Matthew 26:40, commentary and pictures

In Gethsemane after an hour of anguished prayer yielding to the Father's will He returned to find the three disciples asleep and asked Peter in sorrow whether they could not watch with Him one hour. In His human nature He yearned deeply for their sympathy, companionship and prayers for Him and for themselves while the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance. His question was mild rebuke in pity and love rather than stern upbraiding, excusing that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak while urging them to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation. Their sleep at that critical hour left them unprepared and unsecured against temptation, so that Peter denied Him and all forsook Him when He was taken. Their sleep illustrates spiritual sleep today, warning that failure to watch unto prayer lets Satan prevail and calling believers to wake, be diligent and endure suffering in harmony and sacrifice.

Night in Gethsemane

The words were spoken in Gethsemane, a dark wooded garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives, hallowed by prayer and tears, where Jesus agonized alone and moistened the ground with His blood. The setting belongs to the account told in Matthew 26:36-56 with parallels in Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53, and John 18:1-12.

It was Passover night, with the broad full moon shining from a cloudless sky while the city of pilgrims' tents lay hushed in silence. Jesus made His way slowly to the garden in company with His disciples after earnestly conversing with and instructing them on the way. That instruction included lessons illustrated by the vine as the symbol of the union of His church with Himself and His Father, truths later repeated on the same spot to refresh their memory. The agony followed the last solemn interview with His apostles and their united hymn of praise, when He had spent those last solemn, momentous hours speaking words of comfort and assurance though they had heard Him foretell His sufferings and death with hearts heavy with sorrow and minds distracted with doubt and fear, and those hours of comfort and praise were the prelude opening the bloodstained path to Calvary through abuse and mockery in the judgment hall to the awful scenes of the cross.

As He neared and entered the garden He became strangely silent, with a heart fuller of sorrow than on any of His many earlier visits there for meditation and prayer. Throughout His life on earth He had walked in the light of God's presence, always doing what pleased the Father, but now He seemed shut out from that sustaining light. He was numbered with transgressors, bearing the guilt of fallen humanity though He knew no sin, with the iniquity of all laid upon Him, and sin appeared so dreadful and the weight of guilt so great that He was tempted to fear it would shut Him out forever from His Father's love, feeling how terrible is the wrath of God against transgression, so that His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death. The disciples marked the utter sadness and deepening sorrow but dared not question Him about the cause. His form swayed as if about to fall, every step was taken with labored effort, He groaned aloud under a terrible burden, and twice His companions supported Him or He would have fallen to the earth, while they looked anxiously for His usual place of retirement that He might rest.

On entering He told His companions to remain there while He went farther on to pray, selecting Peter, James and John to go deeper with Him into His usual place of retirement. That retreat was where He was accustomed to brace His spirit for trial and duty by fervent prayer when preparing for some great trial or some important work, often spending the entire night there, as before the agony of the judgment hall and the cross and the resurrection glory. After a little season of watching and prayer His disciples would sleep undisturbed at a little distance until He awoke them in the morning to labor anew, so His withdrawing to pray called forth no remark and did not initially surprise them. John was one of the three disciples permitted to witness the agony, with Peter and James alongside Him as among His closest disciples.

The question came after an hour of anguished prayer, the first of three prayers for the cup to pass, each yielding to the Father's will. He came to the disciples and found them asleep and spoke directly to Peter as Simon, asking if he sleeps and could they not watch one hour, joining the rebuke to a charge to all to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation, with the explanation that the spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak. He then returned to His struggle, praying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done, came again and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy, then left them and prayed the third time saying the same words, praying more earnestly in agony until His sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground and moistening Gethsemane. His prayer was heard, but the cup was not taken from Him; heaven sent a messenger to comfort Him and an angel came to strengthen Him to drink it, bending over the prostrate Master and assuring Him that His sacrifice would defeat Satan and bring eternal salvation to a multitude, while He was fainting and dying under the guilt of the world. From the Passover supper onward He had had neither food nor drink, agonizing in conflict with satanic agencies striving to divorce Him from God as the Jews had done, and He would not yield. There He was betrayed by Judas with expressions of love, with a kiss, and all His disciples forsook Him and fled.

His coming anguish over the suffering He would endure was not what caused Him to weep over Jerusalem shortly before His crucifixion. His tears on the approach to the city were not caused by dread of coming anguish and physical suffering. His grief was for the doomed people, whose blindness and impenitence led them to reject the blessings and salvation He came to bring and to reject their Redeemer.

