Matthew 26:45

‘Then comes he to the disciples, and says to them, “Sleep on from now on, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” '

After more prayer, His course now made clear, His soul is at peace, and He returns to the eleven. All are asleep emphasising His aloneness. But now He sympathetically tells them to sleep on. Their prayers can accomplish nothing for Him now, and it is too late for them.

‘The hour has drawn near and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.' For the hour has drawn near of which the Scriptures had prophesied. The One Who alone is truly human in His obedience to God, ‘the Son of Man', is betrayed into the hands of ‘sinners' (amartolos), in Matthew those who are disobedient to the Law (Matthew 9:10; Matthew 11:19). Probably in mind are the ‘wild beasts' of Daniel 7 who oppose those who observe His Law (Daniel 7:25). Here in Old Testament ideology is the antithesis between flesh and spirit. In Daniel 7 the ‘ideal' people of God (the holy ones of the Most High) who sought the will of God and obeyed His Law were depicted as ‘a son of man', that is, as revealing true humanness in their attitude towards God by their willing obedience to Him, in accordance with what had been required of man when he was first created. They followed the spirit. (Note in Daniel 7:4 how Nebuchadnezzar's conversion, described in Daniel 5, is depicted in terms of becoming ‘human'). The nations were depicted as wild beasts who followed their own animal desires. They followed the flesh. They did their own will. They were ‘sinners', lawbreakers. And now that the One has come Who in the end was the only true ‘Son of Man' in terms of how God had originally created man, He is to be delivered over to the wild beasts for the indulgence by them of the flesh, so that He might be demonstrated as free from the grip of the flesh. It was necessary in order that through His victory some of the children of the flesh might be redeemed and become children of the Spirit (children of promise - Romans 9:8). It was through this that the disciples, who had after all demonstrated that they were still largely but children of the flesh, with their spirits weak, would become strong as children of the Spirit (compare Galatians 4:29; Galatians 5:16). This idea that God's strengthening purposes come about through tribulation and suffering is constant in both the Old and the New Testaments (see especially Romans 5:2). It is tribulation and suffering that weakens the hold of the flesh and turns men's thoughts towards God. ‘When His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness' (Isaiah 26:9).

‘The hour is drawn near (eggiken).' Compare Matthew 21:34 where ‘the time of the fruit drew near (eggisen)', the time of accounting. Previously ‘eggiken' (has drawn near) has exclusively depicted the coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Matthew 10:7). Perhaps there is here then an indication that in what is about to happen the Kingly Rule of Heaven will be manifested, and this is especially so in view of the connection with the Son of Man of Daniel 7, where the delivering over of the son of man resulted in the reception of Kingly Rule. But it is also used in Matthew 26:46 of the ‘drawing near' of the Betrayer in what is probably a deliberate play on words. The drawing near of the Betrayer will issue in the drawing near of God's Kingly Rule, for the hour that has ‘drawn near' includes all aspects of His activity in saving the world. Undoubtedly central here, however, is the idea that the hour of His betrayal and death has drawn near.

‘The Son of man is betrayed into hands of sinners.' Compare Matthew 17:22, ‘the Son of Man will be betrayed into hands of men.' Men will betray Him and deliver Him up because they are sinners, because they are bestial. The word ‘sinners' is unusual for Matthew, and being here set against the title Son of Man, probably recalls the situation in Daniel 7 as we have suggested above.

‘Sleep on now, and take your rest.' There is a question here as to how we translate ‘now' (loipon). It can mean ‘what remains, what is left' i.e. the remainder, and thus mean ‘from now on'. How we translate it will depend on whether we see the whole phrase as a question or a statement. And that will also depend on whether we see the next verse as following immediately or as following after a short interval (we can read it as either). The question is as to whether Jesus is being ironic, ‘Go on, carry on sleeping, I am about to be betrayed'. Or is asking sadly, ‘Do you sleep on and continue to take your rest at this momentous hour? Do you not realise what is happening' (compare Matthew 26:40). or is He saying sympathetically, ‘sleep on now for the remainder of the time that remains, and get some rest, for it will not be long, and soon you will not feel like sleeping'. The last would seem to be what He really has in mind.