39 And having gone forth, he went on, according to custom, to the mount of the Olives, and his disciples also followed him, 40 and having come to the place, he said to them, 'Pray ye not to enter into temptation.' 41 And he was withdrawn from them, as it were a stone's cast, and having fallen on the knees he was praying, 42 saying, 'Father, if Thou be counselling to make this cup pass from me—; but, not my will, but Thine be done.'— 43 And there appeared to him a messenger from heaven strengthening him; 44 and having been in agony, he was more earnestly praying, and his sweat became, as it were, great drops of blood falling upon the ground.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 22:39-44
Commentary on Luke 22:39-46
(Read Luke 22:39-46)
Every description which the evangelists give of the state of mind in which our Lord entered upon this conflict, proves the tremendous nature of the assault, and the perfect foreknowledge of its terrors possessed by the meek and lowly Jesus. Here are three things not in the other evangelists. 1. When Christ was in his agony, there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. It was a part of his humiliation that he was thus strengthened by a ministering spirit. 2. Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Prayer, though never out of season, is in a special manner seasonable when we are in an agony. 3. In this agony his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down. This showed the travail of his soul. We should pray also to be enabled to resist unto the shedding of our blood, striving against sin, if ever called to it. When next you dwell in imagination upon the delights of some favourite sin, think of its effects as you behold them here! See its fearful effects in the garden of Gethsemane, and desire, by the help of God, deeply to hate and to forsake that enemy, to ransom sinners from whom the Redeemer prayed, agonized, and bled.