be wrought upon by the word; and those who will not be alarmed by reasons and arguments, had better be alarmed by swords and spears than left to perish in their security. Let those that would not believe, be made to feel.
As to the disciples here, 1. Their Master gave them notice of the near approach of his enemies, who, it is likely, were now within sight or hearing, for they came with candles and torches, and, it is likely, made a great noise; The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And again, He is at hand that doth betray me. Note, Christ’s sufferings were no surprise to him; he knew what, and when, he was to suffer. By this time the extremity of his agony was pretty well over, or, at least, diverted; while with an undaunted courage he addresses himself to the next encounter, as a champion to the combat. 2. He called them to rise, and be going: not, “Rise, and let us flee from the danger;” but, “Rise, and let us go meet it;” before he had prayed, he feared his sufferings, but now he had got over his fears. But, 3. He intimates to them their folly, in sleeping away the time which they should have spent in preparation; now the event found them unready, and was a terror to them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Gethsemane (). The word means oil-press in the Hebrew, or olive vat. The place () was an enclosed plot or estate, “garden,” or orchard (). It is called villa in the Vulgate according to Joh 18:1. It was beyond the torrent Kedron at the foot of the Mount of Olives about three-fourths of a mile from the eastern walls of Jerusalem. There are now eight old olive trees still standing in this enclosure. One cannot say that they are the very trees near which Jesus had his Agony, but they are very old. “They will remain so long as their already protracted life is spared, the most venerable of their race on the surface of the earth. Their guarded trunks and scanty foliage will always be regarded as the most affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem” (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine).
Here (),
Yonder (). Jesus clearly pointed to the place where he would pray. Literally “there.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Gethsemane. Meaning oil – press. Beyond the brook Kedron, and distant about three – quarters of a mile from the walls of Jerusalem. Dean Stanley says of the olive – trees there : “In spite of all the doubts that can be raised against their antiquity, the eight aged olive – trees, if only by their manifest difference from all others on the mountain, have always struck the most indifferent observers. They will remain, so long as their already protracted life is spared, the most venerable of their race on the surface of the earth. Their gnarled trunks and scanty foilage will always be regarded as the most affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem; the most nearly approaching to the everlasting hills themselves in the force with which they carry us back to the events of the gospel history” (” Sinai and Palestine “).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Mat 26:36
. Then Jesus cometh with them. Luke mentions the mountain of Olives only. Mark and Matthew add a more minute description of the place. But Luke expresses what is still more to the purpose, that Christ came there according to his custom. Hence we infer, that he did not seek retirement for the purpose of concealing himself, but, as if he had made an assignation with his enemies, he presented himself to death. On this account John says (Joh 18:2) that the place was known to the traitor, because Jesus was wont to come there frequently. In this passage, therefore, his obedience is again described to us, because he could not have appeased the Father but by a voluntary death.
Sit here. By leaving the disciples at a distance, he spares their weakness; as if a man, perceiving that he would soon be in extreme danger in battle, were to leave his wife and children in a situation of safety. But though he intended to place them all beyond arrow-shot, yet he took three of them who accompanied him more closely than the rest, and these were the flower and choice, in which there was greater rigor. And yet he did not take them, as if he believed that they would be able to sustain the attack, but that they might afford a proof of the defect which was common to them all.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 26:36. Gethsemane = the oil press.On the slope of the Mount of Olives. Probably there was, or had been, in it a press for the manufacture of olive oil. The identity of this garden with the traditional spot is disputed.
Mat. 26:45-46. Sleep on now. Rise, let us be going.The sudden transition may be explained either
(1) by regarding the first words as intended for a rebuke, or else
(2) at that very moment Judas appeared, and the time for action had come. The short, quick sentences, especially as reported by St. Mark, favour the second suggestion (Carr).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 26:36-46
De profoundis.One chief characteristic of this part of the story of Jesus is its unapproachable grief. The disciples see this in the demeanour of the Saviour. He is sorrowful and very heavy (Mat. 26:37). The Saviour confesses it of Himself (Mat. 26:38). We hear it in the character of the prayer He puts up. He asks, if possible (Mat. 26:39), to be heard. Also, in the urgency with which He presents it, viz., three times (Mat. 26:44), in the same words, in succession. Evidently, something which is the profoundest of horrors possesses His soul. Another account, indeed (Luk. 22:44), describes Him as being convulsed by its depth. We shall do well to contemplate, this being so, first, the mysteriousness, and, secondly, the instructiveness, of this astonishing grief.
I. Its mysteriousness.This is to be found, to begin, by inquiring into its special occasion and cause. To what, in reality, was this fearful dread to be traced? What was this evil, the mere anticipation of which had such almost deadly effect? It could hardly have been that very ordinary evil which we commonly speak of as death. Thousands of men far inferior on any showing to Jesus of Nazareth, have met this with composure, some even with joy. Neither could it have been merely the ignominious manner and extreme shame of the kind of death which the Saviour knew to be awaiting Him so shortly. That were to make Him inferior to the two malefactors who afterwards died by His side; one of whom, at any rate, was above complaining of the undoubted disgrace of his cross (Luk. 23:41). Evidently, what Christ had in view was something deeper by farsomething which appears to have been fully known only to God and Himself. Spare Me this cupthis cup, with which no other cup is fit to compare. Who amongst men shall say what that was? Just as mysterious, next, is the consideration of the Person to whom this cup was delivered. We read of Him, e.g., as one who, in the very highest sense, could address God as His Father (Mat. 26:39; Mat. 26:42). Also, as one whom God Himself had acknowledged in the same sense, not long before, as His Son; and as the Son, moreover, as well of His love, as of His fullest approval and trust (Mat. 27:5). Further, we find Him now, in His capacity of a Son, showing the perfection of love to His friends. It was not much that He asked of His disciples at this crucial hour of His lifelittle more, in fact, than some token of sympathy in the extremity of His anguish (Mat. 26:38). When this little was refused Him, as we find that it was; when, instead of watching with Him, they are found buried in sleep; how tenderly considerate, yet how anxiously merciful, is the excuse which He makeswhich He, the injured one, makes (Mat. 26:40-41). Further, yet, we find Him, now, in the same capacity, showing the like perfectness towards God. What entire confidencewhat profound submissionwhat burning loyaltywhat utter devotionwe find here in His words (Mat. 26:39)! Never, in fact, do we see all His excellences brighter than they are seen to be at this time. Here is the mystery presented to us by this side of the case! Never such a brothernever such a Sonas when about to be treated as neither! Nor less mysterious, once more, is the consideration of the Hand which inflicted this on Him. Whom does the Saviour appeal to on the subject? From whose will does He ask for the favour of exemption (Mat. 26:39)? Is it not from the will of that Father of whom He afterwards said, The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? Here is, therefore, on the whole, the sum of the mystery involved in this case. It is wonderful that there should ever have been an occasion for a prayer of this kind! Wonderful that such a Son should ever find Himself in such case! Wonderful that He Himself should have been willing to be in that case! Wonderful that such a Father should have ever put Him in that case! More wonderful still that He should have finally left Him in it in reply to that prayerthat thrice-repeated entreatythat urgent entreatythat agonised entreatyof the Son of His love! Never was there anything, to our eyes, of a more mysterious kind! The whole story, in fact, is full of absolute bewilderment to our natural thoughts.
II. Its instructiveness, all the same.How it teaches us, e.g., on this very account, to accept the darkness which marks it. Why should we expect things, in such a matter, to be of a different kind? Why should we ever have supposed, in such an arena, that there should have been nothing obscure to our eyes? The very nature of that arena, on the one hand, peremptorily forbids such a thought. How should any inquiry be all light to us which turns, as this does, on the nature of God? On the relations existing between those Three who are One? And on the doings of the Man who represents our race at the most critical period alike of His life and our age? The nature of our eyes, on the other hand, forbids it no lessone might almost say even more. We have neither the faculties nor the experience for measuring things of this kind. It is doubtful, indeed, whether any created intelligence of any kind can understand them in full (see 1 Peter 1, end of Mat. 26:12). It is certain that our intelligence can only discern them in part. Hardly even a microscope turned on the sun is less competent for its task. It is our wisdom, therefore, it is even the best use of our powers, to see in the obscurity of what we look upon one proof of its truth. On the other hand, in such a matter, we are taught here equally to embrace the light that there is. The light that shines out on us, for example, from the very obscurity of the words which our Saviour addresses here to His Father. With all that is dark in them, is it not clear from them that He had some purpose in view when He spake them? Something of transcendent importance, both in Gods eyes and His own? Something that somehow could not be accomplished unless He accepted that cup? Something of such a nature that if He had been spared from it, God could not have spared us? Something, this being so, which God would not take awayand which He did not refuseon that very account? All this, with all the concomitant darkness, is as clear as the sun. And all this, therefore, is to be embraced by us with all wonder and praise. Jesus thereby shown to be a Saviourand God a Fatherindeed! Beautifully confirmatory of this is what we read last in this place. What a contrast there is between our Saviours words in Mat. 26:38-39, and those in Mat. 26:45-46! What a ring of fortitudeof tranquil intrepiditythere is in these last! Now He faces, now He goes to meet, what He could hardly think of previously. Clearly, His Father has answered His prayer (cf. Luk. 22:43; Heb. 5:7), though in a way of His own. Clearly, therefore, the will of both is the same. Clearly, also, that will is nothing less than the salvation of man. With that object in view; that cup was preparedwas givenwas not taken awaywas acceptedwas put to the lip. With that in view He who thus took it received strength for it from above. Here is the final light out of this darkness. Is it anything less than the Light of the world?
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 26:36-44. The human Christ in Gethsemane.
I. Like us, He sought sympathy in the time of sorrow.
II. Like us, He gave expression to His grief when, only few could hear.
III. Like us, in trouble and darkness He wished His friends to keep awake.
IV. Like us, He dreaded calumny more than death.What was the cup? Not death, but the death of a criminal.Evan Lewis, B.A.
Mat. 26:36. Christ in Gethsemane.
1. As the truth of the gospel, so the right way of suffering for the truth, must be learned from Christ; therefore our Lord taketh with Him His disciples unto Gethsemanea garden and place where He is to begin His last sufferingsthat they might see how voluntarily and holily He addressed Himself unto that service.
2. As we should not make ostentation of going to private prayer, so neither need we scrupulously conceal our purpose when it may edify.David Dickson.
The conflict in Gethsemane.
I. The place of the conflict.There are two rival Gethsemanes, and rival guides wrangle about the truth of this and that local identification. One place, called the true Gethsemane, is walled round by the Latins. Another, a little more to the north, is walled round by the Greeks; both enclosures being under lock and key. The New Testament lends no help to inquiries that have reference to sanctity of places.
II. The story of the conflict.
1. Its intensity is the first fact in the story that strikes us.
2. This awful inward conflict was in a scene of outward peace.
3. The conflict wrung from the Saviour a great cry: O, My Father, etc. We have a glimpse here of the conflict carried on by Christ for us, single-handed.
4. Under all the sorrows of the Man of sorrows, in this night of conflict, there was tender personal thought about His disciples.
III. The sleep of the disciples.There was tender remonstrance, but not severe reproof. It was treated by Jesus only as a symptom of mortality. This quick apology of love for weakness is set on record for all who need it.C. Stanford, D.D.
Mat. 26:38. Intensified sorrow.Christs sufferings were intensified by various reasons:
I. From His perfect foreknowledge of all the complication and bitterness of His agonies.Knowing all things that should come upon Him.
II. From the length of time within which they were compassed.We might speak of His whole life as a scene of suffering; but His last sufferings were crowded and pressed together in an extraordinary degree. It will be found that a space of nearly twenty-four hours was occupied with His death.
III. From His deep sense of the evil of sin which occasioned those sufferings.Tertius.
Mat. 26:39. Our Lords Gethsemane-prayer.Three elements are distinguishable in our Lords prayer:
I. The sense of sonship, which underlies all, and was never more clear than at that awful moment.
II. The recoil from the cup, which natural instinct could not but feel, though sinlessly. The flesh shrank from the cross, which else had been no suffering; and if no suffering, then had been no atonement. His manhood would not have been like ours, nor His sorrows our pattern, if He had not thus drawn back, in His sensitive humanity, from the awful prospect now so near. But natural instinct is one thing, and the controlling will another. However currents may have tossed the vessel, the firm hand at the helm never suffered them to change her course. The will, which in this prayer He seems so strangely to separate from the Fathers, even in the act of submission, was the will which wishes, not that which resolves. His fixed purpose to die for the worlds sin never wavered. The shrinking does not reach the point of absolutely and unconditionally asking that the cup might pass. Even in the act of uttering the wish it is limited by that if it be possible, which can only mean: possible, in view of the great purpose for which He came. That is to be accomplished, at any cost; and unless it can be accomplished, though the cup be withdrawn, He does not even wish, much less will, that it should be withdrawn. So the third element in the prayer is:
III. The utter resignation to the Fathers will, in which submission He found peace, as we do.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Jesus in Gethsemane.
1. The struggle in Gethsemane was the completion of that in the wilderness, and prepared the way for the suffering of Golgotha.The devil uses two ways of turning men from the path of righteousness: he offers them pleasures such as God does not approve, and urges them to avoid the hardships to which God calls them. By these same two means he tried to force the Lord Jesus also to deviate from the line of obedience, from fidelity to His mission. It is true, Satan is not mentioned in the Gospel narratives when this scene is related. But it was of this very moment that Luke was thinking when he finished the narration of the temptation in the wilderness by these words: The devil departed from Him for a season (Luk. 4:13), or, more exactly, until a favourable time. Jesus Himself, when He saw this moment approaching, expressed Himself thus: The prince of this world cometh (Joh. 14:30).
2. After a man has overcome the attractions of pleasure, it only remains to him to rise above the instinctive fear of pain in order that he may be faithful unto the end.
3. Jesus, in His prayer, puts His will and that of the Father over against each other: Not My will, but Thine, be done. How can that be? Had He a different will from that of God? Jesus took our nature when He entered into human life. He consequently possessed all our legitimate instincts, particularly that of the fear of suffering. It was this fear above which it was now His concern to rise by sacrificing it to His mission, as He had given up the desire for enjoyments when in the wilderness. By the third act of wrestling and prayer He subordinates the voice of nature to the voice of the Spirit unreservedly.
4. This is not, as is often believed, the beginning of the atonement; it is only the condition of the atonement. In fact, the atonement does consist not only in a certain amount of suffering to be endured. It consists in the suffering humbly accepted and righteously endured.
5. Victory should properly precede combat.Jesus had already conquered when the time of suffering came. It is properly at Gethsemane that these words in the priestly prayer were accomplished: And for their sakes I sanctify myself (Joh. 17:19).Prof. F. Godet, D.D.
Mat. 26:41. Temptation.In the precept, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation, there is enjoined a feeling of apprehension and alarm. It is equivalent to saying, Do not suffer yourself to be at ease. Beware of quietly enjoying your life. You are lost if you live without fear. As to moral and spiritual dangers, the greater number seem to have determined to indulge in a careless and almost unlimited confidence. As a natural consequence, they are overrun and spoiled and ruined by what they so little dread and guard againstthat is to say, by temptations. That ye enter not into temptation. The words seem to say very pointedly:
I. Beware of the beginning.And since temptation is sure to be early with its beginnings, so, too, should watching and praying: early in life; early in the day; early in every undertaking.
II. Be quickly alarmed at the indications that a thing is becoming temptation. Here a questionable effect is beginning upon me; nay, it is a bad effect. Certain principles of truth and duty are beginning to slacken their hold on me. Be cautious of pursuing an evident good in a way in which there must be temptation. Beware of the kind of companionship that directly leads into temptation.John Foster.
