![]() ![]() Why sleep ye? evidently refers to the same point of time. to give yourselves to sleep?” This construction is strongly countenanced by Luke 22:46, where the expression. “Do you sleep now and take your rest? Is this a time, amid so much danger and so many enemies. Sleep on now and take your rest - Most interpreters have supposed that this should be translated as a question rattler than a command, Broadus, Commentary on the New Testament (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publishing Society, 1886), p. Immediately, perhaps even as he spoke, came the sudden onset of his arrest and capture. To be sure, they did not long enjoy the permission. So far as concerns the object for which he desired them to watch and pray, they may now yield to sleep. He has no further need of their keeping awake his struggles in the solitude close by are past. Dummelow viewed it as reproachful irony, "`You have slept through my agony sleep also through my betrayal and capture.'" Broadus viewed the passage as a permissive imperative. " is difficult, for, almost in the same moment, he said, "Arise, let us be going" ( Matthew 26:46). Then cometh he to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. The decisive victory he won in the garden enabled him to meet his betrayal, trial and death with renewed courage and assurance ( Mark 14:41-42). Jesus, by contrast, would give himself without reservation, in order to save others. They would face the temptation to deny Jesus in order to save themselves ( Mark 14:37-40 Luke 22:45-46). Jesus saw their weakness and urged them to be alert and pray for strength, because they too were going to be put to the test. Perhaps the reason why the disciples were unable to stay awake was not simply that they were over-tired, but that they were unable to withstand the satanic forces at work in the garden. But he won the battle, and determined that he would willingly submit to whatever his Father would have him go through ( Mark 14:35-36 Luke 22:41-44). As he fought against the temptation to avoid the cross, his agony of mind was so intense that he perspired what appeared to be blood. Jesus had a real human will, and when he considered the ordeal that lay ahead, a conflict arose within him. It was an experience no one else could know, for no one else had Jesus’ sinlessness or shared his relationship with the Father. Above all it was the inner agony as the sinless one, God’s Son, took upon himself the sin of his human creatures and bore God’s wrath on their behalf (cf. ![]() The ‘cup’ of suffering that caused Jesus such distress was not just physical suffering, great though that was. He had to battle against the temptation to avoid the suffering that lay ahead, but the battle was one he had to fight and win alone ( Mark 14:32-34 Luke 22:39-40). The three friends could do little to lessen his anguish except stay awake in sympathy with him. He was filled with anguish and horror as he saw clearly what his death would mean. ![]() Then, taking Peter, James and John with him, Jesus moved to a spot where they could be alone. It must have been getting towards midnight by the time Jesus and his disciples reached the Garden of Gethsemane.
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