Christ's Lonely Agony

In His human nature He yearned deeply for human sympathy, fellowship, companionship, comfort and words of relief and prayer from the disciples closely connected with Him in labor whom He had often blessed, and after an hour in prayer He rose with painful effort and staggered back to them for consolation, hoping to hear some word that would impart a ray of consolation, though He had the support of the angelic host. This reflects the God-given human need for love and sympathy even in One enduring great suffering while bearing the guilt of sinful people. He was disappointed because they did not bring Him the help He craved, but instead He found asleep the ones who ought to have been watching and praying, and by failing to keep watch they missed sharing in His suffering and lost the chance to stand prepared and secure against temptation.

He wanted to know that they understood His terrible temptation to let the guilty race bear its own consequences while He stood innocent, and that they were praying for Him and for themselves and seeking refuge in God so that satanic agencies might not prevail. Had He found them so praying, their steadfast faith would have relieved, comforted and strengthened Him, while the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance amid the horror of great darkness and the temptation to think God had forsaken Him, with Satan encircling His humanity. He came bowed on the ground in bloody sweat with face marred beyond human likeness while yielding to the Father's will, bending over them in extreme exhaustion with changed countenance scarcely recognized as the usually calm, dignified and serene Master, and His voice partially woke them. His form so changed by anguish they hardly knew Him when awakened.

Singling out Simon Peter He asked in surprise and sorrow whether they could not watch with Him one hour, exposing where his boasted devotion to go with his Lord to prison and to death now was, since he who had lately so declared had left Him in the hour of agony and temptation to seek repose in sleep. Even zealous Peter, who had recently spoken with confidence, could not stay awake to support Him in that dreadful hour, leaving Him without even the comfort and prayers of His disciples, and after an hour He found them sleeping three times. The same failure belonged to loving John who had leaned on His breast and whose love should have kept him awake with earnest prayer mingled with his Saviour's supreme sorrow, and to James and John who could no longer venture to claim they are able to drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism, though He had spent whole nights in prayer for them that their faith might not fail. When asked whether they could not watch one hour they roused themselves and looked sorrowfully at Him.

He fought the decisive battle for a lost world alone in view of the whole universe of heaven where the destiny of a lost world was balanced, with no sympathizing countenance to greet Him, left to wrestle the powers of darkness alone just before betrayal by Judas and mocking and cruel ill-treatment. They heard the agony of prayer from His pale and quivering lips, but soon let sleep overcome them. The King of glory, Son of the everlasting Father who left His royal throne and clothed divinity with humanity, endured that loneliness and overwhelming weight of woe to redeem fallen man and bring many sons and daughters unto glory, framing His decision to accept the cup of bearing the world's sins and separation from the Father in order to give Himself to save sinners.

Sleeping Disciples Rebuked

The disciples fell asleep in spite of repeated warnings to watch and pray, trusting in their own strength after strong assurances that night that they would never stumble or forsake Him but would go to prison with Him and suffer and die with Him, Peter adding that even if all others did so he would not. When Jesus returned He found them sleeping and asked Peter whether they could not stay awake with Him for even one hour, expressing sorrow at their failure to give prayerful support in His suffering and warning that without watching they would be unprepared to withstand temptation. Even ardent Peter, who only a few hours before had declared he would die with his Lord, was found sleeping at the most critical moment when the Son of God needed sympathy and heartfelt prayers, because they did not look to the mighty Helper as Christ had counseled.

At first they were troubled to see their calm Master wrestling with incomprehensible sorrow, and as they heard His strong cries they prayed and did not intend to forsake Him. They fell into a paralyzing stupor from sorrow, and through Satan and evil angels paralyzing their senses when they should have been watching and praying, yet they could have shaken it off had they continued pleading with God. Jesus had come back hoping for a word of love to strengthen and comfort Him and hoping they would be awake to offer sympathy, but love for their suffering Master did not keep them awake. Christ had designed that night-watch to fortify them for the severe test of faith before them.

