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 (1:21: 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.
26:36-37 Having left the upper room, traditionally located on the southern part of Mt. Zion, Jesus took His disciples east out of Jerusalem and across the Kidron Valley to the western slope of Mt. Olivet.1009The word "Gethsemane"means "oil press."This was in an olive grove where Jesus and the disciples had been before (John 18:1-2). Peter and the disciples had just boasted of their strength while Jesus told them they were weak (vv. 31-35). In contrast, Jesus sensed His weakness and so made plans to gain strength from His Father.1010This section of the text is full of contrasts involving strength and weakness (cf. 2 Cor. 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. 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."1011
"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."1012
26:38 The soul here (Gr. psyche) represents the whole person. Jesus meant that He felt sorrow so deeply that it seemed it would almost kill Him.1013He did not mean that He was so sad He wished He was dead. Jesus' words recall the refrain of Psalms 42:5, 11 and 43:5 that He probably had in mind. He shared these feeling with the chosen three disciples to encourage them to watch and pray with Him.
26:39 Jesus' prostrate posture reflected the intense anguish He felt. He addressed God as "My Father"(cf. 6:9). This title stresses the intimacy that Jesus felt with God (cf. Mark 14:36). In view of the limits that His incarnation involved, Jesus may not have known if another way to provide redemption existed (cf. 24:36), though this seems unlikely. In one sense God can do anything, but in another sense He binds Himself to certain courses of action because of His own purposes. Jesus was asking for a release from having to undergo the outpouring of God's wrath for humankind's sins on the cross (cf. 4:1-11; 16:21-23).1014Notwithstanding, He wanted something more than that. Above all else He wanted His Father's will to happen. He submitted to suffering and death if this was the only way to provide salvation, but He requested another solution if possible. The "cup"is an Old Testament figure for suffering and death under the wrath of God (cf. v. 27; Ps. 11:6; 75:7-8; Isa. 51:19, 22; Jer. 25:15-16, 27-29; et al.).1015
This is an excellent model prayer when we do not know the will of God specifically. We can request our preference, as Jesus did, but we should also submit our preference to the will of God, whatever that may be. This does not make prayer meaningless because sometimes our preferences will be within God's will. He may not give us what we want without our requesting it (cf. James 4:2). If our preference is outside God's will, His denying our request will be a positive answer to our prayer if what we want supremely is His will.
26:40-41 Jesus returned to the inner circle of disciples only to find them sleeping. He awoke them and addressed His question to Peter as the disciples' representative. His question contained a plural "you"in the Greek text. One hour may be a round number, but it is undoubtedly approximate. Jesus urged them to remain spiritually alert (cf. 24:32-44) and to continue praying for strength to withstand the temptation that He had told them was coming (vv. 31-35). Even though Jesus had told them they would deny Him, their failure could have been even greater. Therefore prayer for God's sustaining grace in temptation was necessary.
One of the marks of Jesus' greatness and His compassion is that even in the face of the Cross He still thought of His disciples in their lesser trials and encouraged them.
The contrast between the flesh and the spirit is not between the sinful human nature and the Holy Spirit (as in Gal. 5:17) but between man's volitional strength and his physical weakness (cf. v. 35). We often want to do the right thing but find that we need supernatural assistance to accomplish it (cf. Rom. 7:15-25).
26:42-44 Jesus' repetition of His request illustrates persistence in prayer, not vain repetition. Persistence expresses the intensity with which we feel the need for our petition and our faith in God's ability to meet our need. Vain repetition relies on the simple repetition of words to wear God down.
Jesus' again illustrated the importance of submission to the Father's will for His disciples. He had taught them the importance of this attitude earlier (6:10). By submitting to God's will Jesus learned obedience (Heb. 5:7-9).1016
"In the first garden Not your will but mine' changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now Not my will but yours' brings anguish to the man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory."1017
26:45-46 Jesus' statement, translated as a question in the NASB and NIV versions, though more properly as a statement in the AV, reflected the irony of the moment (cf. 23:2-3).1018Time that the disciples should have spent praying was past. Jesus' arrest and their temptation were at hand. They might as well sleep on.
The irony continues. The Son of Man's betrayer is about to hand Him who is the Messiah over to sinners. Jesus probably saw and heard the group that Judas led making its was across the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives to Gethsemane.
"His hour is come, and He is anxious to fulfill all that is required of Him."1019
Jesus had prayed and now met His temptation with strength and dignity, and He overcame it. The disciples had slept and now met theirs with weakness and fear, and they fell before it.
