“Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” Jesus asked his disciples. Oh, I can hear the disappointment in his voice, the sadness, and the neediness for others’ prayer support.
Having just been in Jerusalem in March, I can picture the scene. The garden. The close proximity to the city walls and gate. The temple, just on the other side of the wall.
I can imagine the disciples’ exhaustion. The busy-ness of the city. The danger, not overt yet palpable. Whisperings, heads turning, Jesus talking about his death. Confusion. Then the weirdness of his words over the familiar Passover feast.
They’d had a little wine, and a feast. Sleep overcame them.
I’m sure they wanted to stay awake and keep watch with Jesus, but Jesus understood the problem. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” And yet even at that moment of greatest peril for Jesus, his concern was not for himself alone, but for his disciples. It was a critical moment for the disciples themselves. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
Of course they didn’t, so they did. If you follow me. They didn’t watch and pray, so they did fall into temptation. Jesus told Peter he would deny their friendship three times. Maybe if he’d stayed awake and prayed, he’d have been bolder. But he fell asleep.
Oh dear. I’m reading my story here. Sometimes I’m falling asleep. But more often than not I’m just too busy to keep watch with Jesus for one hour.
Today, may I get my priorities right, and may it be the first day of the rest of my life.
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