Their drowsiness and stupor left them with only a dim, limited sense of His suffering and of the angels' presence, so that they heard not His voice and missed the power and glory of the scene. By sleeping they missed the heavenly evidence and the angel's message of comfort from the Father that would have strengthened their souls for the terrible scenes before them. Thus those who most need divine instruction fail of receiving it when they do not place themselves in communion with heaven and remain spiritually alert and connected with Heaven. They had been suddenly awakened by the light surrounding the Saviour and saw the angel bending over their prostrate Master, lifting His head upon his bosom and pointing toward heaven, and heard his voice like sweetest music speaking words of comfort and hope. They recalled the scene upon the mount of transfiguration and remembered the glory that in the temple had encircled Jesus and the voice of God that spoke from the cloud, recognizing that same glory now revealed again, and concluded He was under the care of God and protected by a mighty angel sent to Him and had no further fear for their Master, yet in their weariness they yielded again to the strange stupor that overpowered them, so Jesus again found them sleeping.

His question was a mild rebuke spoken in pity, love and sympathy rather than stern upbraiding or harsh condemnation of their weakness, even amid His own superhuman agony. With tender acknowledgment He excused them that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, while questioning their strength to endure witnessing His betrayal and death. He urged them to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation, seeking human sympathy in His trial. He poured out His soul to God in an agony He was not ashamed for them to witness, fighting His soul-battle alone so that even they did not witness His greatest agony, bending over them with His face marred by bloody sweat caused by His anguish, a scene they would ever afterwards call to mind.

Loss and Later Repentance

The sleep came at the most critical hour, when sympathy and prayers were needed, and it cost preparation for the severe test of faith ahead, leaving them unsecured against temptation. Sorrow did not keep them watchful, and Peter's earlier resolve to suffer and die could not preserve him by itself, for prayerful watching would have prepared him instead of leaving him to his own weakness when he denied his Lord. Watching and praying would have strengthened the disciples for their test, helped them grasp the anguish of the suffering, and prepared them to remember the words about suffering, death and resurrection, and those memories could have given hope and sustained faith.

Watching with Him in noble mental struggle and prayer would have fitted them to behold His death, to understand His sorrow and in some degree His anguish on the cross, and to witness a manifestation of His divinity that would remove doubts and sustain faith through suffering and death. He was pleading for strength for Himself and for them to endure the trials ahead, and their watchfulness could have kept rays of hope and strengthened faith amid gloom when Satan seemed to win. Aided by angels they could have overcome the wicked one and stood secure even in seeing the Son of God die.

Because they slept they lost much and were left to feeble strength, relying on their own weak strength. Even Peter could not remain awake with Him for one hour as He faced approaching death, and he denied his Lord. With the others he forsook Him when He was taken by the mob.

Remembering this failure later brought Peter deep remorse, humility and change. His repentance gave greater pity for the tempted and sympathy for the weak and erring, fitting him to warn the presumptuous and strengthen his brethren and fellow believers. The memory returned when Christ turned to look on him in the judgment hall with love, compassion, mercy, kindness, long-suffering, gentleness and patience, convicting him of ingratitude, falsehood and perjury till heartbroken in Gethsemane he fell on his face wishing he might die.

They did not understand the depth of His suffering, having only a limited sense of it, while He knew the agony ahead in the garden and the betrayal and death that would follow, a trial they could not yet understand. He went to them three times, and each time they were asleep. His concern was for their weakness and the danger that they would give way to temptation and unbelief, and He regarded them with love and pity, meeting that weakness with sympathy and love, not harshness, seeking to protect and strengthen them rather than harshly condemn it.

Salvation Won by Obedience

Gethsemane is where He faces the suffering and sacrifice required to save humanity, submitting to the Father's will and accepting the cup so that the guilty might live and perishing people receive everlasting life. It is just before the crucifixion, in the agony of bearing sin and separation from the Father, with repeated prayer that the Father's will be done. An angel strengthened Him to drink the cup and consent to bear the consequence of transgression even to death on the cross, and through that suffering humanity can grasp divinity and become overcomers through the Lamb's blood and the word of testimony.

The sinless Son was treated as a sinner so that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent. He laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed divinity with humanity, taking a body with a will capable of asserting itself that could have refused the humiliation, yet coming to suffer humiliation and death. He lived a sinless life on human behalf to make atonement for transgressions on the cross, surrendering His will absolutely to the divine will. God permitted a strain to be brought upon Him there more fearful than has ever before or since been brought upon a human being, because He was bearing the sins of the whole world, a suffering and distress that cannot be exceeded.

The cup is the sacrifice ordained before the foundation of the world and symbolized in every sacrifice since Adam's transgression. It is the glorious purpose of Father and Son to save a perishing world, the burden of prophecy and the foundation of types and shadows which angels eagerly desired to look into. His three prayers there, each asking if the cup could pass and each yielding with Not My will but Thine be done, were the crisis deciding whether that purpose would fail and Satan with his confederacy of evil would triumph. That crisis decided whether He as Son of Man and Substitute would fulfill all the types and symbols pointing to His suffering and death, whether the prince of darkness would triumph, whether the prey would be left in the hands of the mighty or the captives delivered, and whether obedience to the law would be demonstrated possible because all are made more than conquerors through Christ.

