When they arrived, Jesus had told the disciples, "Pray that ye enter not into temptation" (Luke 22:40). He came back from His own prayer and found them asleep. His question wakes them and calls them back to what He asked. Luke alone says they slept "for sorrow." Barnes takes this to mean "On account of the greatness of their sorrow," and in his notes on Matthew 26:40 he calls their sleep "proof of their great attachment, and their deep sympathy in his sorrows." Jesus' question is less an accusation than an urgent call: the hour of testing was at the door.

Luke records no answer. Jesus did not wait for one: "rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation" (Luke 22:46). "And while he yet spake, behold a multitude," and Judas went before them and drew near to kiss Jesus (Luke 22:47). The temptation Jesus warned of came at once. Mark notes of an earlier moment that night that "neither wist they what to answer him" (Mark 14:40).

The Mount of Olives faces Jerusalem from the east, and Jesus went there "as he was wont," that is, as was His habit (Luke 22:39). Matthew and Mark name the place Gethsemane and record that He found the disciples sleeping three times (Matthew 26:36-45; Mark 14:32-41). Luke tells it more briefly and adds two details found only here: an angel strengthening Jesus, and the disciples sleeping "for sorrow" (Luke 22:43, 45).

Matthew Henry explains the sorrow: "The great sorrow they were in upon the mournful farewells their Master had been this evening giving them had exhausted their spirits." Gill notes that the Arabic version, an early translation, begins the verse with "and he awaked them."

This question shows the compassion of Jesus at His own hour of greatest need. He had just prayed so earnestly that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood" (Luke 22:44). Yet when He found His friends asleep, He did not abandon them. He woke them and pointed them to what He Himself had just been doing: prayer (Luke 22:41-44).

Jesus Himself was the example of what He asked. He faced the cup by praying, "not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). The disciples, who slept, soon scattered (Matthew 26:56). The contrast shows that the strength to stand in a time of trial does not come from good intentions, but from prayer. Jesus had already told Peter, "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32).