THE BEAT e142 Watch. Pray. Rise. Go. (picture us in the Garden with Jesus)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 2 Episode 142 

THE BEAT | Watch. Pray. Rise. Go. (picture us in the Garden with Jesus)

Quick Take 

Hey human, let’s consider what it would be like to fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus was praying…that hour when his deepest sorrow lifted to his Heavenly Father. And why we fall asleep and how Jesus wakes us up.  E142 Thanks for listening.

Has Jesus prayed for you today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

I just finished reading the gospel of Mark. Scholars believe that Peter and Mark had a close mentoring relationship. I saw this immediately come to life in chapter 1. Mark relates that after the twelve disciples are called, they go to the synagogue on the Sabbath, then to Peter and Andrew’s house. Jesus immediately healed Peter’s mother-in-law and then many came to Peter’s house to be healed by Jesus.

It was a familiar setting, the home of two disciples, a home that surely Jesus had had many conversations in. It was what family looked like, felt like when the Kingdom was near. It felt familiar, folksy, and full of something so spiritually different.

Jesus lived at such an assured pace, so much so that it is hard to know any other way one would live, respond, treat others. Jesus lives in the center of truth, of what is always the right word for those who approached him. Always the right word to teach the seeking hearts. Always the right word to his Heavenly Father. And the right way to question and listen to others.

It brings me to the night before Jesus’ arrest. When he took the disciples with him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Let’s start with the story as Mark tells it.

Mark 14:32-42

 

Gethsemane

 

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

 

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

 

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!”

To be clear, Jesus says his soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. He is deeply grieved to the point of death. He asked his Heavenly Father to remove him from this hour. To take his cup of suffering away. His flesh speaks. But then he submits to his Father’s Will. He is transformed through his submission to a sacrificial love that fulfills every sin brought to God’s altar.

Then he prays all of this again. And again. The third time puts him at the earthly threshold of his arrest.

The disciples missed an opportunity to hear their Savior praying, and an opportunity to surround him with their personal spiritual diligence. I do not believe their response was out of disrespect, or rebellion. Or a lack of love. It was out of what happens to you when you experience a fully human man fulfill a fully divine purpose. What happens to you when you walk the dusty roads of his fortitude, living in the center of his purpose, a purpose that was building in tension, in strife, and opposition. What happens to you when you come to this moment, having heard all the parables, taken in the teachings, witnessed the healings.

In the gospel of Luke, the apostle adds to this perspective.

Luke 22:45-46

 

45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Had they heard him praying, wouldn’t that be almost unbearable, to hear Jesus in such sorrow, not for a short, concise, formal, almost symbolic prayer, like before a meal, but unbearable to hear Jesus for more than an hour surrounded in darkness with all the leafy garden things, the trees … sorrow over sorrow over sorrow.

Then Jesus went back and did it again.

In his praying we see the intimate relationship between the divine Father and his Son. The burden the Son must carry to transform the heart of humanity because he is the Son of man.

In that moment he had to choose spirit over flesh.

When Jesus Prays for Me – Wake-Up, Watch and Pray

What is Jesus saying to us in this moment?

Jesus gives one direction to the disciples: “Stay here and keep watch.”

Jesus asks a question each time he returns to his disciples:

1. First, the question to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?”

He gives Peter direction: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

2. Second, the question to all the disciples: Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough!

He gives the disciples direction: “Rise! Let us go!”

Jesus moves toward the confrontation, with no fear, just spiritual resolve.

So first, this question: Why do I fall asleep when Jesus is praying over me, my life, my purpose?

• Because I am unprepared to choose spirit over flesh. My eyes are so heavy.
• Because my sorrow, all the unresolved conflicts in earthly life, are exhausting.
• Because my flesh shuts down my spirit-senses, my spiritual nature. Evil has its own lullaby.

Our human nature overtakes us. We run from suffering. We run toward sleeping. We succumb to the sorrow of knowing we fall short.

But Jesus didn’t.

Second, this question: Can I watch and pray while Jesus prays for me?

I don’t quite know how to land this today, to bring it home to our hearts. Yet it is so easy for me to picture Jesus having a full heart for everyone in this intense Garden scene—the believers, the betrayers, the sleepers, the pursuers, because Jesus was prepared to die for everyone. He bore the original testimony to his Father’s nature. He never failed at this. He never succumbed to the flesh. Because he filled his suffering cup with his Father’s Will.

This empowers our witness, don’t you think? It empowers us to rise up and go toward the person who opposes us.

I picture sitting in that Garden, a place of peace and protest, I picture Jesus praying for me, praying for my heart weighted down by sorrow. I know he returns to me, is always checking on me, shaking my shoulders, prompting me to wake up, watch and pray.

He returns to you too, human.