Preservatives from sin.
1. The advice given.Watch and pray. The Christian in danger:
1. From the world.Its spirit, frowns, smiles.
2. From the devil.As a person, his influence, subtilty, etc.
3. From the flesh.The deification or degradation of reason; indulging in passion, constitutional sin, etc.
II. The reason on which the advice is founded.That ye enter not, etc.
1. It is possible to be overcome.David, Peter, etc.
2. To be overcome deprives of spiritual enjoyment.
3. Endangers spiritual interests.
4. Not watchfulness alone, or prayer alone, but both conjoined, render the soul invulnerable.J. C. Gray.
The spirit willing, the flesh weak.We ought to take this, not as an excuse for torpor, but as an incentive to watchfulness.Bengel.
Mat. 26:45. Too late.In these words our Lord means, It is too late. The opportunity is lost and gone. The time for watching and praying is over; you have let it escape you. You may as well sleep now. Alas! there is now nothing to be done; you must now enter, as you may, into temptation. If this be the true account of the words as first spoken, we shall readily think of ways in which they come home to us.
I. They have a direct bearing upon the whole subject of temptation.This is the time for watching and prayingbefore the temptation comes. Mark that well. It is the moral of the whole. Remember there is a prayer which comes too late; there is a prayer which even contradicts itself in the asking; there is a prayer which asks to be kept safe under the temptation which we are going in quest of.
II. The words have a meaning also as respects opportunity.There is not a relation in which we stand one to another, which may not be taken as a selfishness and refused as an opportunity. One by one, these are withdrawn. He who once said, Watch and pray, says at last, Sleep on now, and take your rest.
III. This saying is not less true in its bearing upon that total sum of all opportunities which is the life.When Christ at last comes, and finds us still sleeping; then He is compelled to sayelse He could be trifled with, else He were not the Judge, He were not the Faithful One and the TrueHe is compelled to say, Sleep on now, and take your rest. The harvest is past etc.C. J. Vaughan, D.D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
SECTION 67
JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE
(Parallels: Mar. 14:32-42; Luk. 22:39-46)
TEXT: 26:3646
36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray. 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; abide ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42 Again a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43 And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And he left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words. 45 Then cometh he to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Arise, let us be going; behold, he is at hand that betrayeth me.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS
a.
Do you think Jesus needed to go to Gethsemane? Could He not have remained in Jerusalem to pray just as well? Why go there, then?
b.
Why do you think Jesus set the disciples as sentinels to watch and pray?
c.
If Jesus knew that He had come to earth for precisely this hour, why do you think He prayed, in a sense, that the Father save Him from it? (Cf. Mar. 14:35; Joh. 12:27 ff.)
d.
Why did that cup not pass away, contrary to Jesus request?
e.
Why do you think He requested the presence of Peter, James and John? (1) How would that help Him? (2) How would it help them?
f.
What does Jesus falling on His face to pray indicate about His feelings?
g.
If Jesus always knew and did Gods will (cf. Joh. 8:29), why, if He suspected His suffering inevitable, did He request to be exempt therefrom? What good did He really believe praying might do?
h.
Why did the disciples keep falling asleep, despite the fact that Jesus requested that they stand watch with Him?
i.
In what sense would they have entered into temptation, if they did not watch and pray? How does watching and praying keep one out of temptation?
j.
Is it true of us that the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak? What should we do about it? What do we do about it?
k.
Do you think it is ever right to pray the same prayer twice? What about using the very same words to repeat the prayer? Why do you say that?
1.
How do you think Jesus addressed the sleeping disciples, Sleep on now, take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed . . .? Was He angry, irritated, astonished, or what? What did He mean?
m.
Do you think Jesus prayers were answered? If so, when or how?
PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY
Then with His disciples Jesus went over the ravine of the Kedron, as He usually did, to a piece of land on the Mount of Olives where there was a garden called Gethsemane a word which means the oil-press. When they arrived there, He told them, Sit down here while I go over there and pray. Pray that you may not walk right into temptation.
Taking with Him Peter and Zebedees sons, James and John, He began to show His grief and the deep dread He felt. Then He commented, I am so completely overwhelmed with grief that I could die right here! Stay here and keep watch with me.
Walking on a bit further by Himself about a stones throw away, He knelt down. Then He threw Himself face down on the ground and began praying, that, if it were possible, He might not have to face the impending ordeal. He kept saying, My Father, if it be possibleeverything is possible for You. . . . if you are willing, take this painful destiny away from me! However, it is not my will, but Yours, that must be done!
[Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him, encouraging Him. Being deeply anguished, He prayed more urgently. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.] When He arose from praying, He returned to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted by sorrow.
Simon, He addressed Peter, are you asleep? Could you men not stand watch with me a single hour? Rise, stay awake and pray, that you may not be unnecessarily exposed to temptation. Your spirit is certainly willing, but your human nature is frail.
Once more, for the second time, He went away to pray, repeating the same words, My Father, since it is not possible for my destiny to be changed without my undergoing it, Your will must be done.
When He came back, He found them sleeping again, because they could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what excuse to give Him. So, leaving them again, He went back and prayed for the third time, uttering the same words. When He returned the third time to the disciples, He chided them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! Look, the time has come for me to be turned over to sinful men. Get up, lets get going! Look, here comes my betrayer now!
SUMMARY
At the gate of the garden Jesus left eight disciples so as to be able to pray relatively undisturbed. Taking with Him His Inner Circle of Three, Peter, James and John, He urged them to stay awake and pray with Him during His intense crisis of soul. Leaving them, He walked deeper into the garden to pray that Gods will might be done without the suffering. Nevertheless, He acquiesced and submitted Himself to accept Gods choice. Three times He prayed this and three times He returned to find His men sleeping, not praying. Finally, He roused them once more to go to meet the foe.
NOTES
THE TEMPTATIONS IN THE GARDEN
Many a man has defeated pleasures allurement only to be broken on the wheel of pain and fear of death. Finding Jesus at His most vulnerable moment, Satan could perceive that his most favorable opportunity had returned. (Cf. Luk. 4:13.) The temptation to deviate from the path of obedience and devotion to God was present in this garden no less than in the Garden of Eden. The devil could well sense that the destiny of mankind was to be decided in this garden no less than in the first. Contrast the methods and results of the first Adam with those of this last Adam. (Cf. 1Co. 15:22; 1Co. 15:45.) It is not surprising, then, that Satan should be present with Jesus in Gethsemane no less than during the wilderness temptations. (Cf. Joh. 14:30.)
THE RIGHT WAY TO SUFFER FOR THE TRUTH
Mat. 26:36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray. On the western slope of the Mount of Olives across the Kedron Valley from Jerusalem was a piece of ground locally called Gethsemane which means olive press. Since the entire hill was famous for its olives, a press would be needed to process them. Was this Jesus usual camping place during the feast? (Cf. Luk. 21:37.) If so, Judas could easily find it (Joh. 18:1 f.).
Upon arrival Jesus divided His men into two groups: eight to sit at the entrance and the other three to enter with Him deeper into the olive grove. Was this division to serve His own needs or that of the disciples? Would it have been too shocking for the eight to see His anguish? Or, did they serve as an early warning barrier against premature disturbance? Both groups were charged with the responsibility of praying so as not to fall into temptation (Luk. 22:40).
While I go yonder and pray: Jesus Himself attacked His problems, not by anxious pondering or human reasoning, but on His knees. Coming away the Victor, He taught His men the road to triumph. (See Heb. 5:7-10 as Scripture commentary.) What a revelation of their overconfidence: they can sleep, prayerlessly oblivious to the danger. By contrast, the Son of God is so conscious of His own frailty under stress that He must approach temptation with nothing less than concentrated prayer! Jesus true humanness was never clearer than when He expressed His felt need for prayer.
He set this physical distance between Him and them for one or more of the following reasons:
1.
He expected no substantial help from them.
2.
He believed their own susceptibility to shock so great that it would be better for them not to observe His struggles.
3.
He desired intimacy with the Father which only the distance of isolation could offer.
The loneliness of the struggle
Mat. 26:37. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Until now Jesus had spent all His energies encouraging and instructing the disciples so as not to burden them beyond their strength. Now, however, in the privacy of the garden with only His inner Three present, He gave way to the deep dread He felt and began to express it as never before. These who had been privileged to witness His transfiguration glory (Mat. 17:1) and His power over death (Luk. 8:51; Mar. 5:40) must now behold Him horror-stricken, filled with dread and intense emotional agony in the shadow of the cross.
He took with him: Although human companionship is not incompatible with seeking Gods fellowship, He obviously felt a loneliness that no other human being could fully share. That He specifically selects these three out of a desire for human sympathy in the midst of suffering, points to a closeness of fellowship and affectionate understanding between the men chosen and Himself.
What are the starkly real temptations Jesus faced that night?
1.
If in the wilderness temptations He was allured to end His bodily hunger by acting outside of Gods will, could not His human sensitivity to pain recoil from submitting to the torture of crucifixion?
2.
He could have called down heavenly fire to destroy all His enemies, indeed all men and cancelled our redemption as a bad idea. Were not the Fathers heavenly legions instantly available at His word (Mat. 26:53)? He could easily have been spared (Mat. 26:53; Joh. 19:11).
3.
He could have taken advantage of the night shadows to flee from Jerusalem, taking refuge in some distant secret hermitage and living out His earthly life in relatively sweet tranquility.
4.
He could have completely justified His refusal before any human court. What just human law would have sentenced the Innocent to die for the brutal wickedness and ingratitude of human unbelief?
The fellowship of his suffering
Mat. 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with me. My soul = I myself in the frailty of my human nature. In a true sense, His whole earthly life had been characterized as one of sorrows and familiar with suffering, (Isaiah 53), but now there is an intense concentration of His affliction. No longer could He say, My hour is not yet come. Instead, He must now face being publicly branded as a false pretender to the dignity of Messiahship and brutalized as a common criminal. This epitomized His rejection by His own people, Israel. He faced also the shameful penalty for the sins of the whole world. This is the vision that overwhelmed Him with sorrow to the point of death, almost as if He meant, My spirit is so deeply burdened with sorrow it almost kills me! If psychological anticipation of death can produce physiological conditions that bring about death, this may explain why God met His Sonss psychological need (Luk. 22:43). This crushing agony of anticipation suffered in the garden may also explain why, when some victims of crucifixion linger for days, Jesus died so swiftly on the cross.
In simply coming to earth had He not already endured psychological pain and moral struggles that would have crushed any unblessed mortal? What was the capacity for pain of this sensitive, noble Man? The more sensitive the Sufferer, the more terribly felt the suffering. Beyond mere dread of death common to all fallen man, He was earths only Unfallen Man about to be sentenced undeservedly to the death of a sinner before Gods righteous sentence as if His were the accumulated guilt of all our sin. Unfairly and largely unappreciated, He would suffer under the curse of sin, the just for the unjust (Gal. 3:13; 1Pe. 2:22 ff; 1Pe. 3:18).
But why did He disclose this weakness to His men? While He did not make a great show of His private prayers, neither did He scrupulously and totally hide them, when the witnesses could be taught thereby and share with Him. They must see that His deeply-felt dread proves that He had no ambitious claims to the High-priestly position. Rather, He meekly submitted to His being called by God, qualified and anointed for the task (Heb. 5:4-10). His was the suffering of a real Man. In retrospect, He gave them a model of how rightly to suffer for righteousness.
Watch with me: while they are to pray for themselves, His concern is that they stay awake with Him. Even though these men were no real protection for Him against what He feared, He could derive some comfort simply from knowing that they were watching the approaching storm with Him. By expressing His need of human fellowship, He proved how deeply He is aware of our need for it too (Heb. 4:15). In this meager request we see His sense of isolation which had already begun (Joh. 6:66) and would soon grow (Mat. 26:56) until His abandonment by God (Mat. 27:46).
The battle with self
Mat. 26:39 And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. To fall on ones face denotes particularly deep earnestness of soul. (Cf. Num. 16:22; 2Sa. 12:16; 2Ch. 20:18; Neh. 8:6.) To understand this agonizing struggle we must compare His brokenness and prostration here with His poise and power on every other occasion!
By addressing God as my Father, Jesus expressed two tremendous truths:
1.
His unique relation to the Father: He is a Son of God in a way not shared by any other human being or angel. To Jesus, God is My Father, not our Father. (Cf. Mat. 6:9 notes.) Even though abba in Aramaic might be used for both (see Kittel, art. Abba, J. Jeremias, Supplemento al Grande Lessico dei Nuovo Testamento, Paideia, Brescia, 1968), all of Jesus revelations of His unique relation to the Father argue that His meaning here is again His unique Sonship.
2.
He revealed that His relation to the Lord of the universe is that of a close family. Because Abba is Aramaic for Daddy, this term belonged to the familiar, daily conversation of little children talking with their father. In fact, Jesus choice deliberately intends to reveal a concept of sonship, and consequently, of fatherhood, that is absolutely new, unheard of in Judaism (J. Jeremias, Abba, op. cit.). In so doing, He revealed the heart of our Creator. He is not merely an icy-willed Supreme Being, but my Father, Abba, the highest possible encouragement to approach the Governor of the universe with all the confidence, tenderness and loving trust of a Person whose welcome and audience with God is unquestioned.
If it be possible: Mark has All things are possible to thee. Luke has If you are willing. It is easily conceivable that Jesus should have uttered all three expressions, since they are the kind of formulation to be expected of a person suffering and yet praying in earnest, such as He. Because Jesus fully comprehended both the physical and psychological pain awaiting Him (Joh. 18:4) and the great purpose of His entire incarnation, this proviso means, If there is a way consistent with my mission whereby man can yet be saved. Never did He plunge to the nadir of demanding absolutely and unconditionally that He be exempted. Because He loved us more than Himself, there could be no other way!
Gods holy character could not and His love would not permit any deviation from redemptions pain. Out of this submission come three awe-inspiring conclusions.
1.
While Jesus human instinct of self-preservation is deeply shaken by the dreadful prospect of suffering, His firm resolve to do Gods will remains steady, determined. His would be a free-will offering.
2.
To save man there is no other way, but the cross of Christ. Had there been some other option, may it not be legitimately argued that His loving heavenly Father would have used it?! This realization uncompromisingly cancels all hope of salvation by any name, law, method, talisman or religion other than Jesus Christ (Act. 4:12). Gethsemane settled it once and for all: He is Gods only way back home (Joh. 14:6).
3.
If God thought Jesus must endure such engrossing moral pain, then our salvation was neither easy, painless nor cheap. Woe to the Christian who expects his own discipleship to be somehow exempt from risk, sorrow, pain or expense!
Let this cup pass away from me. The cup is a Semitism referring to ones lot, whatever God sends be it good or bad. (Cf. Psa. 16:5; Psa. 23:5; Psa. 75:8; Isa. 51:17-21; Mat. 20:22; Rev. 14:10.) Two views of this cup are possible:
1.
That awful hour of human weakness and temptation to surrender to His desire to save Himself from the menacing suffering. However, other, later martyrs would show more fortitude and composure than this, fearlessly facing death without flinching.
2.
