Mark 14:41-42

Mark alone recorded that Jesus made three separate forays into the depths of the garden to pray.

"The Temptation of the Garden divides itself, like that of the Wilderness, into three acts, following close one on another." [Note: G. F. Maclear, "The Gospel According to St. Mark," in Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, p. 163.]

Jesus’ perseverance in prayer demonstrated the extent of His dependence on the Father. Jesus’ question convicted the disciples again. He probably intended His words as an ironic command rather than as a question or simply to express surprise (cf. Matthew 26:45).

Less clear is the meaning of, "It is enough." [Note: Cranfield, The Gospel . . ., pp. 435-36, listed eight different interpretations.] He could have meant that Judas had received the betrayal money from the chief priests since the Greek word apechei can mean "he has received it." Another possibility is that He meant that He now understood that the Cross was inevitable. Perhaps Jesus meant the disciples had had enough sleep and it was time to wake up. Fourth, He may have meant that He had finished His praying. I prefer the third and fourth views because they are the simplest explanations and because they make good sense.

The hour that had come was the time of Jesus’ arrest and death (cf. Mark 14:35). The sinners in view were Satan’s agents who would slay Jesus. Jesus’ short sentences reflect the tension and urgency of the moment. [Note: Hiebert, p. 362.]

Mark described Jesus’ movements in a somewhat chiastic form. Jesus came to the garden with His disciples, left most of them evidently at the entrance, took three of them farther, and proceeded even farther into its depths alone. Then He withdrew. At the center Jesus communed with His Father. The center of the garden and the center of the pericope correspond to the center of His spiritual conflict. This description helps the reader identify Jesus’ praying as at the very heart of His preparation for the Cross. It accounts for the remarkable poise with which Jesus handled Himself throughout the tumultuous events that followed.

"Perhaps the most commonly recognized pattern of narration in Mark is the threefold repetition of similar actions and events. . . . Some series are obvious because they occur in direct sequence: at Gethsemane, Jesus returns from prayer three times to find the disciples sleeping; Peter denies Jesus three times; Pilate asks the crowd three leading questions, each of which is rejected; and the narrator recounts events of the crucifixion at three, three-hour intervals (nine o’clock, noon, and three o’clock." [Note: Rhoads and Michie, p. 54.]

Here, "This threefold pattern of narration underscores the definitive failure of the disciples." [Note: Ibid.]