(37) Simon, sleepest thou?--Note that while St. Matthew and St. Luke give the question in the plural, St. Mark reports it in the singular, and joins it with the emphatic utterance of the name of the disciple. His report, too, includes the two questions which appear separately in the other two Gospels.
Verse 37. - And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saithunto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest thou not watch one hour? St. Luke says (Luke 22:45) that they were "sleeping for sorrow." So on the Mount of Transfiguration he says (Luke 9:32) that they were "heavy with sleep." This rebuke, which St. Mark tells us here was pointedly addressed to Peter, seems to glance at his earnest protestations of fidelity made not long before. And our Lord calls him by his old name of Simon. In St. Matthew (Matthew 26:40) it is less pointed; for there, while our Lord looks at Peter, he addresses them all. "He saith unto -Peter, What, could not ye watch with me one hour?" This is just one of those graphic little incidents which we may suppose St. Mark to have received directly from St. Peter.
14:32-42 Christ's sufferings began with the sorest of all, those in his soul. He began to be sorely amazed; words not used in St. Matthew, but very full of meaning. The terrors of God set themselves in array against him, and he allowed him to contemplate them. Never was sorrow like unto his at this time. Now he was made a curse for us; the curses of the law were laid upon him as our Surety. He now tasted death, in all the bitterness of it. This was that fear of which the apostle speaks, the natural fear of pain and death, at which human nature startles. Can we ever entertain favourable, or even slight thoughts of sin, when we see the painful sufferings which sin, though but reckoned to him, brought on the Lord Jesus? Shall that sit light upon our souls, which sat so heavy upon his? Was Christ in such agony for our sins, and shall we never be in agony about them? How should we look upon Him whom we have pierced, and mourn! It becomes us to be exceedingly sorrowful for sin, because He was so, and never to mock at it. Christ, as Man, pleaded, that, if it were possible, his sufferings might pass from him. As Mediator, he submitted to the will of God, saying, Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt; I bid it welcome. See how the sinful weakness of Christ's disciples returns, and overpowers them. What heavy clogs these bodies of ours are to our souls! But when we see trouble at the door, we should get ready for it. Alas, even believers often look at the Redeemer's sufferings in a drowsy manner, and instead of being ready to die with Christ, they are not even prepared to watch with him one hour.
And he cometh and findeth them sleeping,.... His three disciples, Peter, James, and John:
and saith unto Peter; particularly, he having so lately asserted, with so much confidence, his love to Christ, and close attachment to him:
Simon, sleepest thou? Christ calls him by the name he first went by, and not by that which he had given him, Cephas, or Peter; he not now having that firmness and constancy, though he boasted of it, which answers to that name:
couldst thou not watch one hour? The Arabic and Persic versions add, with me; and so does the Complutensian edition; See Gill on Matthew 26:40.
and saith unto Peter; particularly, he having so lately asserted, with so much confidence, his love to Christ, and close attachment to him:
Simon, sleepest thou? Christ calls him by the name he first went by, and not by that which he had given him, Cephas, or Peter; he not now having that firmness and constancy, though he boasted of it, which answers to that name:
couldst thou not watch one hour? The Arabic and Persic versions add, with me; and so does the Complutensian edition; See Gill on Matthew 26:40.