Because He came to taste death for every one (Heb. 2:9), He means the entire Passion: Judas betrayal, the mockery of justice, the pain of scourging and crucifixion, death and burial. It was the intolerable knowledge that most men would not either appreciate His act nor avail themselves of it (Mat. 7:13 f.; Luk. 18:8). So that we might not have to suffer sins penalty, He must take our sins in His own body, as if He Himself had committed them (2Co. 5:21). No human ever suffered this moral pain, nor ever will, because He alone was without sin. To be separated from the Father by this load of guilt would be for Jesus what Hell means to us. (Cf. Isa. 59:2; Eph. 2:1; Eph. 2:12; 2Th. 1:9.) No wonder He begged the Father for the privilege of exemption!
Undoubtedly McGarvey (Matthew-Mark, 230) is right to sense a pause in Jesus prayer between His cry of self-preservation and His sublime self-renunciation: there is a pausea solemn and momentous pause freighted with the destinies of a world, Do we dare believe that our salvation might not have been? Here is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt. This alone is true faith. He trusts Gods wisdom alone to know what is best for the race and for Himself. One believes very little about God, if he believes himself most qualified to know what is most needed in every circumstance. Jesus is willing to let God be God and rule His (Jesus) universe with righteousness and supreme wisdom. His submission both defines and exemplifies true godliness and reverence (Heb. 5:7). Our Lord claimed no special privileges of sonship, but meekly submitted as should any son. And when the Father said no, He accepted it. Prayer is not a motor for twisting Gods arm to overcome His unwillingness, but a transmission that links us to His power to drive us on His missions.
The secret of His victory consists in deliberately choosing to subject His human desire to that of the Father. The victory over death on the cross began with this victory over self, because in it He submitted to the will of the Giver of life. Hence, He marched to the cross, not as victim, but as Victor. His ability to pray this mighty prayer was not the result of a last-minute heroic emotion suddenly blossoming there in the garden, but the set purpose of His whole life (Joh. 5:30; Joh. 6:38). Nevertheless: with this solitary word He defied the supposedly absolutely compelling demands of circumstances and the undeniable pressures of the world and crucified His own right of self-determination!
How His will could be truly separate from that of the Father shall remain forever a mystery to mankind whose own ignorance of the interrelation between body and spirit does not permit full understanding even of itself. Nonetheless, the distinction between Jesus human desire to be liberated from His impending suffering and Gods will that He die, is a real one. His deity could not interfere with the will of God. Hence, what is manifest in this titanic struggle is Jesus human instinct of self-preservation wrestling against His desire to do Gods will, even if it meant death. Though He was divine, it was in the manner of an entirely human being that He suffered (Php. 2:5 ff.). Therefore, let us not attempt to explain what may well go far beyond our poor powers, but love Him for the great love that bound Him to us enough to go through that ordeal for us.
When best friends do not understand
Mat. 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? That He findeth them sleeping speaks of His discovering what He did not previously know. This fact evidences the limitations of His human knowledge. Had He foreknown each time that they were asleep, He could not have discovered their failure. Even this insight into His limitations increases our appreciation of His suffering.
Sleeping for sorrow (Luk. 22:45) indicates, not their indifference to Jesus, but their deep love for Him. Grief and the battle fatigue of previous days of campaigning alongside the Lord now took their toll. They could not guess what He was really suffering. The late night hour, coupled with the nervous strain brought on by that evenings heart-breaking revelations, conspired to lull these emotionally exhausted spiritual sentinels to sleep.
Nevertheless, Jesus reaction proves they could have stayed awake, if they had but besought God for power to overcome the grief that drained them so. What? expresses Jesus disappointment and His words hit home. Although Peter had sworn to stand beside the Lord in prison or in death, he was anything but a Rock now. (See on Mat. 16:18; cf. Joh. 1:42.) Shortly after, he would lunge wildly forward in a mad suicidal defense against a superior military force. Now, however, he lacked the stimulation to prove dependable in an isolated prayer vigil when Jesus really needed him. Already warned of his approaching failure, Jesus warns him once more. But none of the others (ye) proved stedfast either.
The problem and its solution
Mat. 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He personally knew what a deadly peril temptation was. If He, earths Perfect Man, senses His own human frailty when face to face with the strain of the supreme demands of obedience to God, how much more so should His drowsy disciples! So He urgently repeated to the inner Three the admonition to the eight disciples upon leaving them at the garden gate. (Cf. Luk. 22:40.) Although theoretically, they now hear it twice, to their own damage they failed to heed it even once. That you enter not into temptation means that you not walk right into unexpected trials without realizing you find yourself in such a situation. Their susceptibility to trials could be tragically fatal to their discipleship. (See on Mat. 26:31,) Hence, He graciously points to the source of their collapse, Therefore, staying away from temptation is dependent upon the close cooperation of two factors:
1.
Watch: personal alertness which recognizes ones own vulnerability in time and consequent need for grace. Otherwise, one begins to entertain temptation as a welcome guest, until the will to resist is itself overcome. Constant vigilance is the price of liberty.
2.
Pray: dependence upon the leadership, power and protection of God. It also involves the constant submission of ones desirestemptations target (Jas. 1:14 f.)to the will and direction of God. Such prayer is not intended to eliminate all temptation per s, because this would mean to compromise mans freedom to desire, Rather, it pleads for strength to overcome what cannot be avoided. In the present case it was the disciples own imperfect understanding of Jesus Kingdom that was the source of their failure. Therefore, such praying must reorient the mind to let Gods wisdom decide their worldview. Had the disciples done this, they would not have been scandalized by Jesus apparent inability to save Himself from what they assumed was a one-way trip to disaster. He wants them safeguarded by concentration on God, just as He was.
His justification for this admonition lies precisely in the vulnerability and tension created by mans complex nature: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Cf. Gal. 5:17.) By spirit Jesus means our intellect, emotions, will and conscience. Flesh, then, refers to the basic instincts and emotions of our bodily human nature. (Remember Isa. 40:6-8; cf. srx in 1Co. 1:29; Gal. 2:16.) These men were not sleeping because of indifference, but due to emotional and physical strain. Hence, we are tempted to believe that, because our spirit is eager to do the right, we are necessarily completely committed to it. Unfortunately, our emotions, our body needs, our instincts, especially the basic instinct of self-preservation, may easily override our spiritual commitment. This weakness of the flesh regularly exposes us to temptations that overrule our most ardent commitment to the most truly orthodox convictions.
In this explanation of human vulnerability, can it be doubted that Jesus also included Himself, speaking of His own spirit and flesh? (Jesus has no total depravity doctrine in mind. For Him, the flesh is weak, not utterly dead.) Just as He had met decisive temptations at the beginning of His ministry, He must again meet this last, decisive assault which pitted the natural instincts of His flesh against the commitments of His spirit. Just as the disciples flesh was overcome by emotional weariness despite their protestations that their spirit was faithful, His flesh was rebelling against pain and death itself, even though His spirit was perfectly ready to do Gods will. So, in His incarnation He faced problems and temptations common to us all. This imposed on Him the limitations of our human predicament too. So, if the Son of God needed such spiritual power to overcome, how much more do mortals such as we?!
Some see His gentle rebuke as Jesus loving apology for their human weakness. He, the offended One, mercifully covered their offense with an explanation that in itself is amazingly helpful and edifying. Even so, His warning must not be an excuse for our indifference, but a bracing warning to be alert.
In these two verses are brought into play three elements of His own prayer model (Mat. 6:9 f.): 1. God is addressed as Father. 2. Thy will be done. 3. that you enter not into temptation echoes Lead us not into temptation.
He who stood firm against the temptation to do or be anything but Gods man in the crisis that night was the only one who watched and prayed. The others panicked and fled.
The victory over self
Mat. 26:42 Again a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done. He repeated the substance of the previous prayer (Mar. 14:39). But in stating His former prayer negatively, there is now a subtle distinction in meaning. Jesus now assumes as settled that this cannot pass away. And, since He could have no doubt that the Father heard Him (Joh. 11:42), the fact that His suffering was continuing already answered His first prayer, as you will. God had responded in the negative. Therefore, in His consenting to the impossibility, Jesus begins to drink the cup on this note of true, self-denial, not out of the bitter resignation of a false martyrdom but because it was the Fathers will.
While Jesus rightly prayed, All things are possible to you, the Fathers range of options was not limitless, because of the moral nature of God and man, the requirements of divine justice and the consequent redemption. God could not do absolutely all things, because He had limited Himself. How agonizingly painful it must have been for our Father to have to say No, His own heart broken by the choice between sinful man and His own dear Son!
But if His submission is already totally settled, why, then, did He yet pray a third time? He was reiterating and confirming to Himself and God what He had so resolutely decided earlier.
Mat. 26:43 And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. His continuing to return to them proves His longing for friendly support. Undoubtedly, He was also anxious that they overcome through prayer and be valiant during the trial about to break upon them. Evidently, Jesus spoke again, but they did not know what to answer Him (Mar. 14:40; cf. Mar. 9:6).
Mat. 26:44 And he left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words. Just as Paul prayed the same prayer three times and received a negative response from God with the assurance that My grace is sufficient for you (2Co. 12:8 ff.), so also Jesus chose to glorify God through weakness. When Jesus appeared weakest because of insults, hardship, persecution and calamity, the power of God shone most brilliantly in Him. This saying again the same words has nothing to do with repetition of empty, fixed liturgical forms in prayer. (Cf. Mat. 6:7.) His complaint was against words empty of meaning and hearts unaware of God. Rather, His own repetition here is precisely the opposite, expressing deep intensity of His feeling as He continues to deal with the same soul-piercing problem. (Cf. 1Ki. 17:20 f.)
Mat. 26:45 Then cometh he to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. The command in Mat. 26:46 to rouse themselves stands in direct opposition to this (supposed) command to the disciples to sleep on now and take your rest (v. 45), because there, Jesus argues that they should get moving, rather than go to sleep. How should we interpret the verb form in question? Further, Mark (Mar. 14:41) inserts a short word at this point (apchei) that challenges translators and leaves our quandary basically unsolved. Two major interpretations seem appropriate:
1.
It is enough from a commercial technical term meaning to receive a sum in full and give a receipt for it (Arndt-Gingrich, 84).
2.
He (or perhaps: it) is distant. (See Johnson-DeWelt, Mark, 424.) Whatever danger for which they should stay awake is far enough away to justify a short rest before it arrives.
Sleep on now and take your rest, expressed in Greek as a second person plural verb, is ambiguous, because the form of the verb could be either indicative or imperative, i.e. either a statement, even expressed as a question, or a command.
1.
If it is a command, the circumstance indicated by Jesus in the last half of the verse makes it sadly ironic: Try to keep asleep now and get a good night of rest! It just so happens that I am going to be betrayed in the next 15 minutes! Their indifference to their own spiritual danger as contrasted to their alertness to physical peril shown in their reactions merits this rebuke. Accordingly, Marks expression may mean: Enough of my scolding you for past weakness! We have other problems now. Here come Judas and his cohorts.
Similarly, others would see this expression as a sad question expressed in the indicative mood: Are you continuing to sleep, although I have urged you to wake and pray? Marks expression, then means, Enough [of your attempts to sleep and my efforts to wake you]!
2.
Another view sees this as a paradoxical concession: Go ahead and sleep now, because, so far as I am concerned, I can no longer use you to watch with me. This accuses them of indifference to Jesus needs. Marks expression then means: Enough [of your watching with me]. I cannot use your help any longer, because the time has passed for that.
3.
McGarvey (Matthew-Mark, 231) believes in the first phrase Jesus concedes, while in the second, having just noticed the near arrival of the enemy. He rapidly changes the subject. This is the expression of strong emotion that looks at the question first from His point of view, then from theirs.
4.
Others, sensing the strident contrast between His comforting them to sleep and His two urgent statements: Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners, posit an unstated, undefined lapse of time after Jesus Sleep on now, and take your rest, or perhaps after Mat. 26:45. This is a real concession to their weakness, as if He meant, There is a bit of time left for getting some rest before the storm (kathedete t loipn: Sleep for the remainder of the time). So they drop off to sleep again. Hendriksen (Matthew, 920f.) marvels over Jesus compassion:
The Shepherd, who has been asking the disciples to watch with him, is now tenderly keeping vigil over them. His own victory having been won, perfect peace has been restored to his own heart. He has been strengthened through prayer. To be sure, the three men had failed him. But never, no never will his love fail them! What we have here, accordingly, is one of the most touching pictures in the Gospels, and one, moreover, that is entirely in harmony with the sympathetic character of the Savior.
He may have sat quietly thinking while they slept on until the coming of the soldiers. Then, to give them the common courtesy of facing their foe awake and on their feet He aroused them with Marks expression, It is enough, meaning that their period of rest was finished.
Either way, they had missed their unique opportunity to be of any use to Jesus at His greatest hour of need for human help. His moment of frailty has passed. Their moral support is no longer needed, because He is now serene and self-possessed, ready to meet death face to face and win.
The son of God goes forth to war a kingly crown to win
Mat. 26:46 Arise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth me. Our Lord, fully aware of what would befall Him, boldly presented Himself to be our sacrifice! Such tranquility and courage proves that Jesus prayer was answered. Rather than remove His suffering, God gave Him strength to bear it. He arose from cringing and crying to face the grim battle of the ages. This is the purpose of praying: that while kneeling before God we may find the marvelous resilience and moral power to attack lifes problems head-on. Only after such prayer comes victory.
Behold, he is at hand that betrayeth me. The bobbing pinpoints of torch-light may have become discernible in the distance as the numerous arresting party poured out of Jerusalem. Perhaps Jesus could already hear the hushed murmur of voices, the clank of weaponry and the tread of boots on the rocky pathway leading to the garden. So He speaks with urgency, lest the drowsy disciples be totally unprepared for what must follow.
In an age where even religious activities are geared to stroking our feelings and coddling our sentiments in order to make us feel good in our sins, we must look to Jesus! In a day when we are instructed to find a life-style that feels good, we must remember that He could say NO! to His impulses in order to save us from our certain destiny. When, in order to assauge our sense of guilt, sentimental songs of self-congratulation take the place of God-centered hymns, when chummy pep-talks feebly supplant life-changing messages that exalt the living God and stir us to responsible action, we must look to Jesus! He did not feel like going to the cross for anyone. It is to this role-model that we are called (Rom. 8:29; 1Pe. 2:21; 1Jn. 2:6; Joh. 13:15).
FACT QUESTIONS
1.
List the events that led up to the prayer in Gethsemane.
2.
By what general route did Jesus arrive in the garden? Locate Gethsemane. What does this word mean?
3.
How did He organize Himself and His men in order to achieve premium opportunity for prayer?
4.
What various emotions are attributed to Jesus during this scene?
5.
What personal admonitions did He give the disciples for their spiritual protection?
6.
Explain the meaning of watch with me.
7.
List and explain the various petitions Jesus included in His prayer.
8.
What cup did Jesus ask the Father to remove?
9.
What reproof did Peter deserve from Jesus?
10.
Explain the relationship between watching and praying, then indicate how these protect a person against temptations.
11.
How does one enter into temptation?
12.
Explain why the disciples eyes were heavy.
13.
How many times did Jesus repeat His prayer?
14.
