Mark 14:35

And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 26:36-46.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 14:32-42. The Agony in the Garden. ( = Mt 26:36-46; Lu 22:39-46).

See on [1507]Lu 22:39-46.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 14:32"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he went forward a little,.... About a stone's cast, Luke 22:41,

and fell on the ground, and prayed; he fell on his face to the ground, which was a praying posture. One of the Jewish canons concerning it, is this (a):

"worshipping, how is it done? after a man has lifted up his head; he bows it five times, he sits upon the ground, and "falls upon his face", "to the ground", and supplicates with whatsoever supplication he pleases: worshipping, or bowing, is the stretching out of hands and feet, until a man is found cast upon his face to the ground.''

See Gill on Matthew 26:39. The supplication Christ made in this posture was,

that, it were possible, the hour might pass from him; the time fixed and agreed upon for his sufferings and death; that is, that it might pass without his enduring them, if there was any possibility of excusing him, and of his people's being saved without them; See Gill on Matthew 26:39.

(a) Maimon. Hilch. Tephilla, c. 5. sect. 13.

Geneva Study Bible

And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 14:35. ἔπιπτεν ([130] [131] [132], ἔπεσεν T.R. as in Mt.), imperfect: He fell again and again on the ground. It was a protracted desperate struggle.—καὶ προσηύχετο ἵνα: Mk. first indicates the gist of Christ’s prayers (= that if possible the hour might pass from Him), then reports what Jesus said (Mark 14:36). In the prayer of Jesus the experience dreaded is called the cup, as in Mt. The Hour and the Cup—both alike solemn, suggestive names.

[130] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[131] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[132] Codex Regius--eighth century, represents an ancient text, and is often in agreement with א and B.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. forward a little] “about a stone’s throw” (Luke 22:41), perhaps out of the moonlight into the shadow of the garden.

Bengel's Gnomen

[35. Παρέλθῃ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα, the hour might pass from Him) The hour, He saith. Jesus knew that the cup would speedily be drained, and His passion speedily be terminated; and as heretofore He had been sure of the issue being good, so not even now had He any room for doubting it. This certainty of the issue does not in any degree detract from the love either of the Son delivering Himself up, or even of the Father delivering His Son up for us. Yet the cup and the hour struck Jesus with anguish; for which reason He prayed for their passing from Him, subject to the condition of the Father’s will, and the possibility of the case.—Harm. p. 527.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 35. - Our Lord now separated himself, though apparently, as St. Luke (Luke 22:41) says, only "about a stone's cast" from the three disciples, and threw himself on the ground in mortal agony, and prayed that this hour of his supreme mental anguish might, if possible, pass from him. Mark 14:35

Vincent's Word Studies

Prayed (προσηύχετο)

Imperfect tense: began to pray.