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37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. 41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” ~ Mark 14:37-42
Today, we return to our study of Mark 14 where the Lord Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. The Lord Jesus had told the disciples to sit where they were while He went away from them a little further to pray. He just wanted the disciples to be with Him. He didn't want them to do anything for Him; He just wanted them to be with Him while He sought the face of His Father.
In v.37-38 of today's passage we read, "37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. 'Simon,' he said to Peter, 'are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"
A few months before this the Lord Jesus had changed Peter's name from Simon to Peter, but, there were times when He would call Peter by his old name which means weakness. The Lord Jesus always called Peter by his old name when Peter acted like his old self. The Lord was reminding Peter that he still had his old nature, and he needed to be careful of feeding the flesh(the sinful desires that are still in us).
The Lord Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?" Peter and James and John had fallen asleep, and, the Lord Jesus returned to discover them asleep. Previously, these three were determined to be strong but they were weak because they lacked the strength of prayer. Prayer strengthens us. When we lay our hearts before the Lord, we are tuned to His activity in our lives, which in turn, strengthens our faith. We find that we look for Him more, and we discover that He is the only One who is our Savior.
Prayer is the yearning of the awakened soul. But, it is the nature of the flesh to be weak. And, the flesh is our default mode even though we are born again. In the hour of testing, if we are not given to prayer, we will discover self-confidence always fails. Prayer makes His strength apprehensible to us. This is the major lesson that bursts forth in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In v.39-40 of today's passage we read, "39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him."
Like the disciples, the Lord Jesus knows our frame and our hearts. Like to the disciples, He says to you and me, "I know you love me. Your spirit is perfectly willing because you have been made alive to me through my Spirit. But, when you rely upon our flesh, it gets the best of you."
The disciples did not know what to say to the Lord Jesus on the heels of their failure. Our human sense of independence, the confidence we have in ourselves, is always weak in the hour of testing. It will never stand the test. In our hour of testing, the house built upon the sand will collapse. It cannot stand the test. When we are confident in self, we will definitely fail. The flesh will always fail us.
Our success comes out of our resolve to pray which is the expression of our weakness. His strength is realized through our weakness. The transformation that we desire is realized on the heels of prayer or dependence upon the Lord. And, human words do not do it justice when we try to explain what has happened.
In v.41-42 of today's passage we read, "41 Returning the third time, he said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
The Lord could see the flames of the torches of the soldiers and the religious leaders who advanced on the slope of the Mount of Olives. It is said that there could have been a thousand people coming up that hill that night with torches.
The word translated "enough" refers to the final prayer of the Lord Jesus and the inability of the disciples to remain awake and pray. It was that combination that made it possible for the final payment to be made. After returning the third time, the Lord Jesus recognized that He had to go through with the crucifixion. In light of the disciples spiritual inabilities His resolve was enough. The inability of the disciples mandated it. After returning for the third time, the Lord Jesus heard the Father's response to His prayer: that mankind would be without all hope if He did not take on and defeat sin and death. And so, the Lord Jesus gave Himself to the one who betrayed Him.
God controlled by a man. Sound ridiculous because it is. The Lord Jesus wasn't controlled by any man, He was yielded to the will of the Father. And, it was the will of the Father that we be saved. The Lord Jesus felt "forsaken" by the Father. He felt the desolation of the feeling of a temporarily broken fellowship with His Father. God forsaken of God! Yet, the Son of God was never more pleasing to the Father than at this hour of obedience in His voluntarily laying down His life for the salvation of lost mankind. This is the love of God which has been offered to us as a free gift for the receiving. The question is: Have you received it?