What final rebuke did the disciples merit for their sleeping?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
131. THE AGONIES OF GETHSEMANE, Mat 26:36-46 .
36. Unto a place called Gethsemane Supposing the last paragraph to be out of the order of time, we must connect this verse to Mat 26:30. We suppose the supper-room to have been situated somewhere upon the eastern brow of Mount Zion. (See note on Mar 14:13.) From the supper-room we must trace our Lord going forth over the “great bridge” of the Tyropoeon; passing through the temple precincts, and through the great front temple gate, (or perhaps through what was equivalent to the present St. Stephen’s gate;) descending the valley of Jehoshaphat; crossing the brook Kedron, (about where its dry channel is now spanned by a small bridge of a single arch,) and walking, followed by the eleven, toward the ascent of Olivet. In a level space between the Kedron and the foot of the hill is a yard or garden, which, from the ancient olive trees there, is called Gethsemane, or the press of oil. There is still at the base of the Mount of Olives a secure enclosure, signalized by several most venerable olive trees, surrounded by a stone wall to designate the spot. Stanley says: “In spite of all the doubts that can be raised against their antiquity or the genuineness of their site, the eight aged olive trees, if only by their manifest difference from all others on the mountain, have always struck even the most indifferent observers. They will remain, so long as their already protracted life is spared, the most venerable of their race on the surface of the earth; their gnarled trunks and scanty foliage will always be regarded as the most affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem, the most nearly approaching to the everlasting hills themselves in the force with which they carry us back to the events of the Gospel history.” Captain Lynch says that these olives are one thousand years old; and as the olive tree reproduces from the same root, these trees are the radical descendants from the same germ as those of our Saviour’s time. By the word place is generally understood a villa or cluster of houses, to which the garden was an appendage.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then comes Jesus with them to a place called Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, “You sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ’
We should note as we go through the passage the tenses of the verbs. The present tenses indicate what are almost respites in His turmoil, (He says to them — He says to them — He comes to the disciples — He comes to them’). The past tenses indicate His entering into that turmoil in an emphatic way. ‘He took with Him — and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled — He went forward a little, and fell on His face and prayed — Again a second time He went away and prayed — He left them and went away and prayed’. He was as it were alone in the oil press, being squeezed dry.
His opening words are preparatory. He must face this alone. ‘You sit here while I go over there and pray’. They will not be further involved until He returns to them at the end. But it is then quite clear that they should have been praying, and were not.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Agony In The Garden (26:36-46).
Jesus and His disciples arrive in Gethsemane. We who know what to expect recognise that the crucial hour has come, but it is salutary to recognise that prior to His ordeal Jesus finds it necessary to pray. Aware of something of what lies ahead His prayer is agony as He seeks to ensure that what He is facing is really His Father’s will. As with His not knowing the time of His coming (Mat 24:36) it is a sign of His true humanity that He has to verify the path that He is treading because of how awful it will be. And He does it hoping that He might be wrong in His recognition of the path that He must take, that even at this eleventh hour it might prove not to be necessary. But in spite of all His thoughts and fears He is determined to obey the will of His Father. We should note that the resources that He calls on as He faces His cup of suffering are only those available to any man. His anguish too is like theirs. And in that Garden (although Matthew does not indicate that it was a Garden), unlike one who had failed in a previous Garden (Genesis 3), He prays through until ‘He is heard for His godly fear’ (Heb 4:7). Then at last He is able to cease praying, with His soul at rest. He has prayed through to victory. Gethsemane means ‘ the oil press’ (gat semanim). It was a suitable name for what He would endure.
The fact that previously we have not been introduced to the emotional life of Jesus serves to underline the fact here as His emotions are laid bare. The very soul of Jesus is, as it were being torn apart as He faces the cup of suffering.
The pattern is simple. Jesus arrives with His disciples, Jesus goes apart with the inner three to pray His threefold prayer, Jesus returns to His disciple.
Analysis.
a
b And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled (Mat 26:37).
c Then He says to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death, you remain here, and watch with Me.” And He went forward a little, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Mat 26:38-39).
d And He comes to the disciples, and finds them sleeping (Mat 26:40 a).
e And says to Peter, “What, could you not watch with Me one hour?
f Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat 26:40-41).
e Again a second time He went away, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, your will be done” (Mat 26:42).
d And He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy (Mat 26:43).
c And He left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words (Mat 26:44).
b Then comes He to the disciples, and says to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Mat 26:45).
a “Arise, let us be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand” (Mat 26:46).
Note that in ‘a’ comes with His disciples to Gethsemane to pray, and He tells them to sit there, and in the parallel He calls on them to arise, and to leave with Him. In ‘b’ He takes the three apart, it is the time for sore trouble, and in the parallel He returns to the disciples, it is the time for rest. The sore trouble is over. In ‘c’ He faces His first ordeal, and in the parallel He faces His third ordeal. In ‘d’ He returns to find them sleeping, and in the parallel He does the same. In ‘e’ He despairs that they could not watch for the first hour, and in the parallel He goes off to face the second hour. Centrally in ‘f’ He calls on them to watch and pray and recognises their weakness.
Interestingly there is also another pattern here in the threefold periods of prayer. The first is given in full detail, the second in less detail and the third with the utmost brevity. And all are sandwiched within the framework of ‘a’ and ‘b’ in the chiasmus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Fulfillment of Zechariah’s Prophecy In Mat 26:36-56 Jesus is arrested while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane as His disciples scatter in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy.
Here is a proposed outline:
1. Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane Mat 26:36-46
2. The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus in the Garden Mat 26:47-56
Mat 26:36-46 Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane ( Mar 14:32-42 , Luk 22:39-46 ) Mat 26:36-46 records Jesus’ prayer in the Garden Gethsemane. Parallel passages are Mar 14:32-42 and Luk 22:39-46. Jesus prayed the same (similar) prayer three times (verses 36, 42, 44). How long did this prayer time last? The passage does not say. But there may have been much time spent in just waiting on Lord. The first time He returns to his disciples, He asks them to stay awake. The second time, He leaves them to sleep. Note that it was Jesus’ custom to pray here.
Luk 22:39, “And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.”
Mat 26:38 Comments Dutch Sheets gives an interesting insight into Mat 26:38. He refers to the two times when Jesus Chris travailed in His spirit in prayer. The first time was when He groaned and wept just before He raised Lazarus from the dead (Joh 11:33-38). This passage of Scripture describes an occasion when Jesus was deeply troubled in His spirit and began to weep. We must be careful not to interpret this event in Jesus’ life as something that took place in His emotions; for it tells us that before Jesus wept, He “groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.” We must interpret is as a work and manifestation of the Holy Spirit stirring inside of Him and breaking forth through weeping. We call it travailing in the Spirit. I remember watching one of my mentors in the early 1980’s having this similar experience. After the church service, the pastor and several of us gathered around in a circle and began to pray. Within a few minutes Jack Emerson began to tremble and groan, then fell to the floor and began to weep. We all waited while he regained his composure and strength and stood up. He later told some of us that this was not him weeping, but the moving of the Holy Spirit within him. When Jesus began to weep, the people around only saw it in the natural realm (Joh 11:36-37). But, it was this type travail and weeping in the Spirit that was necessary in order for this miracle to break forth and manifest as the resurrection of Lazarus. The second time was when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest; for there Jesus said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” (Mat 26:38). This is a description of Jesus experiencing a heavy weight in His Spirit and being moved into prayer for a release of this weight. Dutch Sheets says that this event was a fulfillment of Isa 53:11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul , and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” [673]
[673] Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1996), 129.
We also see a reference to this type of travail and weeping in Psa 126:6.
Psa 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
We know that Paul the apostle experienced it according to Gal 4:19.
Gal 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Mat 26:39
In this prayer of consecration by our Lord Jesus, He yielded to the will and plan that the Father had for His life. My personal experience has been that God’s plan for my life is often the most difficult path to follow. I have tried the easy paths, only to see years later, how little it had conformed me into the image of His Dear Son.
I am learning to pray this prayer more in these later years, knowing that suffering brings about my perfection in Him. It brings me into God’s perfect plan. It brings the greatest contentment in my heart.
When I know that I am in God’s will, I have learned not to leave this path, no matter how difficult it may be. If I walk away from a difficult task, and out of God’s will, it may take years to be restored into God’s plan for my life. Suffering is often the better choice over pleasure.
This is the choice that Moses made:
Heb 11:24-26, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”
It is the choice that Abraham made. He chose to dwell in tents in Canaan, while his nephew, Lot, chose the choicest of the land and the city of Sodom.
Heb 11:9-10, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
It is the choice that Paul, the apostle, made:
Col 1:24, “ Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:”
This truth must be recognized as suffering for Christ’s sake. This is a prayer of dedicating our lives to serving God in His plan for our lives. It does not mean that we are to suffer in sickness, poverty, and pestilence. For it was in this great sacrifice that Jesus made for us that we might enter into the blessings of God.
Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Mat 26:41
How important is it to spend time with the Lord in prayer? It is important enough that even when a man is sluggish in the morning or worn out at night, God still would have you pray, even though the body wants to sleep. One morning while praying I fell into a doze and the Lord spoke to me 1Th 5:6-7 so plainly that it startled me. The Lord did not want me sleeping during my time with Him, no matter what my flesh said!
1Th 5:6-7, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.”
Note these insightful words from Sadhu Sundar Singh regarding temptation and indulgence towards sin:
“7. The ship, quite properly, has its place in the water, but for the water to flow into the ship is both unsuitable and dangerous. So for a man to have his abode in this world is right and good for himself and others, for, keeping himself afloat, he will be able to help them to arrive along with himself at the haven of life. But for the world to find its way into his heart means death and destruction. Therefore the man of prayer ever reserves his heart for Him who formed it to be His temple, and thus both in this world and that which is to come he rests in peace and safely. 8. We all know that without water it is impossible to live; but if we sink beneath it we choke and die. While we need to make use of and drink water, we ought not to fall into and sink beneath it. Therefore the world and worldly things must be used with discretion, for without them life is not only difficult but impossible. For this very purpose God created the world that men might make use of it, but men should not drown themselves in it, for thus the breath of prayer is stopped and they perish.
9. If by ceasing to live the life of prayer the life of the spirit begins to fail, then those worldly things which are intended to be useful become hurtful and destructive. The sun by its light and heat makes all vegetable things to live and flourish, and also causes them to wither and die. The air also gives life and vigour to all living beings, but itself is the cause of their decomposition. Therefore ‘ Watch and Pray .’” [674]
[674] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line]; accessed 26 October 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “III Prayer,” section 1, part 7-9.
Mat 26:43 Comments The second time He returned to His disciples, He did not tell them to watch with him one hour. Rather, He let them sleep.
Mat 26:36-44 Comments Jesus’ Prayer of Consecration – The prayers that Jesus prayed in the garden are called a prayer of consecration. The fact that Jesus prayed this prayer of consecration three different times illustrates our need to pray this prayer more than once in our Christian journey. When we drift away from God, we must consecrate ourselves afresh and anew to do God’s will. This is the prayer that we must pray each time that we yield our lives to God’s will when our flesh and mind are inclined to resist. This prayer comes before each trial that we face as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We consecrate our lives to His will each day that we willingly take up our cross and follow Him.
Mat 26:45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mat 26:45
The LO reads, “Then he came back to his disciples, and said to them, Do you sleep now, and take your rest? Behold, the hour approaches, when the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners.”
Mat 26:45 Comments In Mat 26:45 Jesus mentions His betrayal leading to His death (verses 2,12,24,31-32).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The arrival at Gethsemane:
v. 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.
v. 37. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
v. 38. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with Me. Gethsemane, valley of the oil-press, was a small country-place with a large garden of olive-trees, well known also to Judas, because it was a favorite haven of seclusion of the Lord. With a full knowledge of all that was to happen in this night, He sought out this place of the betrayal, hoping to gain a last hour of prayer. Eight of the disciples He left at the entrance of the garden. They were to wait there for Him until He was through praying at the spot to which He pointed. Only the three disciples that had been witnesses of His transfiguration He took along with Him, to see the agony of His soul. He felt the need of someone whom He could trust, from whom He might expect some assistance in the form of encouragement and prayer in this hour. For now He began to be excessively sorrowful and to be anguished, an expression indicating the most harrowing and terrifying spiritual affliction. In His agony He calls out to them that His soul is exceedingly sorrowful, surrounded and overwhelmed with a sorrow of the most trying kind. The terrors of death were falling upon Him. He begged them for at least some measure of companionship and sustaining power through prayer. And still the anguish of His soul increased, making even the nearness of these disciples unbearable.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 26:36. Unto a place called Gethsemane Reland thinks Gethsemane was a particular spot in the mount of Olives. But its situation, like that of some other places mentioned in the Gospel, has been settled by considering the description of a particularEvangelistonly,withoutcomparingtheiraccountstogether.FromJohn,xiv. 31 it appears, that Jesus went out with his disciples immediately after he had pronounced the consolatory discourse; for at the conclusion of it he said to them, Arise, let us go hence: and considering the subject of the next sermon, I am the true vine, &c. it is probable he was in the mount of Olives, among the vines, when he spake that parable, it being his manner to preach from such subjects as were at hand. Here also he delivered the discourse and prayer recorded John 16; John 17. Accordingly, when he prayed, Joh 17:1 it is said, he lifted up his eyes to heaven; a circumstance which seems to imply, that he was then in the open air. His coming down from the mount of Olives is expressed indeed by the word , Joh 18:1 which has led most readers to imagine, that bysome accident or other they were hindered from leaving the house till then, notwithstanding Jesus had ordered them to arise and go away with him: the answer is, that , being a general term, may be applied with propriety to one’s going out of an inclosed field, or mount, as well as to his going out of a house; and though St. Luke seems to connect what happened in the mountain with the transactions in the garden, Luk 12:39-41 omitting their going to Gethsemane from the mountain; it should be considered that St. Matthew and St. Mark mention it particularly, and that the difficulty arising from St. Luke’s connection is no greater, on supposition that Gethsemane was in the valley at the foot of the mountain, than on supposition that it was in the mountain itself. The truth is, there are many instances of this kind of connection to be met with in the gospels. It may be allowed then that Jesus came down from the mount of Olives with his disciples, crossed the brook Cedron, which ran through the valley, and so entered the garden of Gethsemane, which therefore lay between the brook Cedron and the city: probably it belonged to some of the country-seats with which the fields round the metropolis were beautified. The word Gethsemane in Hebrew signifies the valley of fatness. The garden probably had its name from its soil and situation; with some peculiar reference whereto, some have rendered it, torcular olei,a vat of oil. See Macknight, and Univ. Hist. vol. 10. It deserves to be remarked, that the words which our Saviour here uses to his disciples, are the words of Abraham to his servants, when he went to offer up Isaac, the great type of our Redeemer. See Gen 22:5 in the LXX.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 26:36 . or, according to a still better attested form, (Lachmann, Tischendorf), is most likely the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew , an oil-press. It was a plot of ground ( , Joh 4:5 ; Act 1:18 ; Act 4:34 ; Act 5:3 ; Act 28:7 ), perhaps a small estate with a garden (Joh 18:1 ); according to Keim, an olive-yard where nobody lived. If the place was not public property, Jesus, according to Joh 19:2 , must have been on friendly terms with the owner. On the place (the present Dschesmanije), which subsequent tradition has fixed upon as the site of the ancient Gethsemane, see Robinson, Pal. I. p. 389; Tobler, d. Siloahquelle u. d. Oelberg, 1852.
] here; the only other instances in the New Testament are found in Act 15:34 ; Act 18:19 ; Act 21:4 ; of frequent occurrence in classical writers.
] pointing toward the place.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. (37) And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. (38) Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. (39) And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (40) And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? (41) Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (42) He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. (43) And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. (44) And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. (45) Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. (46) Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.”
