Are You Awake?

It happens to us all at one point or another. We can be more willing than ever to do something, committed and determined. But we fail to do it because we are relying on our own strength, which we soon realize just isn’t enough. Jesus’s own disciples were no exception.

Something that stands out about the events leading up to Jesus’s death is the incredible patience and self-control that He displays during these excruciating hours. Although none of us will ever undergo anything near the extent of the horrific suffering that Jesus experienced on the cross, we all hope that in the most trying moments of our lives that we would display the same character of Christ that He demonstrated for all of us in His darkest hours.

           

My guess though is that during these moments we are more likely to resemble the disciples right before Jesus’s death, than we do Jesus Himself. Despite our best intentions we find ourselves diverting our eyes from our one true source of strength and crumbling under the pressure and the fear that we’re facing in the moment.

The disciples were willing. In fact, Peter, one of Jesus closest and most trusted disciples, had sworn to Jesus that he would never deny Him even to the point of death. However, Jesus revealed the hard truth to his disciples that night, that they would in fact all fall away because of Him.

Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’   

“But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 

Peter told Him, “Even if everyone falls away because of You, I will never fall away.”
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

“Even if I have to die with you,” Peter told him, “I will never deny you,” and all the disciples said the same thing.     (Matthew 26:31-35 CSB)

But Jesus knew that as willing and determined as they were, it would take much more than just sheer will power. It would take reliance and trusting on the power of God and not on the disciples’ own actions, strengths, or abilities.

In the hours leading up to His death, Jesus puts it like this to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”    (Matthew 26:41)

Here, Jesus is teaching His disciples that their own strength just isn’t enough; simply being determined or passionate is not enough. The flesh is weak, and its desires can lead us away from God and cause us to sin. If the disciples want to be able to follow through with what they say they are so willing to do then their source of strength, both in body and in spirit, must be from God. Jesus already knew that the disciples would scatter and fall away but blessed them with this opportunity to rely on the strength of God to fight the temptation to fall away that would soon come.

Jesus took His dearest and most trusted disciples into the garden to stand watch and to pray as He faced his darkest hour. Jesus was so deeply sorrowful that He sweated drops of blood as He prayed to his Heavenly Father.

But instead of spending these last vital hours with Jesus in prayer, they were asleep!

The disciples are put to the test pretty quickly when Judas, along with a large crowd of armed men, show up to arrest Jesus. We first see Peter demonstrate reliance on his own strength and physical power when he takes a sword to the ear of one of the men arresting Jesus. Then Peter and the rest of the disciples flee, just as Jesus had predicted they would. Not one of them was left. The flesh is weak indeed. They had abandoned Jesus out of fear of being arrested and persecuted. You see, they had been asleep to the power and strength of God and were instead relying on their own weak flesh.

They failed to stay awake and pray...and, they failed to resist temptation when it came.

When it all comes down to it, our willingness to do something doesn’t mean much if we aren’t relying on God for the strength to do it. The disciples leave us with a warning of just what happens when we rely on our own flesh in the face of trials and neglect to gather our strength from the Father. When we rely on our own strength and willingness, we aren’t displaying the image of self-control and patience as Jesus so perfectly does. But the more we rely on His strength instead of our own, the more we can grow to be like Him.

All seemed lost. Jesus had been arrested. His disciples scattered because everything that they had known for the past year or two was coming crashing down. It was still very early on Friday morning … but Sunday was coming!

“Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”   (Matthew 26:41)

Are you awake?

Will you join me in this prayer? Heavenly Father, please help me to be sober and alert, watching for that prowling lion Satan who is waiting for me to defend myself with my own strength. Remind me everyday of Your power that resides within me because of the events of that one Friday … and the Sunday that followed. I pray this in the Name of the One Who rescued and freed me: Jesus!  Amen.

Note: your writing team this week is Claire Walker, Rob Tudball and Peter Bowyer.

There will be no “stretching the sermon,” tomorrow so we hope to see you all online for our Good Friday worship service at 10:00 a.m. Then come back here Saturday to read a testimony from one of your HCC sisters.