Stay Awake

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

STAY AWAKE

Mark 14:37-42

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."  39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. 41 Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!" 

NIV

Three times Jesus got up from his prayer time to return to his three that he had taken a little further into the garden with him only to find them fast asleep. Jesus certainly was distressed and was overwhelmed with sorrow, but it appears Peter, James and John were not so distressed and as the hour was late, they were tired and could not stay awake to keep watch with Jesus. We are not sure exactly how long it was that Jesus was praying but we do know that those three could not stay awake, so we might guess that Jesus spent considerable time praying. To some extent it is pretty boring just sitting waiting for someone, especially if what they are doing is not very exciting. Yet What Jesus had said to them was not really about them falling to sleep in the human sense, he told them not to fall asleep spiritually, but to instead watch and pray so they would not fall into temptation. Yes, Peter, James and John actually feel asleep in the human sense, and it was not a spiritual sleep, but in some sense it was. They knew Jesus was troubled, they knew he was, as he told them, about to face very difficult times. They knew Judas had gone to the chief priests to betray Jesus, because of the conversation and his actions at the supper. They knew things were going to get dicey and that Jesus needed to spent personal time with God. Peter had even proclaimed he would die with Jesus before disowning him, so they knew the time was about to go ballistic and they could not stay awake and keep watch, praying in the spirit with and for Jesus. Their spirit was willing but their bodies were weak.  The truth is we have every intention not to fall into temptation, our spirit is willing to be obedient to Christ, to remain above the fray of sin, but our bodies are indeed weak, for even with the best intentions, we fail. It is our bodies which betray our spirits. Yes we should be able to control every aspect of our bodies, our mind with its thoughts, our mouth, with its words, our eyes with their lusts, our ears with what they hear, our bodies with what it does, but the truth is no matter how hard we try to control it all, we fail, for we are indeed weak. Now that is no excuse it is just a fact and so we need to know and acknowledge. If we refuse to accept that fact then we might fall into the trap of not staying awake, spiritually, keeping watch, praying that we do not fall. We might be lulled into a false sense of security by him who desires to betray us to Christ. We need to stay awake.