We have here Christ’s entrance upon his sufferings, in the garden Gethsemane. The whole life of Jesus had been a life of sorrow, for of him, and him only, by way of emphasis, can it be said, that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief But here he is entering more especially upon the great work of sorrow, for which he became the surety of his people. And here it is therefore, that we need most eminently the teaching of God the Holy Ghost. I am aware how very little a way our discoveries carry us, when following the steps of Jesus by faith, into the garden of Gethsemane. If Peter, James, and John, whom Christ took with him there, fell under such a drowsiness as is described, how shall we hope to watch the footsteps of Jesus to any great discoveries of such an awful scene? Nevertheless, looking up for the teachings and leadings of the Holy Ghost, I would beg the Reader to accompany me, in following by faith, the Lord Jesus to Gethsemane’s garden, in this dark and gloomy hour; and may the Lord be our teacher in beholding the glory of Christ, even in the depth of his soul travail, when he drank the cup of trembling to the dregs, that we might drink the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
And here Reader, carrying on the same important idea with us all along, that in all Christ did, and all he suffered, he acted as the surety and representative of his people, let us first consider the suitableness of the place.
It was a garden, in which Jesus entered, to commence the first onset of suffering, when about to accomplish salvation by the sacrifice of himself. And it should be remembered, that it was in a garden where the devil first triumphed over our nature in the fall of man. Here therefore, Christ enters for our recovery. There was indeed this difference in the two places. Before the fall, this garden was an earthly Paradise. But now, it is the gloomy Gethsemane, close to the foul brook Cedron, into which all the filth of the sacrifices poured their contents. It was the very place adjoining to that memorable spot which good king Josiah polluted, by burning the vessels here, which had been used in idolatrous worship. 2Ki 23:4-6 . The Jews called it the valley of the children of Hinnom or Topheth, which was the only word they had for hell, after the Babylonish captivity. Scheol had been heretofore used for hell. Job 11:8 . This was the awful spot where Christ in our nature entered when he went over the brook Cedron. Now as Satan had conquered the first Adam in the garden, and in him, made captive the whole race, and consequently in it the whole Church; Christ shall there also, as his Church’s representative, begin to give the first deadly blow to sin and Satan. And although from hence he shall be taken (as the Prophet said) from prison and from judgment; be cut off out of the, land of the living, and for the transgression of his people be stricken; yet here shall the first over-throw to the kingdom of Satan be accomplished, and the victory of Christ; in a wonderful way be displayed. Isa 53:8 .
As we prosecute this awful business, every step we take seems to be more solemn and striking. The Evangelists who have described the state of Jesus, have each of them used different words, by way of expressing the feelings of Jesus. As if neither could find any language which fully came up to what those feelings really were. Matthew saith, that the Lord expressed himself as being in soul, exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Mark’s words are, that Jesus began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy. Mar 14:33 . And it must be allowed by those who are at all acquainted with the original scriptures, the words in Mark, which our translators have rendered, s ore amazed, imply such an affright to the mind as when we say it makes the very hair stand on an end, and induceth a trembling and horror of the whole flame.
Luke, still varying from both, but yet, if possible, in stronger terms than either, represents Christ in an agony or combat; though there was none near him until an Angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him. The sweat which forced itself through the pores of his sacred body, was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luk 22:43-44 . And this was at a time, when in the night, and in the open air, and when we are told that the servants of the High Priest in common-hall, had found it so piercingly cold, as had compelled them to make a fire to warm themselves. Joh 18:18 .
Pause Reader! Before we go further, let us humbly look up and enquire into the cause! Here is no account of any pains of body the Redeemer had yet entered upon! The horrors of crucifixion though in view, were not felt. Here was no person near Christ Jesus was surrounded by no man. For though he had taken with him into the garden, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee; and though he had entreated them to watch with him, and pray that they might not enter into temptation; yet they were not near him! for we are told, that they were withdrawn from him about a stone’s cast. Who withdrew them? What were they withdrawn for? Is it not plain, as Jesus said, that this was the enemy’s hour and power of darkness? See Luk 22:41-53 and the Commentary upon the passage.
And what was the cause for which this Lamb of God was thus exercised? He who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens! Heb 7:26 . What can more decidedly confirm the scriptures of truth, than that as his Church’s surety and representative, he who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2Co 5:21 . He (as the Apostle saith) hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Gal 3:13 . Here was the cause. It pleased Jehovah to put him to grief. The Father’s hand was in the work. And hence the holy sufferer expressed himself in such strong words. Save me, O God! for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me, etc. Psa 69:1-3 . See also Psa 22 throughout. Psa 38 throughout.
Oh! ye my poor follow sinners who never yet felt sin; behold the exceeding sinfulness in the soul travail of Christ Jesus! Behold! (he saith) is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by: behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Lam 1:12 . Lord! let the contemplation fire my soul with love! They say, if in common life we bring the murderer of a dead man before the body, wonderful effects will follow; yea, that blood will flow afresh from the murdered, as if the unconscious body had sight of the murderer. Whether it be so or not; oh! for grace, dear Jesus, as my sins have induced thine agony and death, to delight to come before thee. And oh! let thy fresh flowing blood cleanse me, and cause my heart to bleed afresh, in the consciousness that by sin I have crucified my Lord!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Ver. 36. Unto a place called Gethsemane ] By Mount Olivet stood this garden; and there he began his passion, as well to expiate that first sin committed in a garden, as to sanctify unto us our repasts and recreations. Here, after our Saviour had prayed himself “into an agony,” (to teach us to “strive also in prayer” as for life, and to struggle “even to agony,” as the word signifieth, Col 4:12 ), he was taken quasi ex condieto, and led into the city through the sheep gate (so called of the multitude of sheep driven in by it to be offered in the temple) to be sacrificed, as a lamb undefiled and without spot.
Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder ] It may be lawful therefore in some cases to pray secretly in the presence or with the privity of others, so there be some good use of them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
36 46. ] OUR LORD’S AGONY AT GETHSEMANE. Mar 14:32-42 .Luk 22:39-46Luk 22:39-46 . Joh 18:1 . The account of the temptation, and of the agony in Gethsemane is peculiar to the three first Evangelists. But it does not therefore follow that there is, in their narratives, any inconsistency with St. John’s setting forth of the Person of Christ. For it must be remembered, that, as we find in their accounts frequent manifestations of the divine nature , and indications of future glory , about, and during this conflict, so in St. John’s account, which brings out more the divine side of our Lord’s working and speaking, we find frequent allusions to his human weakness and distress of spirit . For examples of the first, see Mat 26:13 ; Mat 26:24 ; Mat 26:29 ; Mat 26:32 ; Mat 26:53 , and [171] in Mark and Luke; and Luk 22:30 ; Luk 22:32 ; Luk 22:37 ; Luk 22:43 ; of the latter, Joh 12:27 ; Joh 13:21 ; Joh 14:30 ; Joh 16:32 .
[171] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
The right understanding of the whole important narration must be acquired by bearing in mind the reality of the manhood of our Lord, in all its abasement and weakness : by following out in Him the analogy which pervades the characteristics of human suffering the strength of the resolved spirit, and calm of the resigned will, continually broken in upon by the inward giving way of human feebleness, and limited power of endurance. But as in us, so in the Lord, these seasons of dread and conflict stir not the ruling will , alter not the firm resolve. This is most manifest in His first prayer ‘if consistent with that work which I have covenanted to do.’ Here is the reserve of the will to suffer it is never stirred (see below). The conflict however of the Lord differs from ours in this, that in us , the ruling will itself is but a phase of our human will, and may be and is often carried away by the excess of depression and suffering; whereas in Him it was the divine Personality in which the higher Will of the covenant purpose was eternally fixed , struggling with the flesh now overwhelmed with an horrible dread, and striving to escape away (see the whole of Psa 55:1-23 ). Besides that, by that uplifting into a superhuman circle of Knowledge , with which the indwelling of the Godhead endowed his humanity, his flesh, with all its capacities and apprehensions, was brought at once into immediate and simultaneous contact with every circumstance of horror and pain that awaited Him ( Joh 18:4 ), which is never the case with us. Not only are the objects of dread gradually unveiled to our minds, but hope ( , Thuc. ver. 103) is ever suggesting that things may not be so bad as our fears represent them.
Then we must not forget, that as the flesh gave way under dread of suffering, so the human was troubled with all the attendant circumstances of that suffering betrayal, desertion, shame (see Psa 55:1-23 again, Psa 55:20-21Psa 55:20-21 ; Psa 38:11-12 ; Psa 88 alli [172] .). Nor again must we pass over the last and deepest mystery of the Passion the consideration, that upon the holy and innocent Lamb of God rested the burden of all human sin that to Him, death, as the punishment of sin , bore a dark and dreadful meaning, inconceivable by any of us, whose inner will is tainted by the love of Sin. See on this part of the Redeemer’s agony, Psa 40:12 ; Psa 38:1-10 a [173] .
[172] alii = some cursive mss.
[173] alii = some cursive mss.
See also as a comment on the whole, Heb 5:7-10 , and notes there.
The three accounts do not differ in any important particulars. Luke merely gives a general summary of the Lord’s prayers and his sayings to the disciples, but inserts (see below) two details not found in the others. Mark’s account and Matthew’s are very nearly related, and have evidently sprung from the same source.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
36. ] Mark alone, besides our account, mentions the name of the place Luke merely calls it , in allusion to before. John informs us that it was a garden . The name is or , ‘ an oil press .’ It was at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in the valley of the Kedron, the other side of the brook from the city ( Joh 18:1 ).
. ] not strictly and literally ‘ sit ,’ but = Mat 26:38 , stay here.
] Such is the name which our Lord gives to that which was coming upon Him, in speaking to the Eight who were not to witness it. All conflict of the holy soul is prayer : all its struggles are continued communion with God. In Gen 22:5 , when Abraham’s faith was to be put to so sore a trial, he says, ‘I and the lad will go yonder and worship .’ Our Lord (almost on the same spot) unites in Himself, as the priest and victim, as Stier strikingly remarks, Abraham’s Faith and Isaac’s Patience.
] probably some spot deeper in the garden’s shade. At this time the gorge of the Kedron would be partly in the moonlight, partly shaded by the rocks and buildings of the opposite side. It may have been from the moonlight into the shade that our Lord retired to pray.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 26:36-46 . The agony (so called from the word in Luk 22:44 , a .).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 26:36 . , a place in the sense of a property or farm = villa in Vulgate, ager , Hilary, Grundstck , Weizscker’s translation. , probably = , an oil press. Descriptions of the place now identified with it in Robinson’s Researches , Furrer’s Wanderungen , and Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine . : Jesus arranges that a good distance shall be between Himself and the body of the disciples when He enters the valley of the shadow of death. He expects no help from them. , there! pointing to the place visible in the moonlight.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Matthew
GETHSEMANE, THE OIL-PRESS
Mat 26:36 – Mat 26:46
One shrinks from touching this incomparable picture of unexampled sorrow, for fear lest one’s finger-marks should stain it. There is no place here for picturesque description, which tries to mend the gospel stories by dressing them in to-day’s fashions, nor for theological systematisers and analysers of the sort that would ‘botanise upon their mother’s grave.’ We must put off our shoes, and feel that we stand on holy ground. Though loving eyes saw something of Christ’s agony, He did not let them come beside Him, but withdrew into the shadow of the gnarled olives, as if even the moonbeams must not look too closely on the mystery of such grief. We may go as near as love was allowed to go, but stop where it was stayed, while we reverently and adoringly listen to what the Evangelist tells us of that unspeakable hour.
I. Mark the ‘exceeding sorrow’ of the Man of Sorrows.
II. Note the prayer of filial submission.
Three elements are distinguishable in our Lord’s prayer. There is, first, the sense of Sonship, which underlies all, and was never more clear than at that awful moment. Then there is the recoil from ‘the cup,’ which natural instinct could not but feel, though sinlessly. The flesh shrank from the Cross, which else had been no suffering; and if no suffering, then had been no atonement. His manhood would not have been like ours, nor His sorrows our pattern, if He had not thus drawn back, in His sensitive humanity, from the awful prospect now so near. But natural instinct is one thing, and the controlling will another. However currents may have tossed the vessel, the firm hand at the helm never suffered them to change her course. The will, which in this prayer He seems so strangely to separate from the Father’s, even in the act of submission, was the will which wishes, not that which resolves. His fixed purpose to die for the world’s sin never wavered. The shrinking does not reach the point of absolutely and unconditionally asking that the cup might pass. Even in the act of uttering the wish, it is limited by that ‘if it be possible,’ which can only mean-possible, in view of the great purpose for which He came. That is to be accomplished, at any cost; and unless it can be accomplished though the cup be withdrawn, He does not even wish, much less will, that it should be withdrawn. So, the third element in the prayer is the utter resignation to the Father’s will, in which submission He found peace, as we do.
He prayed His way to perfect calm, which is ever the companion of perfect self-surrender to God. They who cease from their own works do ‘enter into rest.’ All the agitations which had come storming in massed battalions against Him are defeated by it. They have failed to shake His purpose, they now fail even to disturb His peace. So, victorious from the dreadful conflict, and at leisure of heart to care for others, He can go back to the disciples. But even whilst seeking to help them, a fresh wave of suffering breaks in on His calm, and once again He leaves them to renew the struggle. The instinctive shrinking reasserts itself, and, though overcome, is not eradicated. But the second prayer is yet more rooted in acquiescence than the first. It shows that He had not lost what He had won by the former; for it, as it were, builds on that first supplication, and accepts as answer to its contingent petition the consciousness, accompanying the calm, that it was not possible for the cup to pass from Him. The sense of Sonship underlies the complete resignation of the second prayer as of the first. It has no wish but God’s will, and is the voluntary offering of Himself. Here He is both Priest and Sacrifice, and offers the victim with this prayer of consecration. So once more He triumphs, because once more, and yet more completely, He submits, and accepts the Cross. For Him, as for us, the Cross accepted ceases to be a pain, and the cup is no more bitter when we are content to drink it. Once more in fainter fashion the enemy came on, casting again his spent arrows, and beaten back by the same weapon. The words were the same, because no others could have expressed more perfectly the submission which was the heart of His prayers and the condition of His victory.
Christ’s prayer, then, was not for the passing of the cup, but that the will of God might be done in and by Him, and ‘He was heard in that He feared,’ not by being exempted from the Cross, but by being strengthened through submission for submission. So His agony is the pattern of all true prayer, which must ever deal with our wishes, as He did with His instinctive shrinking,-present them wrapped in an ‘if it be possible,’ and followed by a ‘nevertheless.’ The meaning of prayer is not to force our wills on God’s, but to bend our wills to His; and that prayer is really answered of which the issue is our calm readiness for all that He lays upon us.
III. Note the sad and gentle remonstrance with the drowsy three.
The gentle remonstrance soon passes over into counsel as gentle. Watchfulness and prayer are inseparable. The one discerns dangers, the other arms against them. Watchfulness keeps us prayerful, and prayerfulness keeps us watchful. To watch without praying is presumption, to pray without watching is hypocrisy. The eye that sees clearly the facts of life will turn upwards from its scanning of the snares and traps, and will not look in vain. These two are the indispensable conditions of victorious encountering of temptation. Fortified by them, we shall not ‘enter into’ it, though we encounter it. The outward trial will remain, but its power to lead us astray will vanish. It will still be danger or sorrow, but it will not be temptation; and we shall pass through it, as a sunbeam through foul air, untainted, and keeping heaven’s radiance. That is a lesson for a wider circle than the sleepy three.
