Mark 14:37-42 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? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. 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. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
How many of us are asleep? In the above passage, we see Jesus' closest followers asleep when moments before He told them: Stay here and keep watch. Of course they were physically tired or they would not have fallen asleep. Yes, their lives were busy. Yes, they had legitimate excuses for sleeping. Probably each of them could have elaborated convincingly upon the reasons for his fatigue. But Jesus was disappointed in them, for He had told them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. (Mark 14:32&34) He asked for their support. They did not discern the seriousness of the hour. They thought of their past experiences of living day by day under the threat of persecution while the religious leaders were constantly plotting against Jesus. Now they did not realize the truth Jesus had spoken of their future when He said, All men will hate you because of me . . .. (Mark 13:13) How wrong they were in thinking things would remain the same, for in the next hour they would become fugitives, their lives in danger. They would see their Lord arrested by the those who had plotted to kill him and now came with his betrayer, one of their own. Later they would see the cruel judgment of death on a cross carried out against Jesus by the Roman soldiers. They would experience and see all this in the next few hours. But instead of being alert in prayer because of the darkness of this time, they fell asleep. Their slumber was justified in their natural bodies; but in their spirits, they did not discern the hour that had come upon them. They carried on as if nothing would change, when great sorrow was at their gate.
The question is: Are we asleep? Are we listening to what our bodies tell us to do or our spirits? Are we approaching each day under God's agenda or our own agenda? In today's passage, we see Jesus' desire for the disciples to pray so they might not fall into temptation. He did not want them to fall away because of what they would see in the next few hours of their lives. He wanted them to be strong in the faith when they would view Jesus weak in the hands of sinful man. But their weariness in the flesh took precedence over Jesus' request to watch and pray. Of course as Jesus' closest followers, they thought they were willing to pray, but they allowed their bodies to dictate to them what they would really do and that was to sleep. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. How true those words are for human beings with all our good intentions. Are we also like the disciples? We love the Lord, and we often tell him: You are Lord of my life. But in reality our lives lack discipline. We fail to keep our promises to God and to ourselves. We do not consistently pray, meditate, or think about God's agenda, his ways. Without the Holy Spirit, our thoughts are not his thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. In the flesh, we choose slumber for the day, the week, the month, the year, the decade. We slumber rather than pray fervently for people and the world. Even though we know the Spirit says in James 5:16, The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, we fail to pray, to seek our Lord. Maybe we really slumber because we inadvertently believe what the scoffers do, as Peter references: Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. (2 Peter 3:4) As Jesus said to his disciples: Are you still sleeping and resting? ENOUGH!
We can easily write this kind of breakfast, but what is difficult for us is to change our habits of serving the Lord. Of course, everything that was written above pertains to us as well as you. We realize we are often preaching to the choir, and we do not want to discourage you with a breakfast like today's. We know most of you pray and seek the Lord for his will in your lives. But we also know as it is with us, the activities and concerns of the world can easily put us to sleep; and we can find ourselves busily doing our agenda rather than the Lord's. Although personally, we have a plan to read the Word together daily, several days can slip by when we do not read the Word together, yet we usually watch TV each evening--that is rarely forgotten. We are trying to let the Holy Spirit search us, making us more aware of these inconsistencies, not to condemn us but to touch our hearts and bring us closer to our Lord. We want to watch and pray, for the needs are many. Praise God, the resident Holy Spirit in all of us wants to help up refocus if we will open ourselves to him. We are so thankful to be called sons and daughters of the Most High God, living under a new and better covenant, sealed by the shed blood of our Redeemer and King. Our Father promised us: This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10) Therefore as we yield to the Spirit, He will make us alive in Christ, and we will reach others with the Good News that Christ has come to save sinners. We will be awake and not asleep when there is work to do for the Master. Jesus will be able to count on us to watch and pray, and we will not fall into temptation. We will all follow Paul's admonition: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
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