Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he
said to Peter, "So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?" (v.
40)
STAY ALERT
It has never been hard for
me to fall asleep. When I was teaching in Tanzania, I could take a
pillow and fall asleep on a sidewalk while waiting for a bus at night,
then fall asleep again immediately once on the rumbling bus. I can
sleep during football games on TV. I used to fall asleep 59 minutes
after we started on a long trip (while my husband was driving, of
course). I might even have slept through a few words of a few
sermons...
Staying awake is hard for me, unless I am really involved in what is
going on. Jesus's disciples must have been similar. It had been a long
hard day for them, and now Jesus asked them to go out in the cool
evening air and wait for him. The first group stopped, and Peter,
James and John continued on with Jesus, who asked them to "remain here
and watch with me." But when he came back, the three disciples were
sound asleep. "Could you not watch with me one hour?" It was most
likely disappointment, for he tells them he knows the spirit is
willing but the flesh is weak. When our body says it is tired, it
wants to sleep even when the spirit must stay alert!
On Aug. 25, our youngest daughter went to the hospital for the
birth of her first child. They had called us that afternoon, and I knew I would
stay awake until we got the call that the baby had arrived. In the evening, I
started stitching a small table mat. It got later and later and I stitched and
stitched. I was finished at 2:30 a.m. My best intentions to stay awake for the
call didn't work. The phone woke us in the early hours to say our new grandson
had arrived.
Jesus left once more to pray, and came back to find the disciples sleeping a
second time. He didn't scold. He must have felt a bit of pity for the men who
were still "taking their rest" while he was facing an impossible cup of woe.
"Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand."
Lord, when my flesh is weary, help my spirit speak to me and
keep me
alert so I will be ready for whatever task you may have before me.
Glennyce Reimers
