“are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Mark 14:37-39
Personally, I think sleep is overrated, but I must admit I’ve fallen asleep in some pretty inappropriate places. Church pew, behind the wheel of a moving automobile, in an academic class. Uh huh. You’ve been there too? How about in the copilot’s seat of a military jet aircraft, during what the Air Force called a “critical phase of flight”, and with the Deputy Commander in the left seat? Ouch, I’m guilty of that one too (and the quantity of people who knew about that before today numbers in the single-digits).
I have what may seem like a couple of random observations about today’s New Testament reading…
First, I notice Jesus told Peter, James, and John to “Stay here and keep watch” (Mark 14:34). All right, I’m thinking they’re thinking “keep watch for what?” They weren’t, after all, in a high crime area, as far as we know. With the benefit of 2000 years of hindsight, certainly we know what The Master meant by “keep watch”, but as of yet the disciples still didn’t believe He was going to be crucified. In my situation, I knew what to watch for — we were soon to give several thousand gallons of fuel to 4 fighter jets, and I needed to know where they were. I believed; the disciples did not. We both were guilty of sleeping on the job.
Second, how many “disciples” are included in verse 32: “Jesus said to His disciples…”? We have every reason to believe there were 12 on that trip to the Garden — Jesus and the 11 apostles (the 12, minus Judas). Jesus left 8 of them, and went farther into the Garden with the “inner 3″: Peter, James, and John. We don’t know the exact number who were sleeping, because it’s not important, but it’s my opinion it was all 11 of them. What we do know is who got the tongue-lashing — Peter. “‘Simon’, He said to Peter, ‘are you asleep?’”
I think there are at least 3 valuable lessons to take away from this reading:
- Because we believe, and we know what to watch for, we need to be ever-vigilant and watch for the devil and his temptations. It’s when we think we’re the safest that we’re the most vulnerable (1 Cor 10:12).
- The more you have been given, the more is expected of you. Jesus had already told Peter that He would use him to build His church (Matt 16:18), and Jesus clearly had more in store for those 3 than he did the other 8. Peter, of all people, He hoped would be strong enough to overcome the flesh. Which brings us to point 3…
- How many times have you heard, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”, and it was used as an excuse? I don’t think Jesus meant it as an excuse for his apostles, explaining that it was OK for them to have gone to sleep. I think He was merely stating the same reality that Paul was stating in Romans 7: we know the good we should do, we want to do the good we know we should do, but we still find ourselves unable to overcome our human weakness. It’s not an excuse, it’s reality — but that doesn’t mean it’s not sin! Notice in v. 38 it’s not Peter telling Jesus, “but Master, I just wasn’t strong enough to stay awake”. No, it’s Jesus acknowledging that Peter was indeed human, and though Peter made a mistake, the Divine Lord in His mercy knew it wasn’t because of Peter’s weak heart, but because of his weak flesh.
Longer post than normal today; hope you’re still with me this far. These were important lessons for me to learn; I hope we’re all better equipped each day to rely on the touch of the Master’s hand to lift us up and help us in our weakness.