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Click a verse to see commentary22. Last Supper, Betrayal, Arrest
1Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. 2And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people. 3And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver him unto them. 5And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 6And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver him unto them in the absence of the multitude. 7And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the passover must be sacrificed. 8And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and make ready for us the passover, that we may eat. 9And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we make ready? 10And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house whereinto he goeth. 11And ye shall say unto the master of the house, The Teacher saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? 12And he will show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 13And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. 14And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the apostles with him. 15And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you. 21But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. 22For the Son of man indeed goeth, as it hath been determined: but woe unto that man through whom he is betrayed! 23And they began to question among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. 24And there arose also a contention among them, which of them was accounted to be greatest. 25And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them; and they that have authority over them are called Benefactors. 26But ye shall not be so: but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 27For which is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am in the midst of you as he that serveth. 28But ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations; 29and I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father appointed unto me, 30that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and ye shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: 32but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren. 33And he said unto him, Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death. 34And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, until thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. 35And he said unto them, When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. 36And he said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet; and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. 37For I say unto you, that this which is written must be fulfilled in me, And he was reckoned with transgressors: for that which concerneth me hath fulfilment. 38And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough. 39And he came out, and went, as his custom was, unto the mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed him. 40And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41And he was parted from them about a stone's cast; and he kneeled down and prayed, 42saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43And there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. 45And when he rose up from his prayer, he came unto the disciples, and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46and said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. 47While he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them; and he drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? 49And when they that were about him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? 50And a certain one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and struck off his right ear. 51But Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye them thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52And Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders, that were come against him, Are ye come out, as against a robber, with swords and staves? 53When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched not forth your hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 54And they seized him, and led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed afar off. 55And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the court, and had sat down together, Peter sat in the midst of them. 56And a certain maid seeing him as he sat in the light of the fire, and looking stedfastly upon him, said, This man also was with him. 57But he denied, saying, Woman, I know him not. 58And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou also art one of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not. 59And after the space of about one hour another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this man also was with him; for he is a Galilaean. 60But Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 61And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said unto him, Before the cock crow this day thou shalt deny me thrice. 62And he went out, and wept bitterly. 63And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and beat him. 64And they blindfolded him, and asked him, saying, Prophesy: who is he that struck thee? 65And many other things spake they against him, reviling him. 66And as soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the people was gathered together, both chief priests and scribes; and they led him away into their council, saying, 67If thou art the Christ, tell us. But he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: 68and if I ask you, ye will not answer. 69But from henceforth shall the Son of man be seated at the right hand of the power of God. 70And they all said, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71And they said, What further need have we of witness? for we ourselves have heard from his own mouth.
The Agony in the Garden.
39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
We have here the awful story of Christ's agony in the garden, just before he was betrayed, which was largely related by the other evangelists. In it Christ accommodated himself to that part of his undertaking which he was now entering upon—the making of his soul an offering for sin. He afflicted his own soul with grief for the sin he was to satisfy for, and an apprehension of the wrath of God to which man had by sin made himself obnoxious, which he was pleased as a sacrifice to admit the impressions of, the consuming of a sacrifice with fire from heaven being the surest token of its acceptance. In it Christ entered the lists with the powers of darkness, gave them all the advantages they could desire, and yet conquered them.