It is followed by words which would need a volume to expound in all their depth and width of application, but which are primarily a reason for the preceding counsel, as well as a loving apology for the disciples’ sleep. Christ is always glad to give us credit for even imperfect good; His eye, which sees deeper than ours, sees more lovingly, and is not hindered from marking the willing spirit by recognising weak flesh. But these words are not to be made a pillow for indolent acquiescence in the limitations which the flesh imposes on the spirit. He may take merciful count of these, and so may we, in judging others, but it is fatal to plead them at the bar of our own consciences. Rather they should be a spur to our watchfulness and to our prayer. We need these because the flesh is weak, still more because, in its weakness toward good, it is strong to evil. Such exercise will give governing power to the spirit, and enable it to impose its will on the reluctant flesh. If we watch and pray, the conflict between these two elements in the renewed nature will tend to unity and peace by the supremacy of the spirit; if we do not, it will tend to cease by the unquestioned tyranny of the flesh. In one or other direction our lives are tending.
Strange that such words had no effect. But so it was, and so deep was the apostles’ sleep that Christ left them undisturbed the second time. The relapse is worse than the original disease. Sleep broken and resumed is more torpid and fatal than if it had not been interrupted. We do not know how long it lasted, though the whole period in the garden must have been measured by hours; but at last it was broken by the enigmatical last words of our Lord. The explanation of the direct opposition between the consecutive sentences, by taking the ‘Sleep on now’ as ironical, jars on one’s reverence. Surely irony is out of keeping with the spirit of Christ then. Rather He bids them sleep on, since the hour is come, in sad recognition that the need for their watchful sympathy is past, and with it the opportunity for their proved affection. It is said with a tone of contemplative melancholy, and is almost equivalent to ‘too late, too late.’ The memorable sermon of F. W. Robertson, on this text, rightly grasps the spirit of the first clause, when it dwells with such power on the thought of ‘the irrevocable past’ of wasted opportunities and neglected duty. But the sudden transition to the sharp, short command and broken sentences of the last verse is to be accounted for by the sudden appearance of the flashing lights of the band led by Judas, somewhere near at hand, in the valley. The mood of pensive reflection gives place to rapid decision. He summons them to arise, not for flight, but that He may go out to meet the traitor. Escape would have been easy. There was time to reach some sheltering fold of the hill in the darkness; but the prayer beneath the silver-grey olives had not been in vain, and these last words in Gethsemane throb with the Son’s willingness to yield Himself up, and to empty to its dregs the cup which the Father had given Him.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 26:36-38
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
Mat 26:36 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane” “Gethsemane” meant “oil press” in Hebrew. It apparently was a private garden just outside the city limits of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. It was illegal to have gardens within the city because the manure needed for the plants made the city ceremonially unclean. Apparently Jesus came to this garden quite often. It is even possible that during Passion Week He bivouacked here with His disciples. Judas knew the place well.
Mat 26:37 “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee” From Mar 14:33 and Joh 4:21 we know the other two were James and John. This was the inner circle of leadership among the disciples (cf. Mat 17:1; Mar 5:37). They were present with Jesus on several special occasions when the other disciples were not. Apparently this led to both special training and jealousy on the part of the other disciples. Exactly why Jesus had an inner circle is uncertain. The list of the Twelve is always in four groupings of three. The groups never change. It is possible that the groups formed a rotating schedule for the disciples to go home periodically and check on their families.
“began to be grieved and distressed” These were strong terms in Greek (cf. Mar 14:33). We are on very holy ground here in the garden as we see the Son of God in what may have been His most vulnerable human moment. Jesus must have related this account to His disciples after His resurrection. Apparently it was meant to be helpful for those who face temptation and for those who seek to understand the agony and cost of the Calvary experience.
Mat 26:38 “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” This was an Old Testament idiom (cf. Psa 42:5; Jonah Mat 6:9), which expressed the tremendous intensity which was involved in the redemption of sinful mankind. Something of the struggle can be seen in the parallel of Luk 22:43-44, which records that an angel came to minister to Him and He sweat great drops of blood. The victory over the evil one was won here in the garden. The insidiousness of Satan’s temptation in Matthew 4 and of Peter’s supposedly helpful, but extremely destructive, comments in Mat 16:22, are fully revealed in this passage.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Then cometh, &c. The Structure (p. 1305) shows the correspondence between the Temptation in the Wilderness (Mat 4:1-11) and the Agony in the Garden (Mat 26:36-46). That both were an assault of Satan is shown in Luk 22:53, Joh 14:30; and by the fact that in each case angelic ministration was given. Compare Mat 4:11 with Luk 22:43.
place. Not the usual word, or the same as in Mat 26:52, but Greek. chorion = field, or farmstead; used as “place” is in Eng. of a separated spot, in contrast with the town. Compare its ten occurrences (here, Mar 14:32. Joh 4:5. Act 1:18, Act 1:19, Act 1:19; Act 4:34; Act 5:3, Act 5:8; Act 28:7).
Gethsemane. An Aramaic word. See App-94.
pray. Greek. proseuchomai. App-134.:2. As in verses: Mat 26:39, Mat 26:41, Mat 26:42, Mat 39:44. Not the same as in Mat 26:53.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
36-46.] OUR LORDS AGONY AT GETHSEMANE. Mar 14:32-42. Luk 22:39-46. Joh 18:1. The account of the temptation, and of the agony in Gethsemane is peculiar to the three first Evangelists. But it does not therefore follow that there is, in their narratives, any inconsistency with St. Johns setting forth of the Person of Christ. For it must be remembered, that, as we find in their accounts frequent manifestations of the divine nature, and indications of future glory, about, and during this conflict,-so in St. Johns account, which brings out more the divine side of our Lords working and speaking, we find frequent allusions to his human weakness and distress of spirit. For examples of the first, see Mat 26:13; Mat 26:24; Mat 26:29; Mat 26:32; Mat 26:53, and [171] in Mark and Luke; and Luk 22:30; Luk 22:32; Luk 22:37; Luk 22:43; of the latter, Joh 12:27; Joh 13:21; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:32.
[171] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
The right understanding of the whole important narration must be acquired by bearing in mind the reality of the manhood of our Lord, in all its abasement and weakness:-by following out in Him the analogy which pervades the characteristics of human suffering-the strength of the resolved spirit, and calm of the resigned will, continually broken in upon by the inward giving way of human feebleness, and limited power of endurance. But as in us, so in the Lord, these seasons of dread and conflict stir not the ruling will, alter not the firm resolve. This is most manifest in His first prayer- -if consistent with that work which I have covenanted to do. Here is the reserve of the will to suffer-it is never stirred (see below). The conflict however of the Lord differs from ours in this,-that in us, the ruling will itself is but a phase of our human will, and may be and is often carried away by the excess of depression and suffering; whereas in Him it was the divine Personality in which the higher Will of the covenant purpose was eternally fixed,-struggling with the flesh now overwhelmed with an horrible dread, and striving to escape away (see the whole of Psa 55:1-23). Besides that, by that uplifting into a superhuman circle of Knowledge, with which the indwelling of the Godhead endowed his humanity, his flesh, with all its capacities and apprehensions, was brought at once into immediate and simultaneous contact with every circumstance of horror and pain that awaited Him (Joh 18:4), which is never the case with us. Not only are the objects of dread gradually unveiled to our minds, but hope ( , Thuc. ver. 103) is ever suggesting that things may not be so bad as our fears represent them.
Then we must not forget, that as the flesh gave way under dread of suffering, so the human was troubled with all the attendant circumstances of that suffering-betrayal, desertion, shame (see Psa 55:1-23 again, Psa 55:12-14; Psa 55:20-21; Psa 38:11-12; Psalms 88 alli[172].). Nor again must we pass over the last and deepest mystery of the Passion-the consideration, that upon the holy and innocent Lamb of God rested the burden of all human sin-that to Him, death, as the punishment of sin, bore a dark and dreadful meaning, inconceivable by any of us, whose inner will is tainted by the love of Sin. See on this part of the Redeemers agony, Psa 40:12; Psa 38:1-10 a[173].
[172] alii = some cursive mss.
[173] alii = some cursive mss.
See also as a comment on the whole, Heb 5:7-10, and notes there.
The three accounts do not differ in any important particulars. Luke merely gives a general summary of the Lords prayers and his sayings to the disciples, but inserts (see below) two details not found in the others. Marks account and Matthews are very nearly related, and have evidently sprung from the same source.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 26:36-40. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
He felt the need of human sympathy in that awful hour; yet he trod the winepress alone.
Mat 26:41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Admire the tenderness of Jesus in making this apology for his disciples. What he said about them was true: but it is not everybody who would have uttered that gentle truth at such a trying time. Dear friends, make excuses for one another whenever you can; never make them for yourselves, but often make them for others, and especially, when some treat you as you think very untenderly, be the more tender towards them.
Mat 26:42-44. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
You cannot use much variety of language when your heart is very heavy; you will usually dwell upon just a few words at such a time. Do not blame yourself for doing so; it is natural, and it is right. Even your Lord, the Master of language, prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mat 26:45-46. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
May the Master never have to say this concerning any one of us, for his dear names sake! Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Joh 17:15-26; And Mat 26:36-46.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Mat 26:36. , here) (an adverb). Thus the LXX. in Num 9:8, Num 32:6.- , …, stand ye HERE, etc.; and Ib. Num 32:6.- ; and shall ye sit HERE?- , whilst I go and pray) Our Lord expresses only that which is less distressing; He maintains a reserve with regard to that which is more painful; cf. Gen 22:5. In Mat 26:38 He says- , Watch with Me; in Mat 26:41.- , watch and pray: but He nowhere says, Pray with Me. The disciples could not join (on an equality) with Him in prayer. There is One Son: one Mediator.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the Hour When the Flesh Was Weak
Mat 26:36-46
In human life there is a close connection between our hymns and our olive-presses. We pass from the supper to the garden, from the emblems to the reality. But not all can enter into the fellowship of our Lords unknown sufferings. Paul longed to do this that he might realize also the power of His resurrection, Php 3:10. Our Lord longs for the sympathy which will keep awake for love of Him, though it may not understand all that is in His heart!
Notice that though the cup seemed to be mixed and presented by human hands, our Lord refused to see in it these alone, but went behind them to the permissive will of God the Father. It is this thought that extracts bitterness from the bitterest cup. In the same sentence Jesus bade the disciples sleep on and arise. It was as though He knew and felt that though the past had gone beyond recall, yet further opportunities and testings were awaiting them and Him. These they would encounter and share in company. He is always saying to us, however unworthy-Let us be going.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 80
Lessons from Gethsemane
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
(Mat 26:36-46)
Now we follow the Lord Jesus Christ into Gethsemane. Let us do so with great reverence, gratitude and wonder. Robert Hawkers opening comments on this portion of Holy Scripture express the attitude with which we ought to approach it. Hawker wrote
We have here Christs entrance upon his sufferings, in the garden Gethsemane. The whole life of Jesus had been a life of sorrow, for of him, and him only, by way of emphasis, can it be said, that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But here he is entering more especially upon the great work of sorrow, for which he became the Surety of his people. And here it is therefore, that we need most eminently the teaching of God the Holy Ghost. I am aware how very little a way our discoveries carry us, when following the steps of Jesus by faith, into the garden of Gethsemane. If Peter, James, and John, whom Christ took with him there, fell under such a drowsiness as is described, how shall we hope to watch the footsteps of Jesus to any great discoveries of such an awful scene? Nevertheless, looking up for the teachings and leadings of the Holy Ghost, I would beg the Reader to accompany me, in following by faith, the Lord Jesus to Gethsemanes garden, in this dark and gloomy hour; and may the Lord be our Teacher in beholding the glory of Christ, even in the depth of his soul travail, when he drank the cup of trembling to the dregs, that we might drink the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
As we read this passage, we must remember that everything our Lord Jesus did, and all that he suffered, was as the Surety and Representative of his elect, whom he came into the world to save. That fact should fill us with reverence adoration, and should keep us from vain curiosity.
If it were possible for a man to remove a deadly virus from his wife by drawing it into himself, I cannot imagine her trying to figure out the chemical and biological reactions of his body and mind as he suffered and died with her disease. Somehow, such curiosity would seem out of place. Wouldnt it? It would be far more reverent and honoring to her husband for her to simply adore his great love for her.
Let us, therefore, reverently remember and adore our Saviors great love for us and draw from his agony in Gethsemane some practical lessons by which we may honor him who loved us and gave himself for us. I will not attempt to explain to what extent our Lords agony here was the result of Satans temptations. I do not know. I cannot tell you how much agony a holy, sinless person, like our Redeemer, would endure at the prospect of being made sin for us. That is altogether beyond human imagination. Nor will I attempt to explain what appears to many to be a conflict between the human and divine wills of our Savior. It is sufficient for us to know that he is perfectly God and perfectly man. I leave these points alone, because I know any attempt of mine to explain them would only darken counsel by words without knowledge (Job 38:2).
However, I am certain that all that our Savior endured and did in Gethsemane is here recorded by divine inspiration for our comfort and learning that we might walk in his steps. Therefore, I want to show you seven thing set before us in this paragraph.
The Necessity of Satisfaction
The first thing that is obvious in these verses is the fact that there is absolutely no way for the holy, just, and true God to forgive sin and save sinners apart from the sin-atoning death of his own dear Son as our Substitute.
Why was our Lord so sorrowful? Why was his heart so heavy? Why was his soul so troubled? Why did he fall on his face and cry out to his Father three times with strong crying and tears? What is the meaning of the bloody sweat, sore amazement and astonishment described by the other Gospel writers? Why is the almighty, the omnipotent Son of God so apparently helpless? Why is that One who by a single word raised the dead, that One who performed astonishing miracles for multitudes suddenly disturbed and cast down in his own soul? Why is the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world to die for sinners by the will of God suddenly filled with agony and astonishment at the prospect of death? Any thoughtful consideration of these questions forces an honest man to recognize these three facts.
1.Without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb 9:22).
That is the reason why it was impossible for the cup of Gods wrath to pass from his darling Son. God almighty could not forgive sin; he could not save his people without the shedding of Christs precious blood. God cannot save sinners apart from the satisfaction of justice (Rom 3:24-26). Therefore Christ had to die.
2.The weight that pressed heavily upon our Redeemers soul was not the prospect of death by crucifixion, but the prospect of being made sin for us.
Many mere men, even women and children have been known to endure terrible bodily pains without crying out and without dread. Certainly, our Savior was not weaker than such mere men. There must have been something other than the prospect of a horrible, painful death pressing him down.
The thing that pressed upon his heart and crushed his very soul was the prospect of being made sin for us (2Co 5:21; 1Pe 2:24). No mere man, no, not even an angel of God can imagine what that must have been like to his holy soul! As he anticipated being made sin for us, our Savior said, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The sorrow of his soul was the very soul of his sorrow.
What was the cause of this great heaviness and sorrow, this grief and agony of our blessed Redeemers soul? What was it that crushed our Masters heart? What so greatly disturbed him? It certainly was not the fear of physical pain, the fear of death, or even the fear of dying upon the cross. It was not death on the cross that our Redeemer agonized over in Gethsemane. He stated very emphatically that he came for the purpose of dying as our Substitute upon the cursed tree. We should read the record of our Saviors agony here in light of his earlier temptation in the wilderness. After that temptation, Satan left him for a season, awaiting another opportunity to assault him (Luk 4:13). In Gethsemane the prince of this world launched his final assault upon the Lord Jesus. Just as he assaulted the first Adam in the garden of Eden, he assaulted the last Adam in the garden of Gethsemane. In Gethsemane the serpent bruised the heel of the womans Seed, and in Gethsemane the womans Seed again overthrew his assault.
