Today we remember Maundy Thursday in the church calendar. This is the day of the week in which the prayer in Gethsemane took place.
Yesterday we saw Jesus' prediction that the disciples would all abandon him and they did. We also saw Peter abandon him by denying him three times. Today we are going to look at another, albeit more minor abandonment on the part of Jesus' disciples.
Matthew 26:36-46
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Peter, James and John were Jesus' three closest disciples. These three had been with him on the Mountain of Transfiguration (17:1) and had at different times professed to be willing to suffer with him (James and John 20:22; Peter 26:35). Here he brings them with him to pray. He tells them to keep watch with him. This is likely a warning against sloth. With what he has just told them, that they would all fall away because of him and Peter himself would disown Jesus three times, one would think that they would take this imperative of Jesus a little more seriously. This is why he singles out Peter in verses 40-41. Yet, they succumb to sleep and fail to keep watch and pray with Jesus for even one hour. This happens three times and each time they fall asleep. These three failures likely foreshadow his future three denials and Jesus' subsequent three times asking Peter to confirm his love for him after his resurrection (John 21:15-19).
Three is a common number found in the Scripture that usually gives stronger emphasis or implies the wholeness or completion of a thing or a short time fulfillment of a promise. God is not just holy, he is "holy, holy, holy." So the disciples abandonment of Jesus here isn't just an accidental mistake, it is portrayed as a complete abandonment.
It's quite clear that they failed to realize the gravity of the moment and their need for earnest prayer, despite Jesus' clear warnings and obvious distress in his own soul. This failure on the part of his disciples leaves Jesus alone, yet again. Abandoned by the ones who were most committed to him.
They failed, Jesus says, because "their spirit is willing but their flesh is weak."(v. 41) Here Jesus is likely saying that they are committed and willing to suffer with him, as we've already seen them all confess to, but they are just physically tired. It's not a lack of desire that is keeping them from praying. They have great intentions but they are just too sleepy.
This line likely holds true for many of us today. It's not a lack of desire that keeps us from praying. Just about everyone would say they would like to pray more. The problem may not be the desire, but the physical discipline to carry it out. This is why prayer and fasting, which should aid our life of prayer, are called disciplines. They require us to discipline our flesh so as to help us foster a life of prayer and communion with God. For how silly it sounds, sleepiness is often a legitimate obstacle to prayer. How easy is it to fall asleep during early morning quiet times. Disciplining our flesh may require us to wake up a certain time or stay awake later to pray. It may require us to say no to something else our flesh desires (like entertainment or simple pleasures) so we can spend time in prayer.
After saying that he becomes all things to all people, the apostle Paul says that he disciplines his body and keeps it under control so that he is not disqualified after preaching to others (1 Cor. 9:27). Self-discipline is required for discipleship.
This whole scene of the disciples falling asleep would be rather humorous if it weren't for a couple of tragic details. First, Jesus is clearly in agony and desperate for the small comfort of fellowship in prayer from his closest friends. Even this small comfort is taken from him as his disciples repeatedly fail and he is left utterly alone in his agony. Secondly, I see too much of myself in the characters of the three disciples. In the disciples I see my own lack of discipline and my own sloth. I see my indifference to the importance of prayer and time with God. So often we want to see ourselves as the hero in the stories of Scripture but I think the Gospel writers include these moments, like this one here, as warnings to us not to do the same things the disciples did. So to avoid falling into sloth like the three disciples, here, we must discipline our flesh to obey Jesus.
Additional Content
Reflection
Reflect on your commitment to the disciplines of the faith—things like prayer, fasting, and solitude. These are time tested methods for spiritual formation. If you haven't already, commit to a time to practice these disciplines and discipline your flesh to make them happen.
Audio
ff to 6:25 for additional content