Are We Guilty of Sleeping Through a Garden Moment?
Mark 14:32-42
No doubt we have all heard this story preached, maybe we have even read it ourselves, or we have seen movies regarding the Crucifixion of Christ. He was the perfect Son, in perfect union, with the perfect Father.
Mark 14:32-42 contains Jesus’ agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane. This depicts Jesus' model and the disciples’ devastating inability to follow the overall topic of Jesus' teaching in Mark 13:32-37. Jesus watches how God moves and petitions God for His role in it. The disciples had fallen asleep. Multiple times, Jesus finds them asleep, both spiritually and physically (Mark 13:35-36). They do not take the time, as Jesus does, to prepare and plan for the difficulties before them. They expected Jesus' triumph over the Romans, so they do not understand the plan for His spiritual conflict on the cross. This story is additionally in Matthew 26:36-46 and Luke 22:39-46.
Was Jesus attempting to escape the performance of His assignment? Jesus communicated His actual sentiments, yet He did not deny or oppose God's will. He reaffirmed His craving to do what God needed Him to do. His petition features the horrendous experiencing that He needed to suffer through. It was an anguish more regrettable than dying since He needed to assume the transgressions of the entire world. This “cup” was the anguish and misery of distance from God, His Father, at the cross (Hebrews 5:7-9). The immaculate blameless Son of God took on our transgressions and was isolated for some time from God so that we could be saved for all eternity.
John 12:27, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”
Jesus realized that His execution lay ahead, and on the grounds that He was human, I believe that a part of Him may have had anxiety. He realized that He would need to take the transgressions of the world on to Himself, and He realized that this would isolate Him from His Father. He wanted to be conveyed away from this awful demise, yet He knew that God had sent Him into the world to die for the sins of all humanity, in our place. Jesus expressed no to His human cravings to submit to His Father and to bring honor and glory to Him. In spite of the fact that we will never need to face such a troublesome errand, we are as yet called to be obedient. Anything that God the Father requests from us, we ought to do His will and glorify His name.
While asking, Jesus knew what the cost would be in doing the Father's will. He comprehended the suffering that He was going to experience, and He would have rather not needed to get through the awful experience. In any case, Christ asked, “Not what I will, but what thou wilt.” Anything worth having costs something. What does our obligation to God cost us? We should be willing to follow through on the cost (pay the price) to have something that in the end is worthwhile in having. (Matthew 20:22; John 5:30, 6:38, 18:11)
In the midst of incredible pressure, we are powerless against allurement and temptation, regardless of whether we have a willing soul. We will undergo trials, not because we want to suffer, but to obey God’s will. Just as Christ prayed, we should pray with an obedient spirit. Jesus provided us with an illustration of how to oppose the allurement: we are to go to God (Mark 14:35), we are to look for the help of companions, friends, and family (Mark 14:33, 37, 40, 41), and we are to zero in on the purpose that God has given us (Mark 14:36).
Peter, James, and John went with Jesus into the garden, but what happened? Three times Jesus found them asleep. The number three is the Divine Number, the number for completeness. Those three disciples went to a prayer meeting and fell asleep. How many times have we been guilty of that, and have we witnessed others doing the same thing? Was the prayer meeting boring? Was the prayer meeting too long? Was the Holy Spirit not at the prayer meeting, and if so, why not?
The command that Jesus gave them was “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” That sounds like they were to watch out for temptation and pray for guidance and help. “The Spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” Is this true for us? Is our Spirit ready but we have given in to our carnal ways?
Romans 7:23, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
The sin inside us is often called the “flesh” or the “law in our members.” This is our weakness to sin; it alludes to everything inside us that is more faithful to our old method of egotistical living than to God. This is not saying that sleeping is a sin, but the time for falling asleep was not for that time. These three men did not understand the urgency of the prayer meeting to which they were attending.
We need to think about how this can apply to us today. Do we go to prayer meetings and fall asleep? Do we watch and pray so that we do not fall into temptation? Do we ask for others to help us pray? Is there a task that God has called us to do but we have put off doing it?
