Actually, this morning I feel very sleepy. I want to put
my head on my desk. My mind is wandering. This sense of being less than fully
alert ties in to the verses for the missed reading. They are about a willing
spirit in a sleepy body.
And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (Mark 14:37–42)
Some say Jesus’ question, “Are you still sleeping and
resting?” is not an inquiry, but a criticism. The disciples knew they were
supposed to be praying. Others say Jesus is making a statement of fact. That is,
“It is enough” was used in ordinary life to mean “It is paid.” So Jesus is
saying that Judas has received his money and the betrayal is at hand, a
statement of fact. Their sleepiness is also a statement of fact.
“The hour” is the hour Jesus prayed to avoid. Soon the “cup”
will be given Him. This cup represents the wrath of God for all sin for all
time. He’d asked if He could avoid it, but then said, “Not my will, but Thine
be done” and willingly accepted it.
Perhaps if the disciples had stayed awake and prayed with
Him, they would have realized the significance of the next events. They would
have known that Jesus would be arrested and crucified. They would have
understood what He was doing and why He was doing it. Instead, they slept and
those events surprised and shocked them.
“It is enough” could mean that prayer had settled the
issue; Jesus was going to the cross to drink the cup. It could mean that He had
enough time to do the Father’s will and now the end has come. It could also
mean that the disciples had enough sleep and it was time for them wake up and
move on to what would happen next.
As I read and reread this passage, I get the impression
that these disciples had given in to their fatigue just long enough to realize
the weakness of their flesh. They wanted to pray with Jesus, but they did not
have spiritual rule over their own desires. Jesus could have granted them grace
to stay awake, but they needed to see and recognize their own need for His
sacrifice for their sin.
I can imagine the disciples without this realization. They
would tout themselves as being “His special men” and in spiritual pride, lift
themselves above the rest of humanity. But they did not do this. Sleeping when Jesus
needed them the most insured that they would never forget one important fact; they
were sinners also.
I bow my head with this understanding. I too have
betrayed my Savior, letting Him down in some very important times when I knew
better, when my spirit was willing, but my flesh ruled instead. I hear Jesus say
to me, “Are you still failing? It is enough. I have been betrayed by you too. I
have suffered and died for you too. Your spirit has been willing only because
My Spirit lives in you, but your flesh is still unable. You are a sinner, saved
and forgiven, but nevertheless a sinner.”
Watchman Nee, a Chinese martyr, said that the problem
with the flesh is not that it is too weak, but that it still has “a little”
power. That little power continually tries to run things. However, the Word of God
condemns the flesh (my old self). Instead of giving it strength for that “weak”
condition, God’s solution is to crucify it with Christ.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:6–11)
Jesus asks me to worship Him and serve with Him. I fall
asleep. I fail. Will I ever come to the place where I’ve truly learned that
even my best efforts are insufficient, that my flesh is weak? Will Jesus ever
say to me, “It is enough” and fill me with the sense of being finished with
trying to serve Him in my own weak strength?
Yet even as I ask them, I recall that these words can
also be translated “It is paid” and what else can that mean now (after the
garden prayer and after the cross) that Jesus has paid for my sin and failures.
No matter how many times my weak flesh interferes with His will, what He did at
Calvary is enough.
Lord, what can I say? The disciples didn’t understand
what was going to happen, but I understand what did happen after that sleepy
night. You gave Your life to cover my sin, even the sin of falling asleep when I
should be awake, and the sin of being weak (even apologizing to You for it) when
I’m supposed to consider myself dead. Fill me with Your Spirit that I might
serve and love You with all my heart and soul.
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