It was the enormous load of our sin and guilt that crushed our Saviors heart in Gethsemane. That which crushed our Saviors heart was the anticipation of being made sin for us. The heavy, heavy burden, which crushed his very soul, was the enormous load of sin and guilt, the sin and guilt of all Gods elect which was about to be made his. Our Saviors great sorrow was caused by his anticipation of being made sin for us. It was, wrote J.C. Ryle, a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon him. He who knew no sin was about to be made sin for us. He who is the only man who really knows what sin is, the only man who sees sin as God, was about to become sin. He who is the holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb of God was about to be made a curse for us. The holy Son of God was about to be forsaken by his Father.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, began to be sore amazed, to be in great consternation and astonishment, at the sight of all the sins of his people coming upon him, the black storm of divine wrath gathering thick over him, the sword of justice about to be drawn against him, and the curses of Gods holy law and inflexible justice about to be poured out upon him when he would be made sin for us! In consideration of these things our Savior began to be very heavy! That which crushed our Saviors very heart and soul was the very thing for which he came into the world The prospect of what he must endure as our Substitute.
3.Those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ was made to be sin, for whom he suffered and died, are most assuredly made the righteousness of God in him, and shall be saved by his almighty grace.
Be assured, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage. All for whom the Son of God died under the wrath of God shall be saved by the grace of God. His blood was not shed in vain (Isa 53:10-12).
No Exemption from Sorrow
Next, we are here taught that holiness of life is no exemption from trouble and sorrow. Our Lord Jesus Christ was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He never did anything but good. He loved God perfectly. He loved men perfectly. He knew no sin. Yet, never was there a human being who suffered like the man of sorrows.
The fact is, Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble (Job 14:1). There are no exceptions. While we live in this world, trouble and sorrow will always be the portion of our cup. We are, all of us, born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward (Job 5:7). No creature in this world is so vulnerable as man. Our bodies, our minds, our families, our jobs, our daily responsibilities, our businesses, our friends, all are doors of trouble and sorrow. Let us, in the midst of sorrow, try to remind ourselves that our troubles and sorrows are light in comparison with what we deserve, what others have suffered, what our Savior suffered for us, and with the glory that awaits us in heaven. And compared with eternity, they are but for a moment (2Co 4:18 to 2Co 5:1).
Cure for Care
Third, we should learn from our Saviors conduct here that prayer is the best cure for care. When Job was troubled, he fell down and worshipped God (Job 1:20). When Hezekiah was faced with great sorrow and trouble, he spread his matters before the Lord (2Ki 19:14). And when our Lord Jesus was exceeding sorrowful, he turned to God his Father in prayer.
The very first Person to whom we should turn with our sorrows and troubles and cares is our God and Father. Nothing that concerns us is too trivial, and nothing too great for him who bids us cast all our care upon him, assuring us that he cares for us (Heb 4:16; 1Pe 5:7; 2Co 12:9). Whatever our trouble is, as we look to the Lord our God for help, he will either remove the trouble or he will give us grace sufficient to bear it for his glory.
Submission to Gods Will
Another thing taught in this remarkable passage is the fact that submission to the will of God is one characteristic of true faith. The words of our Savior give us a marvelous example of faith, a marvelous example of what our attitude ought to be in all things. May God give me grace always to surrender to him and say, Not as I will, but as thou wilt…Thy will be done. Someone once said, He who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God.
We all think we want to have our own way. But we do not know what is best for us, best for the glory of God, best for the people of God, or best for the cause of God. Only God knows what is best. We will be wise, like old Eli, ever to say, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good (1Sa 3:18). Blessed is that person who is so well taught of God that he has learned to be content with the purpose of God and with the providence of God (Php 4:11-13).
Watch and Pray
Our Lord also shows us here that the strongest and most faithful believers are very weak in this world and always need to watch and pray. Here are Peter, James, and John, chosen Apostles, three of the strongest, most exemplary believers ever to walk upon the earth. Yet, here they are, with the Son of God in Gethsemane, fast asleep! When they ought to have been watching and praying, they were sleeping. The sad fact is, that is the common sin of Gods elect in this world (Son 5:2-3). We are a people with two distinct, opposing natures, flesh and spirit (Rom 7:14-23). Yet, our weakness is never to be looked upon as an excuse for sin, but always as a reason for watchfulness and prayer.
We must always live like soldiers in enemy territory, watchful, alert, and on guard. We cannot be too careful. We cannot be too jealous of our souls. The world is cunning. The devil is crafty. Our flesh is weak. In such a condition it is utterly foolish for us not to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation.
Our Tender, Forgiving Savior
Sixth, we are taught that our Lord Jesus Christ is a very gracious, tender, forgiving God and Savior. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners (Mat 26:45-46). Our Lord did not speak those words in sarcasm. He simply told Peter, James, and John to rest while he kept watch. He saw the glare of the torches approaching. The stillness of the night was broken by the trampling feet of the betrayer and the blood-thirsty mob he was leading. But the Lord Jesus speaks to these sleeping disciples, not for their sake but for ours, (They could not hear him. They were asleep!), as if to say, There is no need for you to be disturbed. I will take care of this. May God the Holy Spirit graciously and constantly teach us to look to Christ in faith, confident that he is watching for us and over us, that we might take our rest in him.
A Willing Sacrifice
Once more, we should learn from this passage of Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ willingly laid down his life for his people. He died as a willing sacrifice for our sins. He said to his beloved servants, Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me (Mat 26:46).
Our Redeemer did not die as the helpless victim of circumstances beyond his control. He had come into the world to come to this hour that he might die in our place as our sin-atoning Substitute. This is how Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He died vicariously, in the place of Gods elect (Joh 10:11). He died voluntarily, by his own will (Joh 10:17-18). And he died victoriously, triumphing over death, hell, and the grave, having accomplished eternal redemption for us (Joh 19:30).
Oh! Gethsemane! Sacred, hallowed spot! Did Jesus oft-times resort thither with his disciples? And wilt thou now, O LORD, by thy sweet Spirit, aid my meditations, that I may take the wing of faith and often traverse over the solemn ground? It was a garden in which the first Adam began to break through the fence of Gods holy plantation. And in a garden the second Adam, so called, shall begin the soul-travail of sorrow, to do away the effects of it. And, oh! What humiliation, what agonies, what conflicts in the arduous work? Oh! How vast the glory, when smiting to the earth his enemies, the LORD JESUS proved his GODHEAD by the breath of his mouth! Sweetly do I see thee, LORD, by faith, going forth a willing sacrifice. Lo! I come! said JESUS. So come, LORD, now, by grace!
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
The King beneath the Olive-trees
Here we come to the Holy of Holies of our Lord’s life on earth. This is a mystery like that which Moses saw when the bush burned with fire, and was not consumed. No man can rightly expound such a passage as this; it is a subject for prayerful, heart-broken meditation, more than for human language. May the Holy Spirit graciously reveal to us all that we can be permitted to see of the King beneath the olive-treas in the garden of Gethsemane!
Mat 26:36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Our Lord directed eight of his disciples to keep watch either outside or near the entrance of Gethsemane, “the olive-press.” This garden had been Christ’s favourite place for private prayer, and it was well selected as the scene of his last agonizing supplication.
“‘Twas here the Lord of life appeared,
And sigh’d, and groan’d, and pray’d, and fear’d;
Bore all incarnate God could bear,
With strength enough, and none to spare.”
Mat 26:37-38. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
The three disciples who had been with him on the Mount of Transfiguration were privileged to be nearer to him than the rest of their brethren; but even they must not be actually with him. His sorrow was so great that he must bear it alone; and there was also that Scripture to be fulfilled, “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me.” Yet would he have his three choicest companions near him, that he might derive such slight solace from their presence as they could convey to him. They had never before seen their Lord overwhelmed with Atlantic billows of sorrow like those that rolled in upon him as he began to be sorrowful and very heavy. He was bowed down as if an enormous weight rested on his soul, as indeed it did. This was the soul-travail, the soul-offering for sin, which was completed on the cross; and well might he say, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful,even unto death” The sorrow of his soul was the very soul of his sorrow; his soul was full of sorrow, until he seemed to reach the utmost limit of endurance, and to be at the very gate of death. In such dire distress he needed faithful friends at hand, so he said to Peter, James, and John, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.’* He must bear alone the awful burden of his people’s sin; but his disciples might show their sympathy with him by watching at a respectful distance, and adding their poor prayers to his mighty wrestlings. Alas! they did not prize the privilege Christ gave them: have not we been too much like them when our Saviour has bidden us watch with him?
Mat 26:39. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Was he heard? Yes, verily, and especially in that which was the very pith and marrow of his prayer: “Not as I will, but as thou wilt” This was the vital part of his petition, its true essence; for much as his human nature shrank from the “cup”, still more did he shrink from any thought of acting contrary to his Father’s will. Christ’s sense of Sonship was clear and undimmed even in that dark hour, for he began his prayer with the filial utterance, “O my Father.”
Mat 26:40. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and. saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
We cannot tell how long he had been wrestling alone in prayer; but it was long enough for the disciples to fall asleep. Peter had constituted himself the spokesman of the company, therefore to him our Lord addressed his gentle rebuke, which was meant also for his companions: “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?'” According to Mar 14:37, the question was put personally to Peter, “Simon, sleepest thou?” It was bad enough for James and John to be slumbering instead of watching; but after all Peter’s boasting, it seemed worse in his case. He who had made the loudest protestations of devotion deserved to be the most blamed for his unfaithfulness.
Mat 26:41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed, is willing, “but the flesh is weak.
It was truly kind on Christ’s part to find an excuse for his weak and weary disciples; it was just like him to say anything that he could in their praise even though they had slept when they ought to have watched. Yet he repeated the command, “Watch,” for that was the special duty of the hour; and he added, “and pray,” for prayer would help them to watch, and watching would aid them in praying. “Watching and praying were enjoined for a special purpose: “that ye enter not into temptation.” He knew what sore temptations were about to assail them, so he would have them doubly armed by-
“Watching unto prayer.”
Mat 26:42. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except 1 drink it, thy will be done.
These calm, simple words scarcely convey to our minds a full idea of the intense agony under which they were uttered. Luke mentions that our Saviour, in his second supplication, “prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” The tension upon his whole frame became so great that his life seemed oozing away through every pore of his body; and he was so weak and faint, through the terrible strain, that he might well fear that his human nature would sink under the awful trial, and that he would die before his time. Yet even then he recognized his Sonship: “0 my Father! ” and he absolutely surrendered himself to his Father’s will: “Thy will be done.”
Mat 26:43-44. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words
Great sorrow produces different results in different persons. In the Saviour’s case, it aroused him to an awful agony of earnestness in prayer; in the disciples’ case, it sent them to sleep. Luke says that they were “sleeping for sorrow.” Their Master might find an excuse for their neglect; but oh! how they would blame themselves afterwards for missing that last opportunity of watching with their wrestling Lord! As he could get no comfort from them, he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Those who teach that we should pray but once, and not repeat the petition that we present to the Lord, cannot quote our Saviour’s example in support of their theory, for thrice on that dread night he offered the same supplication, and oven used the same language. Paul, also, like his Master, “besought the Lord thrice” that the “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan,” might depart from him.
Mat 26:45-46. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
I do not think Jesus was speaking ironically when he said, “Sleep on now, and take your rest:” but that he allowed them to take a little sleep while he sat by, and watched. Not long did he sit, or did they sleep; for through the olives he could see the glare of the approaching torches, and the stillness of the night was broken by the tramping and shouting of the rabble throng that had come to arrest him. He gently wakened his drowsy disciples by saying, “Rise, let us be going:” adding words that must have struck terror to their sorrowing hearts: “Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” The crushing in “the olive-press “was over. The long looked-for “hour “of betrayal had come; and Jesus went calmly forward, divinely strengthened to meet the terrible trials that yet awaited him ere he could fully accomplish the redemption of his chosen people.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
a place: Mar 14:32-35, Luk 22:39-46, Joh 18:1-11
Gethsemane: Gethsemane was a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives, beyond the brook Cedron; an even plat of ground, says Maundrell, not above fifty-seven yards square, where are shown some old olive trees, supposed to identify the spot to which our Lord was wont to resort.
while: Mat 26:39, Mat 26:42, Psa 22:1, Psa 22:2, Psa 69:1-3, Psa 69:13-15, Heb 5:7
Reciprocal: Psa 40:13 – Be Mat 6:6 – enter Mat 14:23 – he went Luk 9:18 – as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:36
The journey from the upper room and the passover to the garden of Gethsemane was ended. When they reached the border of the garden Jesus instructed the group to be seated while he went on farther to pray. I shall quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary on the item of Gethsemane. “A small ‘garden,’ Mat 26:36; Mar 14:32, situated across the brook Kedron, Joh 18:1, probably at the foot of Mount Olivet, Luk 22:39, to the northwest and about one-half or three-quarters of a mile English from the walls of Jerusalem, and 100 yards east of the bridge over the Kedron. There was a ‘garden’ or rather an orchard, attached to it, to which the olive, fig and pomegranate doubtless invited resort by their hospitable shade.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
[Gethsemane.] The place of the olive presses; at the foot of mount Olivet. In John, it is “a garden beyond Cedron.” “They do not make gardens or paradises in Jerusalem, because of the stink. The Gloss, “Because of the stink that riseth from the weeds which are thrown out: besides, it is the custom to dung gardens; and thence comes a stink.” Upon this account there were no gardens in the city, (some few gardens of roses excepted, which had been so from the days of the prophets,) but all were without the walls, especially at the foot of Olivet.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
THE verses we have now read, describe what is commonly called Christ’s agony at Gethsemane. It is a passage which undoubtedly contains deep and mysterious things. We ought to read it with reverence and wonder, for there is much in it which we cannot fully comprehend.
Why do we find our Lord so “sorrowful and very heavy,” as he is here described? What are we to make of His words, “my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”? Why do we see Him going apart from His disciples, and falling on His face, and crying to His Father with strong cries, and thrice-repeated prayer? Why is the Almighty Son of God, who had worked so many miracles, so heavy and disquieted? Why is Jesus, who came into the world to die, so like one ready to faint at the approach of death? Why is all this?
There is but one reasonable answer to these questions. The weight that pressed down our Lord’s soul, was not the fear of death, and its pains. Thousands have endured the most agonizing sufferings of body, and died without a groan, and so, no doubt, might our Lord. But the real weight that bowed down the heart of Jesus, was the weight of the sin of the world, which seems to have now pressed down upon Him with peculiar force. It was the burden of our guilt imputed to Him, which was now laid on Him, as on the head of the scape goat. How great that burden must have been, no heart of man can conceive. It is known only to God. Well may the Greek Litany speak of the “unknown sufferings of Christ.” The words of Scott on this subject are probably correct;-“Christ at this time endured as much misery, of the same kind with that of condemned spirits, as could possibly consist with a pure conscience, perfect love of God and man, and an assured confidence of a glorious event.” [Footnote: I believe that the view maintained in this exposition, is the only reasonable solution that can be given of our Lord’s agony. How any Socinian, or any divine who denies the imputation of man’s sin to Christ, and the vicarious nature of Christ’s sufferings, can account satisfactorily for the agony, I am totally at a loss to conceive.-Upon the principle of the Socinian, who utterly denies the doctrine of atonement, and says that our Lord was only a man, and not God, He was one who shewed less firmness in suffering than many men have shown.-Upon the principle of some modern divines, who say that our Lord’s death was not a propitiation and expiation for sin, but only a great example of self-sacrifice, the intense agony of body and mind here described is equally unaccountable.-Both views appear to me alike dishonouring to our Lord Jesus Christ, and utterly unscriptural and unsatisfactory. I believe the agony in the garden to be a knot that nothing can untie, but the old doctrine of our sin being really imputed to Christ, and Christ being made sin and a curse for us.
