Watch and Pray!

Matthew 26:35-46 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

            There is no telling how many times I have heard those words in my life!  At least for 56 Lents and how many more times, who knows?  And every time I hear them I cannot help but shake my head and wonder to myself, “What on earth was Peter thinking?” 

How could he have been so blind to his own pride?  Had he never heard the old proverb that “pride goes before a fall” and that “the one who thinks he stands should take heed so that he does not fall”?

Did he not remember the moments before these words when the Lord had to rebuke him because he refused to let Jesus wash his feet? 

Had he forgotten them time he slid beneath the waves because he took his eyes off the Lord or the time the Lord called him Satan for trying to divert him from the cross? 

Didn’t he understand his own role as the leader of the disciples and how his actions would influence the others who made the same rash promise right along with him?

And once again hearing these words from Peter and knowing how it all turned out—how he and the others denied the Lord and fled from his side in his time of need—I find myself up on my moral high horse with my arms raised in self-righteous indignation. 

If there was ever anyone who needed to hear the words of Jesus, watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation—the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak—surely it was Peter.  If only the Lord had spoken these words to him before he faced temptation and discovered how weak he was!

That’s what I think to myself and say to myself for about a second before I remember that the Lord has spoken these words to me two thousand years ago!  Two thousand years before I faced and failed my last temptation.  Two thousand years before I discovered all over again how true it is that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

These words of our Lord Jesus Christ to watch and pray so that we do not enter into temptation were not just intended for Peter and other disciples-- but for all of Christ’s disciples in every time and place, including us here today.    

And so as we hear these familiar words one more time here today, I want you to hear them anew in the context of the temptations that Peter and the disciples and we all have to face.

What is it there in the Garden of Gethsemane that the Lord wants us to watch for?  What does he want us to pray for so that we can stand fast in times of temptation?  The Bible says that:

Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

            The first thing that Jesus wants us to watch for is the power of our enemies.  Sin, death, and the devil are terrible enemies. 

We may be filled with self-righteous indignation at the betrayal of Judas, and the denial of Peter, and the cowardice of the other disciples, but dear friends in Christ the spiritual enemies they faced were terrible and powerful.  Even our Lord Jesus Christ (as he faced these same enemies) was troubled and sorrowful and filled with dread at what was ahead. 

Not only would Jesus face these same enemies but he would bear the cost of all of our failures to remain steadfast in the spiritual battles we face against those same enemies.  The Bible says that:

going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

This “cup” he was referring to was God’s wrath over all our failure to stand firm against temptation.  For Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal and the disciples’ cowardice and for all the times we have sinned and failed and given in and gone along, Jesus took that cup of God’s wrath and drained it to its last bitter dregs so that we would never have to taste God’s fury over our failures.

That is what Jesus wants us to watch for in the garden and he wants us to pray the prayer he prayed there the next time we are faced with temptation:  Father, not my will but yours be done.  Not the will of the devil, not the will of the world, not the will of my own flesh, but Father, thy will be done.

We will face temptations over and over again, our spiritual enemies will never give up.  That is what Jesus wants us to understand as we continue to watch with him in the garden.  The Bible says that:

Jesus came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

            Less than an hour after making a solemn promise to the Lord to die with him if needed, Peter was sound asleep after the Lord asked him (not to die!) but to simply watch and pray.  Less than one hour!  We may be appalled by his weakness but…

How long do we go without sinning?  How long can we keep our commitments to God to do better?  How long before we have to ask for forgiveness one more time?  How true the words of Jesus, that our human flesh is weak.

            Even our Lord Jesus Christ, GOD in human flesh, got hungry and grew tired and shed tears of sorrow.  He felt the pain of rejection and the frustration of being misunderstood. 

How much more can be said of the weakness of our sinful flesh! 

We are defeated by our eyes which linger where they should not.  We are conquered by our tongue that we never seem to control.  We are vanquished by ears which love to listen to gossip. We are overthrown by our minds and their evil, faithless thoughts. 

Jesus wants us to watch the weakness of the disciples (not so that we can criticize them or stand in judgment over them!) but so that we can see the truth about our own weakness and so that we can pray that we would not even enter into temptation. 

How important it is to pray this prayer:  “Deliver us from temptation!  Keep us from the hour of trial!  Lord, you know how weak and frail I am, guard and protect me from my enemies and keep me from those place and people where you know I will fall!” 

And how important it is that when we have prayed that prayer, that we ourselves avoid occasions for sin, that we know our own weaknesses and stay away from what tempts us, that we make every effort to do our Father’s will because we have seen what our failures have cost the Lord.  The Bible says that:

For the second time, Jesus went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

            The track record of Peter and the disciple that night was one of failure—again and again.  We are tempted to believe that we could have done better—that we have would have had more humility than Peter—that surely we could have obeyed the Lord for an hour when he needed our support so much. 

But we don’t really imagine that about ourselves too long, do we?  We know our own track record.  We know our broken promises.  We know our own weakness and sin.  And certainly we see than anew in the garden.

But there is one more thing that the Lord wants us to watch for and see and that is his complete faithfulness, his complete submission to his Father’s will, his complete willingness to face rejection and betrayal—suffering and death—so that you and I could be forgiven for all of the times that we have and will give in to temptation.  The Bible says that:

leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

There in the garden Jesus knew that moment was at hand.  His enemies were armed to the teeth.  His betrayer would give him the kiss of death.  His disciples would flee from his side.  A crown of thorns would be placed upon his head, nails driven into his hands and feet, and a sword would pierce his side.  And he would die.

Jesus knew every bit of what lay ahead and yet he said, Rise, let us go.  Jesus wants us to see our sin in the garden but much more importantly he wants us to see his commitment to save us from those sins even at the cost of his own life and so he says to us, Rise let us go. 

Go with me to the cross:  where you will see my deep and abiding love for you; where you will see the forgiveness that is found in my blood; where you will see the victory that is yours in my death.

And as we accept that invitation to go to the cross and see our salvation, we offer our prayers of praise and thanksgiving for the victory of Jesus and ask our heavenly Father to grant us faith to receive that salvation as our own.  Amen.