I. What we have in this passage which we had before is, 1. That when Christ went out, though it was in the night, and a long walk, his disciples (eleven of them, for Judas had given them the slip) followed him. Having continued with him hitherto in his temptations, they would not leave him now. 2. That he went to the place where he was wont to be private, which intimates that Christ accustomed himself to retirement, was often alone, to teach us to be so, for freedom of converse with God and our own hearts. Though Christ had no conveniency for retirement but a garden, yet he retired. This should particularly be our practice after we have been at the Lord's table; we have then work to do which requires us to be private. 3. That he exhorted his disciples to pray that, though the approaching trial could not be avoided, yet they might not in it enter into temptation to sin; that, when they were in the greatest fright and danger, yet they might not have any inclination to desert Christ, nor take a step towards it: "Pray that you may be kept from sin." 4. That he withdrew from them, and prayed himself; they had their errands at the throne of grace, and he had his, and therefore it was fit that they should pray separately, as sometimes, when they had joint errands, they prayed together. He withdrew about a stone's cast further into the garden, which some reckon about fifty of sixty paces, and there he kneeled down (so it is here) upon the bare ground; but the other evangelists say that afterwards he fell on his face, and there prayed that, if it were the will of God, this cup of suffering, this bitter cup, might be removed from him. This was the language of that innocent dread of suffering which, being really and truly man, he could not but have in his nature. 5. That he, knowing it to be his Father's will that he should suffer and die, and that, as the matter was now settled, it was necessary for our redemption and salvation, presently withdrew that petition, did not insist upon it, but resigned himself to his heavenly Father's will: "Nevertheless not my will be done, not the will of my human nature, but the will of God as it is written concerning me in the volume of the book, which I delight to do, let that be done," Ps. xl. 7, 8. 6. That his disciples were asleep when he was at prayer, and when they should have been themselves praying, v. 45. When he rose from prayer, he found them sleeping, unconcerned in his sorrows; but see what a favourable construction is here put upon it, which we had not in the other evangelists—they were sleeping for sorrow. The great sorrow they were in upon the mournful farewells their Master had been this evening giving them had exhausted their spirits, and made them very dull and heavy, which (it being now late) disposed them to sleep. This teaches us to make the best of our brethren's infirmities, and, if there be one cause better than another, charitably impute them to that. 7. That when he awoke them, then he exhorted them to pray (v. 46): "Why sleep ye? Why do you allow yourselves to sleep? Rise and pray. Shake off your drowsiness, that you may be fit to pray, and pray for grace, that you may be able to shake off your drowsiness." This was like the ship-master's call to Jonah in a storm (Jon. i. 6): Arise, call upon thy God. When we find ourselves either by our outward circumstances or our inward dispositions entering into temptation, it concerns us to rise and pray, Lord, help me in this time of need. But,
II. There are three things in this passage which we had not in the other evangelists:—
1. That, when Christ was in his agony, there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him, v. 43. (1.) It was an instance of the deep humiliation of our Lord Jesus that he needed the assistance of an angel, and would admit it. The influence of the divine nature withdrew for the present, and then, as to his human nature, he was for a little while lower than the angels, and was capable of receiving help from them. (2.) When he was not delivered from his sufferings, yet he was strengthened and supported under them, and that was equivalent. If God proportion the shoulders to the burden, we shall have no reason to complain, whatever he is pleased to lay upon us. David owns this a sufficient answer to his prayer, in the day of trouble, that God strengthened him with strength in his soul, and so does the son of David, Ps. cxxxviii. 3. (3.) The angels ministered to the Lord Jesus in his sufferings. He could have had legions of them to rescue him; nay, this one could have done it, could have chased and conquered the whole band of men that came to take him; but he made use of his ministration only to strengthen him; and the very visit which this angel made him now in his grief, when his enemies were awake and his friends asleep, was such a seasonable token of the divine favour as would be a very great strengthening to him. Yet this was not all: he probably said something to him to strengthen him; put him in mind that his sufferings were in order to his Father's glory, to his own glory, and to the salvation of those that were given him, represented to him the joy set before him, the seed he should see; with these and the like suggestions he encouraged him to go on cheerfully; and what is comforting is strengthening. Perhaps he did something to strengthen him, wiped away his sweat and tears, perhaps ministered some cordial to him, as after his temptation, or, it may be, took him by the arm, and helped him off the ground, or bore him up when he was ready to faint away; and in these services of the angel the Holy Spirit was enischyon auton—putting strength into him; for so the word signifies. It pleased the Lord to bruise him indeed; yet did he plead against him with his great power? No, but he put strength in him (Job xxiii. 6), as he had promised, Ps. lxxxix. 21; Isa. xlix. 8; l. 7.
2. That, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, v. 44. As his sorrow and trouble grew upon him, he grew more importunate in prayer; not that there was before any coldness or indifferency in his prayers, but there was now a greater vehemency in them, which was expressed in his voice and gesture. Note, Prayer, though never out of season, is in a special manner seasonable when we are in an agony; and the stronger our agonies are the more lively and frequent our prayers should be. Now it was that Christ offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, and was heard in that he feared (Heb. v. 7), and in his fear wrestled, as Jacob with the angel.
3. That, in this agony, his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Sweat came in with sin, and was a branch of the curse, Gen. iii. 19. And therefore, when Christ was made sin and a curse for us, he underwent a grievous sweat, that in the sweat of his face we might eat bread, and that he might sanctify and sweeten all our trials to us. There is some dispute among the critics whether this sweat is only compared to drops of blood, being much thicker than drops of sweat commonly are, the pores of the body being more than ordinarily opened, or whether real blood out of the capillary veins mingled with it, so that it was in colour like blood, and might truly be called a bloody sweat; the matter is not great. Some reckon this one of the times when Christ shed his blood for us, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Every pore was as it were a bleeding wound, and his blood stained all his raiment. This showed the travail of his soul. He was now abroad in the open air, in a cool season, upon the cold ground, far in the night, which, one would think, had been enough to strike in a sweat; yet now he breaks out into a sweat, which bespeaks the extremity of the agony he was in.