“Could You Not Keep Watch
with Me?”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. During Lent this year, for both our special evening and Sunday morning
services, we are considering “Questions at the Cross,” questions asked by Jesus
and others during the first Holy Week. So far we have looked at the question Jesus asked in preparation for
the Last Supper: “Where Is My Guest Room?” And the question Judas asked before
his dastardly deed: “What Will You Give Me If I Betray Him?” This
evening we continue with the question Jesus asks Peter, James, and John in the
Garden of Gethsemane: “Could You Not Keep Watch with Me?” The events of this evening’s Gospel Reading take place on Maundy
Thursday of Holy Week, memorialized in the Words of Institution for Holy
Communion as “the night when he was betrayed.” The Gospels tell us that
after their Last Supper in the Upper Room, Jesus and his disciples sing a final
hymn, then hike down through the Kidron Valley on the eastern side of Jerusalem,
up the Mount of Olives, and into an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane. I’ve been blessed to visit Jerusalem several times. I bought this
Lenten stole there on Good Friday 34 years ago, when I was a pre-seminary
college student. So, I have made this same hike from Jerusalem to the
Garden of Gethsemane many times. The city, where the Last Supper took
place, is built up on Mt. Zion. Along the east side of the city runs the
Kidron Valley, which is a deep ravine. The land rises up from this ravine
to the Mount of Olives, where the Garden of Gethsemane is located on the
hillside opposite the city. Going from Jerusalem down into the Kidron
Valley and back up to the Garden of Gethsemane is about a half-hour of pretty
hard climbing. When they arrive at the Garden of Gethsemane most of the disciples stay
at the entrance while Jesus goes inside with his three closest disciples, and
dearest earthly friends, Peter, James, and John. “Sit here while I go over
there and pray,” he tells them. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the
point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. . . Watch and pray so
that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak.” During their hike together over to the garden Jesus warned them about
the greatest temptation that soon would be coming upon them: “This very night
you will all fall away on account of me.” Over and over again, Jesus has
clearly told his disciples the horrifying things that await him at Jerusalem:
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets
about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be betrayed to the chief priests
and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death, and will turn him over
to the Gentiles to be mocked, and flogged, and crucified.” But, even though
Jesus had explicitly warned his disciples exactly what horrible fate was
awaiting him at Jerusalem, they still couldn’t accept it, they still thought
there must be a glorious outcome, for Jesus, and for them too. On their way to Jerusalem, James and John had contrived to have their
mother ask Jesus for a favor: “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit
at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” When the other
disciples heard about this, they were infuriated with the brothers.
Because, you see, despite all that Jesus told them about his imminent suffering
and death at Jerusalem, still they thought he was going there to be acclaimed by
the people as a great earthly king. And, just as the top campaign aides of
the winning presidential candidate follow him into the White House, the
disciples were absolutely certain that as Jesus’ chosen followers by the end of
week they would be in power too, ruling with the great King Jesus, from Pontius
Pilate’s palace. But, now, instead, in just a few hours he will suffer under Pontius
Pilate, crucified, dead, and buried. The only crown upon Jesus’ head will
be a painful crown of thorns, crushed down upon his bloody brow. The only
royal purple robe this king will wear is when he is dressed in mockery by the
soldiers. The only scepter he will bear is a staff they thrust into his
hands to complete their comical costume, and then they use it to savagely beat
him. The only homage he will receive is when his tormentors kneel before
him and taunt him with the sarcastic cry, “Hail, king of the Jews!”
Instead of gloriously reigning from Pontius Pilate’s palace, as the disciples
dream, in just a few hours that is the place where he will be condemned to
death. Instead of being inaugurated to rule upon a throne, King Jesus will
be hung, to die upon a cross. “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus warned Peter on the way over to
Gethsemane, ‘today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows you will deny me
three times.’ But, Peter insisted emphatically, ‘Even if I have to die
with you, I will never deny you.’ And all the others said the same.” That
was the greatest temptation that would soon be coming upon them, what the New
Testament calls the shame, the offense, the scandal of the cross. Tempted
to turn away from Jesus and deny him as their Lord and Master in his hour of
agony. And that is exactly what happens. After Jesus’ arrest in the
garden, Peter at first follows and waits in the courtyard of the high priest’s
palace while Jesus is on trial inside. But, when a servant girl challenges
him, “Are you not one of his disciples?” Peter calls down curses on himself and
swears to them, “I don’t know the man!” And, it isn’t only Peter who
denies him. For, on the way to Gethsemane all the disciples had pledged to
die with him rather than deny him. But, the Gospels sadly report that just
an hour later, when he is arrested, “Then all the disciples deserted him and
fled.” “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour? . . . Watch
and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak.” It is natural that the disciples would be sleepy that
night in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s been a long week, and a long day.
