Matthew 26:37 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

NIV: He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

NASB: And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed.

CSB: Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

NLT: He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.

KJV: And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

NKJV: And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Having left the main part of the city, after a Passover meal (Matthew 26:17–19), Jesus and the disciples arrive at a spot they have come to several times before. It is a garden at a place called Gethsemane on the western side of the Mount of Olives. It is late in the evening, perhaps 10 or 11 p.m. Jesus intends to spend some time in the garden praying by Himself away from the group. He has asked eight of the disciples to sit and wait for Him (Matthew 26:36).

Now He takes Peter and the two sons of Zebedee farther in with Him. James and John are these other men. Together with Peter, these three are often called Jesus' inner circle: His closest disciples. These are the three He took to the top of the mountain to see Him transfigured into His glorious appearance (Matthew 17:1–2).

Jesus has apparently remained composed throughout the evening, all the while knowing that the time of His betrayal, arrest, and suffering was about to begin (Matthew 16:21). Now, though, Jesus begins to become sorrowful and troubled. He will tell these three He is sad to the point of death (Matthew 26:38). Other Gospels indicate the unimaginable agony of these emotions (Mark 14:34; Luke 22:44).

This sudden, overt reference to His own feelings is even weightier, in that Christ is so rarely described in the Gospels by what He is feeling. He has spoken of the events about to take place very directly and in terms of the fulfillment of prophecy. Never, however, did those depictions make mention of how He felt about it. He has shown He is willing. Now He shows how difficult this is for Him. As One who is fully human, anticipation of these experiences is its own form of torture.

Matthew 26:36–46 follows Jesus and the disciples into a place called Gethsemane, on the Mount of Olives. He takes Peter, James, and John aside from the main group, then prays to God the Father in indescribably intense anguish. He prays a sincere wish that what's about to happen would not be necessary, but entirely submits to the will of God the Father. The disciples cannot stay awake, despite being roused more than once by Christ. Jesus prays three times, before pointing out Judas, the betrayer, who is coming with a crowd to arrest Him. These events are also depicted in Mark 14:32–42 and Luke 22:39–46.

The Jewish religious leaders further their plots to arrest and kill Jesus, finding a willing traitor in Judas Iscariot. A woman anoints Christ with oil during a dinner at Bethany. Next, Jesus and the disciples hold the Passover meal in an upper room where Jesus predicts His arrests and introduces the sacrament of communion. Then Jesus prays in unimaginable agony in the garden of Gethsemane before being betrayed by Judas and captured. The disciples scatter. Before the high priest, Jesus explicitly claims to be divine. They convict Him of blasphemy and sentence Him to death. As this happens, Peter denies knowing Jesus and runs away in shame.

After a long series of teaching (Matthew 24—25), Matthew 26 begins with Jesus saying He will be delivered up for death. Christ is anointed at a dinner in Bethany and Judas agrees to turn Him over to the chief priests. Jesus holds a Passover meal with the disciples, predicts an act of treachery, and introduces the sacrament of communion. He tells the disciples they will run in fear and that Peter will deny Him, which happens just as prophesied. Christ prays in great sorrow in a garden and is then arrested and taken away and unfairly sentenced to death. After this, Jesus will be taken to the Roman governor, where Jewish leadership will press for Him to be executed as an insurgent.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.