Mark 14:33

And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(33) Began to be sore amazed.—Note St. Mark’s use of the stronger word as compared with St. Matthew’s “to be sorrowful.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:32-42 Christ's sufferings began with the sorest of all, those in his soul. He began to be sorely amazed; words not used in St. Matthew, but very full of meaning. The terrors of God set themselves in array against him, and he allowed him to contemplate them. Never was sorrow like unto his at this time. Now he was made a curse for us; the curses of the law were laid upon him as our Surety. He now tasted death, in all the bitterness of it. This was that fear of which the apostle speaks, the natural fear of pain and death, at which human nature startles. Can we ever entertain favourable, or even slight thoughts of sin, when we see the painful sufferings which sin, though but reckoned to him, brought on the Lord Jesus? Shall that sit light upon our souls, which sat so heavy upon his? Was Christ in such agony for our sins, and shall we never be in agony about them? How should we look upon Him whom we have pierced, and mourn! It becomes us to be exceedingly sorrowful for sin, because He was so, and never to mock at it. Christ, as Man, pleaded, that, if it were possible, his sufferings might pass from him. As Mediator, he submitted to the will of God, saying, Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt; I bid it welcome. See how the sinful weakness of Christ's disciples returns, and overpowers them. What heavy clogs these bodies of ours are to our souls! But when we see trouble at the door, we should get ready for it. Alas, even believers often look at the Redeemer's sufferings in a drowsy manner, and instead of being ready to die with Christ, they are not even prepared to watch with him one hour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 26:36-46.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 14:32-42. The Agony in the Garden. ( = Mt 26:36-46; Lu 22:39-46).

See on [1507]Lu 22:39-46.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 14:32"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he taketh with him Peter, and James, and John,.... Who were witnesses of his transfiguration on the mount, and now of his sorrows in the garden:

and began to be sore amazed; to be in great consternation and astonishment, at the sight of all the sins of his people coming upon him; at the black storm of wrath, that was gathering thick over him; at the sword of justice which was brandished against him; and at the curses of the righteous law, which, like so many thunderbolts of vengeance, were directed at him: no wonder it should be added,

and to be very heavy: both with sin and sorrow; See Gill on Matthew 26:37.

Geneva Study Bible

And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 14:33. ἤρξατο, introduces the description of our Lord’s awful experience in the garden.—ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι, to be amazed; in Mk. only, first in Mark 9:15, where see remarks on its meaning. Though Jesus had long known, and had often with realistic plainness spoken of, what was to befall Him, yet the vivid sense of what it all meant came upon His soul at this hour, as a sudden appalling revelation. The other two words used by Mk. to describe Christ’s state of mind (ἀδημονεῖν. περίλυπος) occur in Mt. also.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

33. he taketh with him] the three most trusted and long-tried of the Apostolic body, who had been before the privileged witnesses of the raising of the daughter of Jairus and of the Transfiguration.

began to be sore amazed] “To drede,” Wyclif. We have already met this word in ch. Mark 9:15, where it was applied to the amazement of the people when they saw the Lord after the Transfiguration, and we shall meet with it again in ch. Mark 16:5-6, where it is applied to the holy women at the Sepulchre. St Mark alone applies the word to our Lord’s sensations at this crisis of His life.

to be very heavy] “to heuye,” Wyclif. The original word thus translated only occurs (1) here, (2) in the parallel, Matthew 26:37, and (3) in Php 2:26, “for he (Epaphroditus) longed after you all, and was full of heaviness.” Buttmann suggests that the root idea is that of being “away from home,” and so “confused,” “beside oneself.” Others consider the primary idea to be that of “loathing” and “discontent.” Truly in respect to His human nature our Lord was far from home, far from His native skies, and the word may be taken to describe the awfulness of His isolation, unsupported by a particle of human sympathy,—a troubled, restless state, accompanied by the keenest mental distress.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 14:33. Ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι, Hesychius writes, ἔκθαυβος, ἔκπληκτος. Eustathius, θαμβεῖν, τὸ ἐπὶ θέᾳ τινὸς ἐκπλήττεσθαι.[2]

[2] θάμβος is akin to θήπω θεαομαι, wonder at some amazing sight being the connecting idea; as in Lat. suspicio.—ED. and TRANSL.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 33. - It appears that our Lord separated himself from all the disciples except Peter and James and John, and then the bitter agony began. He began to be greatly amazed, and sore troubled (e)kqambei = sqai kai\ a)dhmonei = n). These two Greek verbs are as adequately expressed above as seems possible. The first implies "utter, extreme amazement;" if the second has for its root ἄδημος, "not at home," it implies the anguish of the soul struggling to free itself from the body under the pressure of intense mental distress. The three chosen disciples were allowed to be witnesses of this awful anguish. They had been fortified to endure the sight by the glories of the transfiguration. It would have been too much for the faith of the rest. But these three witnessed it, that they might learn themselves, and be able to teach others, that the way to glory is by suffering. Mark 14:33

Vincent's Word Studies

To be sore amazed (ἐκθαμβεῖσθαι)

A word peculiar to Mark. Compare Mark 9:15; Mark 16:5, Mark 16:6.