Jesus prays at Gethsemane, in 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘸.

Matthew 26.26-46.

The synoptic gospels all tell of Jesus praying in Gethsemane, a privately-owned olive garden on Mt. Olivet. Its name in Syriac is ܓ݁ܶܕ݁ܣܺܡܰܢ/Gad Smáni, which likely comes from the Hebrew גַּת שֶׁמֶן/gat šemén, “oil press.” John says they liked to hang out there, Jn 18.2 and Luke says it’s where they usually went. Lk 22.39 I already wrote of the Mark version of the story; now for the Matthew version.

Matthew 26.36-46 KWL

36Then Jesus comes with his students

to a private property called Gad Smáni/“oil press.”

He tells the students, “Sit here while I go there and pray.”

37Taking Simon Peter and Zebedee’s two sons,

Jesus begins to be distressed and troubled.

38Jesus tells his students, “My soul is intensely sad,

to the point of death.

Stay here and stay awake with me.”

39Going a little further,

Jesus falls on his face,

praying and saying, “My Father!

If it’s possible, make this cup pass by me!

Only not what I will,

but what you¹ will.”

40Jesus comes to the students

and finds them sleeping.

He tells Peter, “So you’re² not strong enough

to be awake one hour with me.

41Stay awake and pray!—

lest you² come to temptation.

You have a truly eager spirit—

and weak flesh.”

42Going away again a second time,

Jesus prays, saying, “My Father!

If this {cup} can’t pass by {me} unless I drink it—

your¹ will be done.”

43Coming back again, Jesus finds his students sleeping,

for their eyes are very heavy.

44Leaving the students again, going away,

Jesus prays a third time,

saying the same word again.

45Then Jesus comes to the students

and tells them, “Sleep the rest of the time.

Get your² rest.

…Look, the hour came near,

and the Son of Man is betrayed into sinners’ hands.

46Get up; we should go.

Look, my betrayer came near.”

Mark also says Jesus went off by himself to pray thrice—saying the same thing each time Mk 14.39 —but lest you get the idea Jesus is praying the exact same prayer each time, Matthew records two of the prayers. Both prayers have the very same theme—I don’t wanna, but your will be done—but they’re not the very same words. Same theme, different words. And when Matthew says Jesus prayed the same thing the third time, he notably says Jesus is saying the same λόγον/lóyon, “word,” again. Not “words,” as the KJV translates it; it’s singular, because it means message, not literally word. Same idea. Same prayer.

And same as Mark, the kids had fallen asleep while Jesus prayed. Preachers like to joke somebody must’ve stayed awake to recall what Jesus said… and if that’s so, y’notice they don’t record Jesus’s third prayer, because all of them were dead asleep by then. But no, nobody had to stay awake to take dictation. At some point later, one of the kids probably asked Jesus, “So what’d you pray in the garden?” and he told them. Jesus was more than capable of filling in the blanks in his own story, y’know.

Jesus’s cup of sorrows.

Everybody knows by now, or should know, the “cup” Jesus prayed about is a metaphor for the suffering he was about to undergo. He wasn’t anxious about death, because death for the Christian is nothing to fear. We’re coming back from it, and Jesus was coming back way sooner than the rest of us, and knew it. That wasn’t the problem. The torture was. Crucifixion is nasty and painful, and the Romans made very sure you felt it all the way to the end.

In the best and oldest copies of Matthew, and therefore in the UBS6 and Tyndale House GNT, Jesus makes reference to this cup in his first prayer, but not his second. I put it in braces because the Textus Receptus added it. The words τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο/to potírion túto, “this cup,” got added to verse 42 in the 300s. Properly, Jesus said, “If this can’t pass by unless I drink it,” and since he does say πίω/pío, “I might drink,” it’s not hard to deduce he’s talking about that cup, even if he doesn’t actually say the words some overzealous fourth-century scribe inserted into his mouth.

Why the metaphor? Because you know Jesus loves him some metaphors. But also because sometimes it’s easier to deal with stuff when you refer to it in metaphor, and not call it by the awful thing it literally is. Jesus didn’t wanna say, “this agony I’m about to go through,” over and over again. But “the cup which my Father hath given me” Jn 18.11 KJV —yeah, that’s a little easier to bear. For the time being. Eventually he really did have to drink it.

As I said in the article about Gethsemane in Mark, here’s Jesus freaking out a bit about what he knew was coming. He’s human; he didn’t want to suffer, but more than that, he wanted to do his Father’s will, and if this was his Father’s will he was all for it. But lest we think he’s some crazy zealous maniac who shrugged off excruciating pain because he was so bananas for his Father, the synoptic gospels reveal nope, he’s a man who really, really doesn’t want the cup his Father gave him. But he’ll drink it anyway. That’s how much God loves the world.