"While You Were Sleeping" - a Reflection on Mark 14:32-52

What drama! Let’s see if we can weave our way into this dramatic scene, and sense the emotions and what was at stake here, and respond to the truth that is revealed.

Under the pressure of all that was going to happen to him, Jesus needed to pray. Yes Jesus was and is God, but in his incarnation into the world, Jesus was just as much human as he was God. Here we see the great intersection between God the Creator, and we human beings … human beings that are so loved that God came in human form to identify with our fragility (and the whole complexity that freewill has brought about.)

Jesus, Son of God, would indeed experience human suffering. Jesus here certainly had a sense of the suffering that lay ahead, and just like we would in similar circumstances, felt deeply the need to pray. We read that Jesus was distressed, agitated and deeply grieved. He had feelings of anguish. This is especially vivid as we read that “Jesus threw himself on the ground” (v.35).

Jesus, in need of solid companionship in this time of distress, asked for the disciples to stay awake, not so much for reasons of protection, but just to show that they cared, that they could get beyond their own needs and fears to see the bigger picture, that they could actually show some tangible support for Jesus. This was going to be a most significant moment, the moment when Jesus ultimately committed to go God’s way and not run away from the cross.

Yet the disciples fell asleep! They seemed to not take seriously enough this decisive moment in time, and they just could not stay awake. It was while the disciples slept that a solitary and isolated Jesus made the courageous call before God – “not what I want, but what you want”!

[Maybe the disciples missed Jesus’ words of verse 36 altogether, and that would be bad enough. But Jesus had only moved “a little farther”, and then, having fallen to the ground, prayed in the culturally traditional way … out loud. If the disciples had heard the anguish of these words and still fell asleep, then this is a good deal worse!]

The disciples could not stay awake when Jesus simply asked them to do so in support of him. Then later (in vs.38-40) these same disciples could not even stay awake to pray for themselves in the difficult times they were also facing. You would have thought that with one of their number set on complete betrayal, and Jesus’ words concerning the prospect of Peter’s own denial of Jesus along with the predicted flight of all the others, they would have had an all night prayer meeting planned. Yet they fell back to sleep!

Why did Jesus say that the disciples should “keep awake and pray”? So that they would come into “the time of trial” (or “temptation”)! Even when we have good intentions, our humanity has its weaknesses (the meaning of verse 38b). There are plenty of dangers to do us in, and there are plenty of temptations to undermine us. We have to be actively building our faith against such trials, or we may find ourselves falling away, even abandoning the cause … the most vivid example being Judas who even betrayed Jesus. Yet, three times the disciples fell to sleep in the face of the most critical circumstances. No wonder Jesus confronted them and cried out “Enough [already]”!! These disciples haven’t even sensed the importance of all this yet! This makes them extra vulnerable, and thereby potentially ineffective.

It was not a violent act like swinging a sword and cutting off the ear of the one of the high priest’s gang (in verse 47) that Jesus wanted – what ever would this achieve! [The stupidity of this act leads Luke (in his version of this story) to report that Jesus healed the ear of this man.] Jesus wanted his disciples to take whatever steps they could to avoid the possibility of them deserting.

This really speaks to me about our discipleship i.e. our preparing of ourselves to be ready to respond to whatever circumstances come upon us – both individually and collectively. To stay awake and thus have a chance of knowing how God is leading us, to pray so that we build our resolve and our faith – the sort of faith that will stand the test of time. Then we will be able to act proactively, rather than merely reactively by throwing our sword around chopping at what ever seems to be the opposition.

I want to fight back at times when I feel harshly dealt with, but much better if I spend the time to prepare with God and be at peace within myself and react accordingly (despite living in a world built around conflict and personal agendas). I should be able to respond as a peace-maker (rather than just another combatant) in every circumstance I face. This is what Jesus wanted the disciples to show themselves ready to be … and alas they failed the test. But who of us is going to throw the first stone in their direction? When faced with armed aggression, all the disciples came up with was violent retribution. The question is: how could they, and how could we, do better?

Jesus in complete frustration says ‘Enough already’! But does he walk away from his disciples at this point, or send them away? No, Jesus hangs in with the eleven remaining disciples to the bitter end (and then of course through to the new beginning). Jesus, in verse 42, still considers them to be a collective unit with him. And just as Jesus does not give up on his original disciples, he does not give up on us.

There is a reference in verses 51 & 52 to another person caught up in this drama. There has been much discussion about this verse and the identity of the person involved. It could have well been this Gospel’s writer, this being an admission that yes I deserted too! But isn’t this left delightfully elusive … is this asking a question of us if we had been there … asking a question of all modern day disciples as to whether we are prepared! And when we are left naked and vulnerable by our mistakes, what are we going to do then? I would hope that we too, like the repentant disciples of old, would go and meet the resurrected Jesus in Galilee and be recommissioned for God’s mission.

The Christian life (better put, the Jesus following life) is all about preparation – equipping ourselves now with the tools and qualities and priorities that we are certainly going to need sooner or later. Through prayer, Jesus finds the strength to commit to God’s will no matter where that will lead. On the other hand, the disciples who failed to stay awake and stand in solidarity with Jesus, and didn’t choose to pray for themselves, became deserters. So, this proper preparation obviously revolves around prayer; but also, I would suggest, involves worship, the giving and receiving of encouragement, and studying the bible.

Where I use the word worship, I’m mostly thinking about gathering in a place like this and seeking out God for all God’s worth … seeking out all there is to receive. Whether you like the song or not, or the direction of the prayer or not, or the preacher’s method or not – there must be something that you can learn and apply about God. If not, I would respectfully suggest that you’re not open enough to God’s voice, for God still speaks even through the weakest efforts of his servants.

We need to be increasingly able to think God’s thoughts. We need to increasingly be able to hear God’s voice interjecting into our thoughts, so that our thinking can be more aligned with God’s thinking. This is about individual and corporate transformation. This is about the coming of the Kingdom of God … God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. This is one of the reasons we pray. Prayer is not just working through a shopping list, but rather an exploration into the mind of God. If the disciples had just seen things this way, they likely wouldn’t have denied Jesus and deserted.

Jesus (in that great verse 36) addressed God as “Abba”. Now Jesus was certainly not comparing God to a Swedish pop group. “Abba” was an Aramaic word – the language Jesus would have spoken – meaning ‘Father’ in the most intimate, closest of ways … like a little child adoringly addressing their dad. In such a relationship as this Jesus could express his faith – “for you all things are possible”, then openly convey the deepest feelings of his heart … that he was agonising over what lay ahead – “remove this cup [of suffering] from me”; yet at the same time sensed God’s thoughts and heard God’s voice, such that he was able to stay on track – “yet not what I want, but what you want”.

Do you sense the prayer/faith dynamic here? ‘God … I know that I’m in trouble here, but I also know that as You are with me it will be okay in the end’. The part of our prayer that desires to know God’s presence and leading has already been answered. While the disciples were sleeping, the human Jesus still knew that his welfare was safe in God.