The Difference One Hour Makes

The Difference One Hour Makes

Mark 14:32-42

One hour can make all the difference in the world. Ask every one of us on that first Sunday morning after daylight savings time. Our body just doesn’t seem to adjust to that one hour of time. We never get it back, even when the clock turns back.

Researchers call it “social jetlag.” Studies have even shown increases in accidents and health issues right after the time change. Why? Because our bodies don’t have a “sync” button.

That abrupt shift throws us into collective, acute jetlag—we're not just tired; we're physiologically off-kilter. Then come eight months of living out of sync with the sun under DST: darker mornings delay our natural reset, evening light pushes bedtime later, and it contributes to higher rates of obesity, depression, workplace mishaps, and chronic sleep issues—especially tough on kids and teens whose bodies need that alignment most.

Our “social” clocks and our “biological” clocks are mismatched, and we feel it. That’s the difference one hour can make.

We all know what it’s like to be “asleep” when we should be alert—whether from a time change or just life’s exhaustion. In Mark 14:32-42, the disciples and Jesus face their own “one hour” test in the Garden of Gethsemane. We see two very different responses. Let’s see what difference one hour can make.

READ MARK 14:32-42

The disciples were experiencing their own version of both physical and spiritual jetlag. They had physical jetlag simply from the long week they just went through. Think about it? The week began with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It was a festive time with a party atmosphere. What a way to begin the week. It was like Mardi Gras before there was Mardi Gras!

As the week progressed, they were back and forth from Bethany to Jerusalem. They had been engaged with Jesus in several confrontations with scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees throughout the week. Compounding their weariness were the nightly dinners Jesus and his disciples were invited to, not the least of which was the dinner at the home of Simon the Leper where the woman with the alabaster jar anointed Jesus’s feet with oil.

They had been with Jesus and heard him deliver the Olivet discourse talking about end times prophecy, not to mention they just left the Passover meal (which usually lasted around three hours) before walking out to the Garden of Gethsemane—which was outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It was a long day to end a long week, and the disciples were physically tired.

They were also spiritually jetlagged. Of course, that’s what happens to all of us when we’re physically tired. What’s the first thing many of us say when we’ve had a long week? “I just don’t know if I can make it to church today. I think I need to stay home and rest.” It’s a default for many of us, right? But, the disciples had several challenging spiritual experiences in the preceding days.

Three times leading up to this moment, Jesus had told them what was coming in regards to His own death. Peter had been on a spiritual roller coaster from being lauded as spiritually astute in knowing Jesus was the Messiah to being called Satan by Jesus, and all the disciples got a little lesson in humility a couple of different times when they were concerned about who was greatest in the Kingdom. He had, most recently, told them that they would abandon him in his hour of need. Maybe it was spiritual whiplash rather than spiritual jetlag. Suffice it to say, this was a challenging spiritual time for the disciples. I can understand their weariness.

I certainly know what it feels like later in the evening after things have wound down. Bill Malone, my grandfather, used to go home every evening after a long day at the store and just sit in his chair until it was time to go to bed. I now understand why he did that. He was tired!

I’m like the old, African-American lady who said, “When I works, I works hard. When I plays, I plays hard. When I sits, I goes to sleep!” I know the feeling. Luke’s version of the event even indicates that it was a spiritual weariness that made them unable to stay awake. They were tired with grief.

Jesus leads the disciples out to the garden. He tells eight of them to wait and he takes Peter, James and John (his inner circle) deeper into the garden, and says to them, “My soul is troubled to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.” Then, he goes deeper into the garden and prays.

He returns to find them sleeping. “Couldn’t you watch for even an hour?” Jesus asks. Jesus is in his most agonizing moment, and the disciples sleep through it. The cross is on his mind, and the disciples are too tired to notice. Then, with honest compassion, He adds perhaps the most revealing words of the night: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”