They fell asleep three times!!!
| 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. (Mark14:37-41) |
Whenever I read the Gethsemane narratives I cringe over the disciples.
This is Jesus' toughest moment, but they're falling asleep.
I cringe because I'm scared that this might be true of me too.
- In a moment that I could pray, I fall asleep.
- In a moment I when could get up and be with Him, I turn over and go to sleep.
- In a moment I when could speak up for Him or someone in need, I hold my silence.
- In a moment when I could serve and step up, I bail.
If I were a gospel writer, I think I might want to gloss over the failure of the disciples. I would prefer to avoid the detail, but we are taken through this in a blow-by-blow account that describes how Jesus goes back and forth three times and each time they're asleep.
It is almost tragically comedic almost painfully ironic...
Almost...
But the truth is in Mark's pithy summary of their feelings "They did not know what to say to Him."
But there's hope in this heart-breaking illustration of human-failure.
Firstly, Jesus doesn't, after the first time, say "Humph, after all we've been through, they sleep and I'm left alone." Instead He encourages them, and urges them to lean into spiritual and not physical strength.
But they fail again and He comes back even a third time. This reveals His hope in us and His patience with us.
In the second place, His use of the word "enough" is powerful - especially when we see it with "The spirit is willing and the body is weak" and His coming cry - "It is Finished!" In our own strength we will fail and fail, but Ezekiel promised that we would be transformed - given a new heart of flesh instead of stone. Joel promised the Spirit. Isaiah promised a voice that would show us the way. Jesus is saying - "Enough of you struggling in your brokenness, the hour has come, here's my betrayer (another broken one) and I'm going to deal with this." And so Jesus opened the way on the cross and the day of Pentecost marked the coming of the Spirit who would strengthen our spirits. Instead of focusing on their failure, Jesus turns toward the hour of the cross, ready to accomplish for His weary friends what they could never accomplish on their own.
And so, instead of cringing when I read this passage, I have hope:
Hope that no matter how much I fail - Jesus will check in on me.
And that He has made a way for my brokenness to be forgiven and healed.
