Practical Proverbial, from Matthew, 11 September 2025. Today's topic: Jesus Despondent
His Word, Our Journey
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:37-38 (NIV).
I’ve been despondent but never as despondent as Jesus was in Gethsemane. When my wife and I were separated, one night I felt so down that I counted out pills to kill myself. A friend of mine talked me back from it, but I look back on it now and realize I still wasn’t as full of sorrow as Jesus was at Gethsemane.
Jesus knew what death was better than anyone else in history. Death was the absence of Himself, the absence of God. Death was the opposite of the life that is God’s Son. Death is the realm of darkness and sin and rejection where Jesus is light and forgiveness and blessing. And yet, here He was, saying He felt deep inside, as deep as one could feel, overwhelmed by sorrow to the point of death. He felt so much sorrow over us that He said it felt like He would die, like he was at the point of death, of barely living. He who was life itself felt he was immediately at the edge of no life. I’ve never felt that despondent.
Today is September 11th and I remember a friend who died that day as well as the thousands who died with him. Yesterday, one of the media figures I admired, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated and people who hated him are rejoicing. Our world seems to be spinning out of control and it’s admittedly getting harder to stay positive. My own health could be better, and it’s hard to stay positive about that, too.
And yet, I’m not overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. In fact, I find comfort in what Jesus said after this. Being a man, He asked His friends to “stay here and keep watch with me.” ‘Let me be comforted by knowing you are there.’ ‘Be with me as I go to the Father.’ Yes, I know what happens after, which we’ll talk about next. But I find comfort in Jesus, God and man all at once, being just a man who needed comfort. He felt genuine hurt; He felt overwhelmed by it. He was despondent in ways I can’t even fathom.
I find it comforting because He knows how I felt, how I sometimes still feel. I can go to Him and ask Him to keep watch with me and know He won’t fall asleep, won’t abandon me, won’t mock or ignore me. I haven’t felt the depth of pain that Jesus did, but it’s comforting to know that He has felt mine and still keeps watch with me through it.
For more, read Mark 14:33-34, Luke 22:39-42, John 12:27, Matthew 26:39
Lord Jesus, thank You for feeling my pain.