Matthew 26:39 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And fell on his face— The human nature of our Lord being now burdened beyond measure, he found it necessary to retire, and to pray that if it was possible, or consistent with the salvation of the world, he might be delivered from the sufferings which were then lying on him; for, that it was not the fear of dying on the cross, which made him speak and pray in the manner here related, is evident from this consideration, that to suppose it, would be to degrade our Lord's character infinitely: make his sufferings as terrible as possible, clothe them with all the aggravating circumstances imaginable, yet, if no more were included in them than the pains of death, for Jesus,—whose human nature was strengthened far beyond the natural pitch, by its union with the Divine,—to have shrunk at the prospect of it, would shew a weakness to which many of his followers were strangers, who encountered more terrible deaths without the least emotion. Our Lord first kneeled and prayed, as St. Luke tells us, Luke 12:41 then, in the vehemence of his passion, he fell on his face, and spake the words recorded both by St. Matthew and St. Mark; in the mean time his prayer, though most fervent, was accompanied with expressions of the utmost resignation. See Macknight and Calmet.