Daily Devotional For Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Good morning and thank you for joining us today for a look in the Gospel of Matthew. We have been making our way through it and today we come to Matthew 26:36-46:
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ (37) And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. (38) Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’ (39) And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’ (40) And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? (41) Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ (42) He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ (43) Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. (44) And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. (45) Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. (46) Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!’” (NASB).
Because this is a longer passage, we are going to take a couple of days to work our way through it. Jesus and His disciples proceed on to the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane. “Gethssemane means “oil pressed” and this garden was and is today full of olive trees, which were owned by the wealthy in Jerusalem. Jesus left 8 of His disciples and took His core three with HIm – Peter, James and John. It seems His intent was for them to stay awake and pray for Him.
In verse 37, Jesus is “troubled.” This is the Greek New Testament word [ἀδημονέω; adēmoneō] and it can refer to being emotionally, spiritually and physically weak. In verse 38, Jesus is “deeply grieved.” The Greek New Testament word is [περίλυπος; perilupos]. This word refers to someone who is so overwhelmed with stress they are close to having a mental breakdown. You could translate these as “stressed/distressed” and in misery. Jesus knows of His coming crucifixion and death.
Luke’s Gospel adds this to what was going on here. Luke 22:44, “And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (NASB). For one to sweat drops of blood is medically possible. The medical condition is called hematidrosis – this occurs when a body is under such stress due to fear or anxiety or fear of death. Hematidrosis is a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress. Severe mental anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system to invoke the fight-or-flight response to such a degree as to cause hemorrhage of the vessels supplying the sweat glands. Hebrews 5:7 refers to how intense Jesus’ prayer was here.
God did not spare Jesus from the crucifixion and death on a cross, but God did answer Jesus’ prayer by resurrecting Him from the grave and death. Jesus was not praying that God would spare Him from the cross and death as some have proposed. Jesus shows that He was willing to be obedient to God the Father, even to death on a cross. That is Paul’s point in Philippians 2:8. Jesus was at no typical prayer meeting. He prostrated Himself before God the Father, wrestling with what was to come for Him.
He was coming to terms with the torturous suffering in mind, emotion, body, and soul that was about to occur the following day. Greek New Testament scholar A.T. Robertson writes this:
“The Master is about to taste the bitter dregs in the cup of death for the sin of the world.… He instinctively shrank from the cup, but instantly surrendered his will to the Father’s will and drank it to the full. Evidently Satan tempted Christ now to draw back from the Cross. Here Jesus won the power to go on to Calvary” (Source: A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures, pp. 212-213).
What we see here is the full humanity of Jesus on display. We see how the devil was using every trick to take advantage of Jesus, to convince Him to make self-preservation more important than obedience. Three times Jesus threw Himself on the mercy of God the Father and three times He returned and instead of finding His disciples praying, He found them sleeping. If this had been us, it would have been disappointing, since all of them had promised to die for Jesus. They had such gallant and brave promising words in the Upper Room, and now, these gallant, brave warriors are fast asleep. Jesus’ stress level was like He had never experienced before and the disciples, well, they are sleeping off any stress they might have had.
Reflection Assignment: When God calls you to do something for Him, is self-preservation on your mind or the mind of those who love you? If we are not ready to die for Jesus, we are not ready to live for Jesus. What is it that God has called you to do that you have been making excuses as to why you cannot or should not do it? What does that say about your love for God?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Peter 2:24, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, thank You for being obedient to God the Father, even to death on the cross. Help me to be obedient to You no matter what You have called me to do. Help me not to think first self-preservation, but to think obedience. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly