Matthew 26:38

‘Then he says to them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death, you remain here, and watch with me.”

Then, reaching a second point He leaves the three, speaking of His anguish which is so great that He feels almost that He will die, and calling on them to remain there and watch with Him. He wants their support in His agony. In His grief of soul He possibly has in mind Psalms 42-43. with their threefold, ‘why are you cast down, O My soul? And why are you disquieted within me?' (Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11; Psalms 43:5), and there we also find the words, ‘All your waves and your billows have gone over Me' (Psalms 42:7), which are so descriptive of what He was enduring, the very billows of God. But it will be clear in the end that He obtains little help from them, and the purpose of their failure is in order to bring out how Jesus must bear His burden alone. What had to be experienced that night was beyond the strength and commitment of ordinary men, even those who loved Him.

‘And watch with Me.' Passover became ‘a night of watching to YHWH' (Exodus 12:42) because of the victory that He had achieved. These too were to watch with Him so as to seek to attain victory in what lay ahead, for they now ‘knew' about the new Passover which was to involve the breaking of His body and the shedding of His blood, and He longed for their support. All He asked was that they keep awake and watch, although He no doubt expected them also to watch with prayer. His concern was that they be alert to the urgency of the hour, and have a sympathetic part in it. He wanted to know that they were with Him in His trial.