Gethsemane stands in contrast to Eden: Eden shows disobedience, while Gethsemane shows obedience to God as the answer to humanity's disobedience. What He endured there shows the self-denial and sacrifice by which He showed the way and brought the divine help people need to overcome and be saved. Following Him toward eternal life therefore involves conflict, self-denial and sacrifice rather than simply following one's own inclinations. The struggle through which reconciliation with God was obtained teaches the seriousness of sin and the cost of reconciliation to those who remember it.

The garden conflict before the cross was part of the suffering that preceded His victory over death and the tomb. His apparent hesitation to drink the cup offered to Him, together with His cry on the cross, declares how deep and intense were the sufferings of the Son for the sins of the world. Yet in the midst of those sufferings He could speak peace to the heart of the penitent thief, giving him a place in His kingdom. That answer was heard by the armies of Satan and sounded the death-knell of Satan's lingering hope to obtain victory over Christ or over those who believe in Him as Saviour. The betrayal, trial and crucifixion to which the garden belongs vividly picture how people under Satan's influence and a satanic spirit can turn human hearts toward hatred and mistreatment of those bearing a message from God.

His long periods in agonizing prayer show the devotion and self-denial His followers should imitate rather than living for pleasure. His wrestling with the Father in prayer was for strength to submit to God's will and to make Him known through words and actions. That soul agony teaches self-sacrifice, patience under affliction, solemn consecration to God, and preparation for holy work.

Pattern for Final Trial

The garden agony supplies the pattern for the faithful company in their coming time of trial, who like Jesus will earnestly plead with God while submitting to His will. As He poured out His soul there, they will cry earnestly day and night for deliverance and wrestle for it as Jacob did. Yet they must endure the appointed suffering before God's will is fulfilled and deliverance comes, even when facing a death threat. Their trial is expressed in His own language of the cup and baptism as they submit while pleading for rescue.

That ordeal in the garden formed part of the great trial He knew awaited the disciples in His betrayal, suffering and death. He prepared His faithful followers beforehand so that fickleness in others would not overwhelm them or shake their faith, and so that His death would not take them by surprise or cause the faithful to lose heart. He strengthened His true followers by remaining with them in person through that testing of faith before betrayal and crucifixion. In this way surprise, temptation and unbelief would not overwhelm them.

The Lord's Supper calls that painful scene of humiliation and suffering as a sacrifice for the world to mind.

Call to Watch Today

The sleep of the disciples while Jesus faced the anguish of Gethsemane and looked to them for sympathy illustrates spiritual sleep, and believers must wake and become watchful, especially to live as believing Christians. His suffering there shows self-denial and sacrifice, while their sleep shows the spiritual unwatchfulness that leaves His work hindered, calling followers to be awake and diligent in the work entrusted to them.

Remembering what He suffered in Gethsemane in His last terrible trial so that sinners might not perish but have eternal life rebukes failure to work in harmony and calls believers to lay down their lives for the brethren. His loneliness when the disciples could not stay awake and watch with Him even for one hour in His greatest agony provides an example for His followers when they face trials and lack human sympathy, so that they are not amazed if made partakers of His sufferings with motives questioned and meeting rejection, coldness and contempt. There He wrestled under awful powerful temptation, where impurity fought with purity and the prince of light fought with the prince of darkness.

The scene belongs to His agony where the sins of the world were laid upon Him, and His suffering and death on the cross were for guilty people to save them, for He became poor so that they might become rich, showing how much He gave for them. That great sacrifice in Gethsemane together with His sacrifice on Calvary is the measure by which the church's missionary labor is judged, and the church remains far behind the work it should do. It gives missionary work its atmosphere of suffering and sacrifice, shaping service by His costly work of salvation, yet the church's work still falls far short of matching it in earnestness and scope. On that night of agony the disciples failed to give Him the sympathy and comfort He needed and instead reproached, forsook Him and left His love unrequited. Being asleep when one should be watching is failure of spiritual vigilance, and the warning given to Brother Newton is urgent because Satan's power leads into temptation and easily misleads those who do not watch unto prayer, while love of the world and gain can cloud judgment and little time remains to strive for eternal life.