What does Matthew 26:37 mean?

Having left the main part of the city, after a Passover meal (Matthew 26:17–19), Jesus and the disciples arrive at a spot they have come to several times before. It is a garden at a place called Gethsemane on the western side of the Mount of Olives. It is late in the evening, perhaps 10 or 11 p.m. Jesus intends to spend some time in the garden praying by Himself away from the group. He has asked eight of the disciples to sit and wait for Him (Matthew 26:36).

Now He takes Peter and the two sons of Zebedee farther in with Him. James and John are these other men. Together with Peter, these three are often called Jesus' inner circle: His closest disciples. These are the three He took to the top of the mountain to see Him transfigured into His glorious appearance (Matthew 17:1–2).

Jesus has apparently remained composed throughout the evening, all the while knowing that the time of His betrayal, arrest, and suffering was about to begin (Matthew 16:21). Now, though, Jesus begins to become sorrowful and troubled. He will tell these three He is sad to the point of death (Matthew 26:38). Other Gospels indicate the unimaginable agony of these emotions (Mark 14:34; Luke 22:44).

This sudden, overt reference to His own feelings is even weightier, in that Christ is so rarely described in the Gospels by what He is feeling. He has spoken of the events about to take place very directly and in terms of the fulfillment of prophecy. Never, however, did those depictions make mention of how He felt about it. He has shown He is willing. Now He shows how difficult this is for Him. As One who is fully human, anticipation of these experiences is its own form of torture.