Can You Stay Awake?

And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? (Mark 14:37)

I am not sure why, but this verse came to my mind this morning as I was lying in bed talking with God. Actually I was misquoting it in my mind and was surprised when I looked it up that it didn't say what I thought it said. I was all ready to put together some interesting ideas based on the wording that I thought was in this verse but had to rethink my assumptions after realizing that this verse did not say what I thought it did.

What I thought Jesus asked was for His disciples to pray with Him for one hour. But upon looking more carefully at the verse and its context I realized that something else very important was here for me to discover. Jesus did not specifically ask His disciples to pray with Him necessarily, but He certainly did ask them to do something that is very relevant for me to pay attention to today. And just as the story reveals the weakness of the disciples and their inability to carry out such a simple request by Jesus in a time of extreme intensity in His heart, so too do I find that same weakness in my own flesh when Jesus asks me to do even simple things like getting out of bed a little earlier on a cold morning to have time to listen to Him and deepen my intimacy and knowledge of Him.

The first thing I wanted to do was to look up some of the original words to see what they might really mean. This idea of watching has never really clicked with me. It is another one of those words that religion has generally obscured the real meaning of for many of us. I always like to explore what the words I am hearing really mean before trying to unpack the larger meaning of a text.

I realize that sometimes people around me may think that I am very nit-picky or that I am simply trying to stir up controversy because I ask so many questions about what is really being conveyed in language, especially in the study of the Bible. But I sincerely want to understand much better what is real and unmask what is fake and confusing or blurred over by tradition and counterfeit ideas embedded in our language and culture. I have found it very liberating and refreshing to discover over and over, new and exciting truths as I have challenged the common assumptions about nearly every text and passage that I grew up hearing about.

This word watch means to keep awake, watch (literally or figuratively), be vigilant, wake, watchful. That is pretty much straightforward as far as it goes. But I felt that there was still something I was missing. Why would Jesus only expect His disciples to stay awake and nothing more? So I went back a few verses to find out what it was He had asked them to do in the first place that they were not doing.

And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34)

"My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." (Mark 14:34 NIV)

What I discovered in this verse was something that really caught my attention. When looking at more of the words in the Greek I noticed that the word for remain here is the very same word used throughout the Bible that is one of the most important things we need to know in order to grow as a real Christian. This word is used repeatedly in the discourse in John 14 and 15 when Jesus was sharing with His disciples how they needed to live. And in fact He had just finished telling them all of this only minutes before He asked Peter, James and John to practice what He had just told them about.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4)

Remain here and abide are translated from the very same word in the original. So what Jesus was asking three of His disciples to do was to practice for at least one hour what He had just taken time to describe to them in great detail. In essence He was saying to them, I have just told you all about how you must live in order for you to be my loyal disciples successfully. You must learn to abide in me and I in you so that you will be prepared for anything that might happen to you. Now that I have taught you verbally this lesson it is now time for our first test on what you have heard and find out if you were really listening. Take what I have just taught you and practice it for one hour. If you do, you will be empowered to meet what is about to happen to us. If you don't take this activity seriously you will find yourself helpless and clueless as to how to act like yourself when a massive assault is launched against us in a few minutes.

Well, most of us know how that first quiz turned out. They all failed quite spectacularly and ended up running away in fear and shame. Many theologians have analyzed endlessly the events that ensued that night as to why Peter denied his Lord, why each of the disciples did what they did and why everything seemed to go wrong. But much of this would have turned out very differently if just three of the disciples had taken the words of Jesus seriously and instead of thinking more about themselves and fighting over who was the most loyal and most important among themselves, they had actually listened with their heart and received the warnings that Jesus had been giving them all evening.

It is very sad to think about the tragic outworking of their bad choices that night. But the story is not really over yet. Each one of us also receives the very same instructions from Jesus to learn what it really means to abide in Him. And Jesus is hoping that maybe we just might learn enough from observing the results of those disciple's failures in this story to make a different choice ourselves.

Am I willing to learn what it really means to abide in Christ and allow Him to abide in me? Am I ready to carefully study and ponder and meditate on what the real meanings of His words are to me today? Am I willing to practice in real life situations how to abide in Him even when I meet the little difficulties that I am sure to encounter?

Am I am willing to learn in the little things how to trust God, to stay awake when it is easier to roll over and fall asleep? Am I willing to marinate in the presence of God and soak up more of His kindness, His goodness, His grace and be filled with His peace? If I am willing to take to heart the example of the failure of those disciples and in humility choose to take a better option in my own life, I can in some way rewrite the story of that crisis and demonstrate in my life what Jesus intended for all of His disciples to experience. I can learn to abide, to pray and stay alert and listen and be ready to be strengthened by angels of glory just as Jesus experienced in the garden. And if I choose that option in obedience to the invitation of Jesus to abide in Him and stay alert, my story can be different than the stories of His disciples during that last tragic weekend of His crucifixion.

Jesus, teach me what it really means to abide in You today. Help me to pay attention to the messages from Your Spirit to my heart. I choose to listen to You and obey Your promptings today. Help me to avoid all the interfering noise of the world designed to drown out your quite voice inside of me. Make me alert and ready to act instantly for You whenever You need me to be a channel of blessing, comfort or encouragement to one of Your children. Thank-you for Your faithfulness and love in my life.