Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Be Awake, not Awakened!
Loathe every longing except CHRIST,
casting off all desires which draw us away.
Crave only the LORD WHO has rescued our souls…
saving us from our powerless Self’s by HIS NAME!
So praise GOD, Beloved! Both here and forever…
though we suffer for now, soon our steps shall grace Heaven!
As HIServant, tempered by the trials and triumphs of life, ever looking AND encouraging all to keep watch for our Redeemer,
Whitney
Devotional: Matthew 26:38 “Then HE said to them,
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with ME.”
When JESUS went alone to pray and asked the three disciples (Peter, James and John) to keep watch, they fell asleep.
HE came back to “check on” them twice. The first time HE reprimands Peter with the warning to watch and pray.
The second time HE again finds them asleep, HE simply turns and goes back to pray a third time.
Finally, when HE returns, Judas is nearly there to betray HIM.
Then, starting with verse 44, JESUS wakes and tells the three disciples it’s time to go.
“44 So HE left them and went away once more and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then HE returned to the disciples and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting?
Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46 Rise, let us go! See, MY betrayer is approaching!”
The disciples being asleep each time CHRIST, The Bridegroom came to check on them…is telling.
It’s a contrast to their impulsive and sometimes angry behavior which we all can learn from…myself most of all.
For instance, we read in Luke 9:51-56 the following account.
JESUS and HIS disciples were traveling through Samaria towards Jerusalem when they needed lodging.
JESUS asks for accommodations for the night at one place but was met with opposition from the villagers,
simply because they were going to Jerusalem—a result of Jew-Samaritan prejudice.
Verse 54: “When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, LORD, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?’”
JESUS then rebuked the two brothers, and they all went to another village.”
Peter, in Matthew 14:28-31, immediately responds to JESUS on the water by asking HIM to have Peter walk on the water to HIM.
Then in Matthew 17:4 on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter instantly responds to the sight with, “Lets build three tents. One for YOU, one for Moses and one for Elijah!”
Peter was quick to act…then.
When Peter angrily denied knowing CHRIST three times, he was quick to act…then.
And like us all too often, incorrectly as well.
James and John, when the villagers were pushing back on JESUS and the disciples,
simply because they were headed to Jerusalem, the brothers wanted to wipe them out by fire from Heaven.
That’s an impulsive response, rooted in offense and anger, also shows a readiness to act.
But not in the Garden when asked to watch and pray.
When CHRIST asked them NOT to be impulsive or angry and just “Watch and Pray!”,
these three heroes of the faith fell asleep.
There were ten virgins…and they too were told to watch for the Bridegroom.
They all fell asleep.
But! We can easily see ourselves in their actions and lack of prayer too, can’t we?
So! Pointing the finger most of all at myself in this Hour…
Watch, wait and pray both daily and hourly!
Be found faithful in such while serving through fervent prayer…
Just as CHRIST exampled for us, in the Garden of Gethsemane!
So let us be found all ready awake keeping watch for our KING!
Amen and amen.
2CJC 