Now it’s about 11:00 o’clock at night, they’ve just eaten a large meal at the
Last Supper, and then they hiked down Mt. Zion, through the Kidron Valley, and
back up to the Garden of Gethsemane. So, when Jesus chastises them, it’s
not so much for being sleepy. He chastises them because their natural
sleepiness is also symbolic: symbolic of their spiritual weakness and lethargy,
symbolic of our spiritual weakness and lethargy. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Like the
disciples, our flesh is weak. Just as they succumb to physical sleep, we
are often afflicted with spiritual weakness and lethargy. Paul expresses
it this way in Romans: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry
it out.” Just as the disciples in the weakness of the flesh are overcome with
sleep, we in the weakness of our flesh fall prey to many sins. There
is only one antidote to our spiritual lethargy: “Watch and pray so that you will
not fall into temptation.” Prayer is like a spiritual energy drink to help you
overcome your spiritual lethargy, so that you have strength to fight and resist
temptation. We see this in the example of Jesus himself, as he prays in the Garden
of Gethsemane. He is tempted far beyond what any mere human ever has been.
For, he is being tempted to avoid the greatest agony in history, taking the sins
of the world upon himself. He is being tempted to avoid the shame, the
offense, the scandal of the cross. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to
the point of death” he tells his disciples. And, what does Jesus do when confronted with this horrible burden, and
the terrible temptation to avoid his suffering and death on the cross?
“Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground, and prayed.”
Prayer is a like a spiritual energy drink, strengthening him to fulfill his
heavenly Father’s will. Three times he prays, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be
taken from me.” His suffering and crucifixion is like a bitter cup of
poison looming before him—that he must drink and die. He asks the
Father if there is any other way, but each time he concludes, “If it is not
possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be
done.” The disciples deserted Jesus and fled because they thought Holy Week
had turned out all wrong; they thought Jesus was a failure. It isn’t until
after his resurrection that they understand and believe in the power of his
death on the cross for our salvation. As Peter proclaims in the book of
Acts: “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and
foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing
him to the cross. But . . . God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are
all witnesses of the fact. . . God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ. . . everyone who believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name.” Peter later put it this way in his First Epistle: “He himself bore our
sins in his body on the cross . . . by his wounds you have been healed.”
Your sins are all forgiven because Jesus bore your sins in his body on the
cross, paid for your sins with his suffering and death—by his wounds you have
been healed! The book of Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
disregarding its shame.” The spiritual energy drink of prayer gives Jesus
power to face the most agonizing, toughest time anyone has ever experienced.
He wants you to have that same power for the agonizing, tough times, the trials
and temptations, that you face in your life. “The spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak. . . Watch and pray so that you will not fall into
temptation.” “Prayer” in this verse, of course, means first of all our individual,
personal prayers and devotions. As Jesus promises, “Ask, and it will be
given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened unto
you.” The “prayer” Jesus speaks of also includes what you’re doing here this
evening, worshipping, singing, hearing his word, praying together with your
brothers and sisters in Christ. And just as Jesus “on the night when he
was betrayed” knelt in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to receive strength
from his heavenly Father, you kneel in prayer here at the Lord’s altar, to
receive his body and blood to strengthen you in the true faith unto life
everlasting. “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. . . Watch and pray so
that you will not fall into temptation.” But, when you live out your life
without your personal prayers and devotions, the Lord asks you, like he did the
disciples, “Could you not keep watch with me . . . ?” When you do not read your Bible, or attend Bible class or Sunday
School, the Lord asks you, like he did the disciples, “Could you not keep watch
with me . . . ?” When you are absent from the services of the Lord’s house, the Lord
asks you, like he did the disciples, “Could you not keep watch with me . . . ?” When your place is empty here at the Lord’s table, the Lord asks you,
like he did the disciples, “Could you not keep watch with me . . . ?” “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. . . Watch and pray so
that you will not fall into temptation.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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