There are deep things in this passage of Scripture, containing the account of the agony, which I purposely leave untouched. They are too deep for man’s line to fathom. The extent to which Satan was allowed to tempt our Lord in this hour,-the degree of suffering, both mental and bodily, which an entirely sinless person, like our Lord, would endure in bearing the sin of all mankind,- the manner in which the human and divine wills both operated in our Lord’s experience, since He was at all times as really man as God,-all these are points which I prefer to leave alone. It is easy on such questions to “darken counsel by words without knowledge.”]
But however mysterious this part of our Lord’s history may seem to us, we must not fail to observe the precious lessons of practical instruction, which it contains. Let us now see what those lessons are.
Let us learn, in the first place, that prayer is the best practical remedy that we can use in time of trouble. We see that Christ Himself prayed, when His soul was sorrowful. All true Christians ought to do the same.
Trouble is a cup that all must drink in this world of sin. We are “born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7.) We cannot avoid it. Of all creatures, none is so vulnerable as man. Our bodies, our minds, our families, our business, our friends, are all so many doors through which trial will come in. The holiest saints can claim no exemption from it. Like their Master, they are often “men of sorrow.”
But what is the first thing to be done in time of trouble? We must pray.-Like Job, we must fall down and worship. (Job 1:20.) Like Hezekiah, we must spread our matters before the LORD. (2Ki 19:14.) The first person we must turn to for help, must be our God. We must tell our Father in heaven all our sorrow. We must believe confidently that nothing is too trivial or minute to be laid before Him, so long as we do it with entire submission to His will. It is the mark of faith to keep nothing back from our best Friend. So doing, we may be sure we shall have an answer. “If it be possible,” and the thing we ask is for God’s glory, it shall be done. The thorn in the flesh will either be removed, or grace to endure it will be given to us, as it was to Paul. (2Co 12:9.) May we all store up this lesson against the day of need. It is a true saying, that “prayers are the leeches of care.”
Let us learn, in the second place, that entire submission of will to the will of God should be one of our chief aims in this world. The words of our Lord are a beautiful example of the spirit that we should follow after in this matter. He says, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” He says again, “Thy will be done.”
A will unsanctified and uncontrolled, is one great cause of unhappiness in life. It may be seen in little infants. It is born with us. We all like our own way. We wish and want many things, and forget that we are entirely ignorant what is for our good, and unfit to choose for ourselves. Happy is he who has learned to have no wishes, and in every state to be content. It is a lesson which we are slow to learn, and like Paul, we must learn it not in the school of mortal man, but of Christ. (Php 4:11.)
Would we know whether we are born again, and growing in grace? Let us see how it is with us in the matter of our wills. Can we bear disappointment? Can we put up patiently with unexpected trials and vexations? Can we see our pet plans, and darling schemes crossed without murmuring and complaint? Can we sit still, and suffer calmly, as well as go up and down and work actively? These are the things that prove whether we have the mind of Christ. It ought never to be forgotten, that warm feelings and joyful frames are not the truest evidences of grace. A mortified will is a far more valuable possession. Even our Lord Himself did not always rejoice; but He could always say, “Thy will be done.”
Let us learn, in the last place, that there is great weakness, even in true disciples of Christ, and that they have need to watch and pray against it. We see Peter, James, and John, those three chosen apostles, sleeping when they ought to have been watching and praying. And we find our Lord addressing them in these solemn words, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
There is a double nature in all believers. Converted, renewed, sanctified as they are, they still carry about with them a mass of indwelling corruption, a body of sin. Paul speaks of this when he says, “I find a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind.” (Rom 7:21-23.) The experience of all true Christians in every age confirms this. They find within two contrary principles, and a continual strife between the two. To these two principles our Lord alludes when He addresses His half-awakened disciples. He calls the one flesh, and the other spirit. He says, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
But does our Lord excuse this weakness of His disciples? Be it far from us to think so. Those who draw this conclusion mistake His meaning. He uses that very weakness as an argument for watchfulness and prayer. He teaches us that the very fact that we are encompassed with infirmity, should stir us up continually to “watch and pray.”
If we know anything of true religion, let us never forget this lesson. If we desire to walk with God comfortably, and not fall, like David or Peter, let us never forget to watch and pray. Let us live like men on enemy’s ground, and be always on our guard. We cannot walk too carefully. We cannot be too jealous over our souls. The world is very ensnaring. The devil is very busy. Let our Lord’s words ring in our ears daily like a trumpet. Our spirits may sometimes be very willing. But our flesh is always very weak. Then let us always watch and always pray.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mat 26:36. Unto a place called Gethsemane. Luke (Luk 22:39) says in general to the mount of Olives, though hinting at a customary place; John (Joh 17:1-2) tells us that was a garden beyond the brook Kedron, known to Judas, for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples. Place means a piece of land, field (see Joh 4:5; Act 1:18, etc.); Gethsemane means oil-press. It was probably an enclosed olive-yard, containing a press and garden tower, perhaps a dwelling-house. It was at the western foot of the Mount of Olives beyond the Kedron (black brook), so called from its dark waters, which were still more darkened by the blood from the foot of the altar in the temple (see note on Mat 26:17). The spot now pointed out as Gethsemane lies on the right of the path to the Mount of Olives. The wall has been restored. Eight olive trees remain, all of them very old (each one has paid a special tax since A. D. 636), but scarcely of the time of our Lord, since Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem, had all the trees of the district cut down. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book) thinks the garden was in a more secluded place further on, to the left of the path.The name has been connected with the bruising of our Lord for our sins.
His disciples. The remaining eight.
Sit ye here, i.e., stay here. These eight would form, as it were, a watch against premature surprise.
While I go yonder. Probably out of the moonlight (the Passover was at full moon); not into a house.
And pray. Our Lord speaks of the coming struggle as prayer. So Abraham (Gen 22:5), when he, almost on the same spot, was going to the greatest trial of his faith.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our blessed Saviour being now come with his disciples into the garden, he falls there into a bitter and bloody agony, in which he prayed with wonderful fervency and importunity to his heavenly Father. His sufferings were now coming on a great pace, and he meets them upon his knees, and would be found in a praying posture.
Learn thence, That prayer is the best preparative for, as well as the most powerful support under, the heaviest sufferings that can befall us. As to this prayer of our Saviour’s in the garden, many things are very observable.
As, 1. The place where he prayed, in the garden; but why went Christ thither? Was it to hide or shelter himself from his enemies? Nothing less: for if so, it had been the most improper place, because he was wont to retire thither to pray, Judas knew the place, for Jesus oft-times resorted thither; so that Christ went thither not to shun, but to prepare himself by prayer to meet, his enemies.
Observe, 2. The time when he entered the garden for prayer, it was in the evening: here he spent some hours in pouring out his soul to God: for about midnight Judas and the soldiers came and apprehended him in a praying posture.
Teaching us by his example, that when imminent dangers are before us, especially when death is apprehended by us, to be very much in prayer to God, and very fervent in our wrestling with him.
Observe, 3. The matter of our Lord’s prayer, that if possible the cup might pass from him; that is, those bitter sufferings which were then before him; particularly the insupportable burden of his father’s wrath. He prays, if possible, that his Father would excuse him from this dreadful wrath, his soul being amazed at it.
But what! Did Christ then begin to repent of his undertaking for sinners? Did he shrink and give back when it came to the pinch? No, no; as Christ had two natures, being God and Man, so he had two distinct wills; as Man, he feared and shunned death; as God-man, he willingly submitted to it; the divine spirit and the human nature of Christ did now assault each other with disagreeing interests, till at last victory was got on the spirit’s side.
Again, this prayer was not absolute, but conditional if it be possible. Father, if it may be, if thou art willing, if it please thee, let it pass: if not, I will drink it.
Learn hence, 1. That the cup of suffering is in itself considered as a very bitter and distasteful cup, which human nature abhors, and cannot by desire and pray may pass from it.
2. That yet oft-times the wisdom of God is pleased to put this bitter cup of affliction into the hands of those whom he doth most sincerely love.
3. That when God doth so, it is their duty to drink it with humble submission, and cheerful resignation. Not my will, but thine be done.
Observe, 4. The manner how our Lord prayed; and here we shall find it, 1. A solitary prayer; he went by himself alone, out of the hearing of his disciples; he saith unto them, Tarry ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Mark, Christ did neither desire his disciples to pray with him, nor to pray for him. No, he must tread the winepress alone; not but that Christ loved and delighted in his disciples’ company; but their were occasions when he thought fit to leave them, and to go alone to God in prayer.
Thence learn, That the company of our best friends is not always seasonable. Peter, James, and John, were three good men; but Christ bids them tarry, while he went aside for private prayer. There are times and cases when a Christian would not be willing that the dearest friend he has in the world should be with him, or understand and hear what passes betwixt him and his God.
2. This prayer of Christ was an humble prayer; that is evident by the postures into which he cast himself; sometimes kneeling, sometimes lying prostrate upon his face. He lies in the very dust; lower he cannot fall; and his heart was as low as his body. And such was the fervour of his spirit, that he prayed himslef into an agony. O let us blush to think how unlike we are to Christ in prayer, as to our praying frame of spirit!
Lord, what drowsiness and deadness! what laziness and dulness! what stupidity and formality, is found in our prayers! how often do our lips move, and our hearts stand still!
3. It was a repeated and reiterated prayer. He prayed the first, second, and third time. He returns upon God over and over, plies him again and again, resolving to take no denial.
Learn thence, That Christians ought not to be discouraged, though they have besought God again and again for a particular mercy, and no answer of prayer has come unto them.
Observe also, how our Lord used the same prayer three times over, saying the same words. A person then may pray with and by a form of prayer, and yet not pray formally, but in a very acceptable manner unto God. Christ both gave a form of prayer to his disciples, and also used one himself.
Observe next, The posture in which our holy Lord found his own disciples, when he was in his agony: they were sleeping, when he was praying. O wonderful! that they could sleep at such a time.
Hence we gather, that the best of Christ’s disciples may be sometimes overtaken with infirmities, with great infirmities, when the most important duties are performing. He cometh to his disciples and findeth them sleeping.
Observe farther, The gentle reproof he gave the disciples for sleeping: What! could ye not watch with me one hour? Could not you watch, when your Master is in such danger? Could not you watch with me, when I am going to deliver up my life for you? What! not one hour, and that the parting hour too? After this reprehension, he subjoins an exhortation: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: and superadds a forcible reason, for though the spirit is willing, yet the flesh is weak.
Thence learn, That the holiest and best resolved Christians, who have willing spirits for Christ and his service, yet in regard of the weakness of the flesh, or the frailty of human nature, it is their duty to watch and pray, and thereby guard themselves against temptations. Watch and pray,–for though the spirit is willing, yet the flesh is weak; though you have sincerely resolved rather to die with me than deny me, yet be assured, that when temptation actually assaults you, when fear and shame, pain and suffering, death and danger, are before you, and present to your sense, the weakness of your flesh will prevail over these resolutions, if you do not watch diligently, and pray fervently for divine assistance.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 26:36-38. Then cometh Jesus to a place called Gethsemane A garden, lying, it seems, at the foot of the mount of Olives, which had its name, probably, from its soil and situation, the word, from , signifying, the valley of fatness. And saith to the disciples, Sit ye here Probably near the garden door, within, for John says the disciples went into the garden with him: while I go and pray yonder In a retired place, at a little distance. Doubtless he intended that they should be employed as he was, in watching and prayer. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who had been witnesses of his transfiguration and glory, and were now to be witnesses of his humiliation and agony: and began to be sorrowful and very heavy Gr.
, to be penetrated with the most exquisite sorrow, and overwhelmed with deep anguish. This was probably from the arrows of the Almighty sticking fast in his soul, while God laid on him the iniquities of us all. Who can tell what painful and dreadful sensations were then impressed on him by the immediate hand of God? Then saith he, My soul is exceeding sorrowful Gr. , surrounded with sorrows on every side; even unto death This expressions, says Dr. Campbell, is rather indefinite, and seems to imply a sorrow that would continue till death; whereas the import of the original is such a sorrow as was sufficient to cause death. He therefore renders the clause, My soul is overwhelmed with a deadly anguish. Castalio translates it, In tanto sum animi dolore ut emoriar, I am in such trouble of mind that I shall die. He evidently meant, that his sorrow was so great that the infirmity of his human nature must immediately sink under it without some extraordinary relief and support; for which he was about to pray, and for which he wished them to pray, adding, Tarry ye here and watch with me Had these disciples done as Christ here directed, they would soon have found a rich equivalent for their watchful care, in the eminent improvement of their graces by this wonderful and edifying sight. For Christ was now sustaining those grievous sorrows in his soul, by which, as well as by his dying on the cross, he became a sin-offering, and accomplished the redemption of mankind.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mat 26:36-46. Gethsemane (Mar 14:32-42*, Luk 22:39-46).Mt. is in closest agreement with Mk., except that he gives the words of the second prayer and states definitely that Jesus prayed a third time.
Mat 26:45. A question (see Moffatts tr.).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 36
Gethsemane; a garden or grove on the western declivity of the Mount of Olives.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
26:36 {9} Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
(9) Christ having regard to the weakness of his disciples, leaves all the rest in safety, and takes with him but three to be witnesses of his anguish, and goes on purpose into the place where he would be betrayed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ prayer to His Father in Gethsemane 26:36-46 (cf. Mar 14:32-42; Luk 22:40-46)
This pericope illustrates the importance of facing temptation with vigilance and prayer. What is more important, it reveals Jesus’ attitude toward what He was about to do. Until now, Jesus seems to have been anticipating His death with calm control and great courage. Here He appears under deep emotional stress. These attitudes harmonize with His being both the Son of God and the Servant who came to give His life a ransom for many (Mat 1:21: Mat 20:28). Martyrs can face death bravely, but self-sacrifice demands greater strength. Moreover Jesus knew that God would forsake Him when He died because He would bear the punishment for the sins of humanity. As Jesus’ death was unique, so was His anguish as He anticipated it.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Having left the upper room, traditionally located on the southern part of Mt. Zion, west of the City of David, Jesus took His disciples east out of Jerusalem and across the Kidron Valley to the western slope of Mt. Olivet. [Note: See the diagram of Jerusalem in New Testament Times at the end of these notes.]
"The streets could scarcely be said to be deserted, for, from many a house shone the festive lamp, and many a company may still have been gathered; and everywhere was the bustle of preparation for going up to the Temple, the gates of which were thrown open at midnight." [Note: Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:533.]
The word "Gethsemane" means "oil press." This olive press was in an olive grove where Jesus and His disciples had been before (Joh 18:1-2). Peter and the disciples had just boasted of their strength while Jesus told them they were weak (Mat 26:31-35). In contrast, Jesus sensed His weakness and so made plans to gain strength from His Father. [Note: Plummer, p. 368.] This section of the text is full of contrasts involving strength and weakness (cf. 2Co 12:9-10).
Jesus left most of the disciples in one part of the olive orchard and took Peter, James, and John with Him to another area (cf. Mat 17:1; Mar 5:37; Luk 8:51). There He began to release some of the emotions that He had held in check thus far. He became grieved or sorrowful (Gr. lypeisthai) and distressed or troubled (Gr. ademonein). The second Greek word implies, "a restless, distracted, shrinking from some trouble, or thought of trouble, which nevertheless cannot be escaped." [Note: M’Neile, p. 389.]
"No man, in sinful and mortal flesh, can understand the conflict in the holy soul of Jesus who had never experienced the slightest shadow of sin and had never known any barrier between Himself and the Father." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 218.]