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Watch and Pray (Mark 14:32-52)
Complacency is the preserve of the comfortable.
The Bible never encourages us to comfortable living and neither does it
promote discomfort as a virtue. It's just that comfort encourages complacency
and complacency is a vice of those who simply take things for granted.
Like the man who amassed so much wealth that he tore down his barns to
build bigger ones:
But God said to him, "You fool!" This very night
your life will be demanded from you…" (Luke 12:16-21)
Complacency ill prepares us for what the Lord will demand of us. What
will the Lord demand of you?
In Gethsemane Jesus knew what was demanded of him and took it to his Father
in prayer, inviting Peter, James and John to "stay here and keep watch".
Going a little farther, he fell to the
ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba,
Father," he said, "everything is possible to you. Yet not what I will,
but what you will."
Jesus took nothing for granted. He knew that everything was possible for
his Father. He knew also that that the will of his Father should prevail.
How he must have felt when, after such torturous self-examination, he
found the three disciples sleeping.
"Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will
not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
Even as he rebukes them Jesus understands human frailty. This does not
excuse us from watchfulness but it tells us we have a friend who understands
our weaknesses, and who, nevertheless, challenges us to watch and pray.
A second, and then a third time he finds his disciples sleeping. The events
that follow bear out the value of watching and praying. As Christians,
as humans, we may face some dreadful things in our lives. Hopes dashed,
friends lost, dreams shattered, etc. But what could compare with this
- betrayed by one 'friend', falsely accused, brutally abused, denounced
by his own, betrayed by other friends and sentenced to suffer a mean criminal's
death.
Jesus told his disciples:
"All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end
will be saved" (Matthew 10:22)
He also commanded:
"Love your enemies, do good to those that
hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you"
(Luke 6:27)
As Jesus hung on the Cross he prayed:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)
Watch and pray, he said, watch and pray is what he did. Stand firm to
the end, he said, stand firm to the end is what he did. Love your enemies,
he said, love his enemies is what he did.
Are you watching and praying?