PrintToday's "Moment with Mark" (98)
27 February, 2013
Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. "Simon!" he said to Peter. "Are you asleep? Couldn't you stay awake and watch with me even one hour? (Mark 14:37-38 NLT)
Have you ever had the experience when you were sitting in a lecture, seminar or sermon and you desperately wanted to stay awake? You certainly didn't want to embarrass the lecturer or yourself by falling asleep. But your eyelids weighed a ton, the room was unusually warm and you had just finished a meal. In fact everything seemed to conspire against your desire to stay awake.
Well, Peter, James and John succumbed and Jesus 'caught them napping', so to speak. Were it any other setting such relaxation might have been commended. But these are critical times. A cosmic drama is being played out before our very eyes. The consequences of this conflict are enormous. To fall asleep in these circumstances showed that they hadn't grasped the gravity of what was happening all around them.
I feel sorry for the 3 disciples - Simon especially as he seemed to be signalled out for special mention. Was Jesus being a little too harsh? Then again, Jesus wasn't asking much of them. "Simon, couldn't you be there for me even for just a few minutes?" The fact that this happened three times only adds to their embarrassment.
"Watch" communicates the sense of "be on guard". Events are about to escalate dramatically. Jesus' arrest is imminent. Now is not the time to drift into slumberland. Jesus readied Himself in prayer and depended on His three closest friends to be there for Him and with Him.
I can't evaluate the situation there in the Garden but I know that there have been times when I have depended on others in given situations to support me in prayer. Sometimes they have done that with commitment. Sometimes they haven't. I have to admit that there have been times when I have failed others.
Maybe this reflection today comes as a "wake-up call" for us to remember our promise to pray for those who have asked us to support them as they face circumstances that are too difficult for them to handle alone?
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