Matthew 26:44 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

NIV: So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

NASB: And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

CSB: After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

NLT: So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

KJV: And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

NKJV: So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Jesus is in emotional turmoil. He is in agony almost beyond comprehension (Matthew 26:37–38; Mark 14:34; Luke 22:44) at the prospect of the suffering He will experience in the coming hours (Matthew 16:21). He knows God's judgment for humanity's sinfulness will be poured out on Him. He knows, also, that He will experience some strain, beyond human comprehension, in His relationship with God the Father (Matthew 26:46) during this time.

Christ's response to these unimaginable stresses is a model for all saved believers. After expressing what He is feeling to His closest disciples, Jesus moves off by Himself to pray. When He prays, He lays face down on the ground in a position of absolute humility and respect.

His prayer is specific. He tells God the Father what He wants: for this suffering to pass by Him, if possible. In the exact same moment, however, He also submits to the will of God the Father, declaring His willingness to experience whatever God wills (Matthew 26:39–40). It's noteworthy that Jesus does not make this prayer once. He prays in this same way three times in a row. He repeats what He has already prayed.

This is not because God doesn't know the desires or the heart of His own Son. Jesus repeats this act because giving our requests to God is a way of sharing the mental and emotional burden with Him. Paul commands this exact process for anxious believers (Philippians 4:4–7).

We are not Jesus, of course, and there is a mystery here. The Son of God is making a request of God the Father to avoid the cup He has come to earth to drink. He is also submitting, willingly and obediently, to whatever the Father chooses. What is the relationship, exactly, between these two who are also one? It may be beyond our human capacity to understand on this side of eternity. What we do know is that Jesus, as One fully human (Hebrews 4:15), is expressing His very human emotions in a perfectly sinless way.

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.