Matthew 26:41 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

NIV: "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

NASB: Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'

CSB: Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

NLT: Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!'

KJV: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

NKJV: Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Falling on His face in prayer, in a dark olive grove, Jesus is in literal agony, full of sorrow and sweating profusely (Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34; Luke 22:44). He has prayed to His Father that, if possible, the cup of God's judgment could pass from Him (Matthew 26:39), though He has made it clear that He will submit to the Father's will. He has returned to find His three most trusted disciples sleeping instead of "watching" with Him (Matthew 26:40).

Now Jesus urges them to watch and pray. He wants them to ask that they not fall prey to temptation. Jesus may be talking about the temptation to sleep or He might mean the temptation that will soon arrive to abandon Jesus because of danger. Jesus acknowledges that their spirit is willing to do what is right and honorable, but their flesh—their desires, appetites, urges—is weak (Romans 7:22–25). To be tempted is no sin (Hebrews 4:15), but when we fall to temptation, it is our fault alone (1Corinthians 10:13).

Jesus' words provide a clear instruction for one way to battle temptation to do wrong: Prayer. Prayer is a God-given weapon against our own sinful desires. God means for believers to overcome temptation, in part, through urgent and faithful prayer (James 5:16).

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.