So let’s just start by saying that this was not Peter’s night. Peter starts out declaring his loyalty to Jesus during the last supper and Jesus replies that Peter will betray him three times. It does not get better. They leave the home where they heard Jesus talk about His broken body and poured out blood and enter the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter, James and John go deeper into the garden with Jesus and He asks them to watch and pray. They do not. They fall asleep. Jesus singles Peter out, calling him Simon in verse 37: “Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?” We read in John 18:10 that Peter cuts off the ear of one of the those coming to arrest Jesus, and in Luke 22:51 Jesus rebukes Peter and heals the ear. Tomorrow, we will read that Peter does, indeed, deny the Lord three times.
Notice how important prayer is! Jesus stayed awake and wrestled in prayer until He sweat blood. God met Him in His darkest hour and Jesus had strength to endure what God asked of Him. Peter, urged by Jesus to stay awake, did not. Without the strengthening of prayer, he failed in his desire to please and support his Lord and Savior. Oh friends, we need to pray.
Side note: Mark records an incident no other gospel records in verses 51-52. Could it be that Mark himself was the young man who barely (pun intended) got away??!!!
My recorded verse: “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
My response: Lord, I know sleep is important and You call us to come and rest. Yet, I see also the need for a disciplined prayer life. Help me to pray so I will not be swayed by the evil one. I need Thee every hour.
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Vs 36- “‘Abba Father’, He cried out, ‘everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine.’”
Lord, thank You for showing Your humanity. It’s ok to not want to do something hard, but we still must follow Your will, no matter the cost.
“It’s okay to not want to do something hard.” That is actually super reassuring to me! No one says I have to be happy about hard things. I need to be willing. I need to find joy in the journey with God’s help. But it’s okay not to want to have to “do hard.” Thanks, Jenny, for a great insight this morning.
v 38 A battle for obedience and the answer is prayer.
Debbie, you are exactly RIGHT!