He said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one
hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14: 37-38)
Temptation is not a ‘sometime thing.’ It befriends us when we least
expect it, and its energy never seems to flag. Sometimes it is
obvious. Sometimes it is not - but it is always there. To be human is
to be tempted.
To belong to God, though, is the way to take another path other than
the one we know will bring pain and hurt to others or to ourselves.
Temptation at its base is to get us to be anything less than what God
wants us to be whether our sin is hidden, and no one else sees it, or
our errors are larger than life, and we have really ‘blown it.’ Jesus
does not rebuke His disciples for being tempted, but He does speak
directly to their choice to sleep. Jesus is facing His death. He knows it
and so do His friends. Yet they have chosen ‘flight’ instead of fight. It
is interesting that what He has suggested as a remedy is not to fight
with swords, words or schemes, but to watch and pray.
How simple that seems…except it isn’t. So many times it is easier to
rush into control of the situation than to wait and pray. Peter, in fact,
did something that same night in his desire to control the situation,
something he regretted for the rest of his life. He denied his friend,
his Lord, his life when someone suggested they were friends. One of
the most influential moments in our history, and yet one of the most
influential people in the church, Peter, missed the moment. He was
caught unprepared, sleeping, avoiding. May God help us to use this
Lenten time for our preparation and for God’s purposes so that we
may not be caught denying the One who loves us more than we
know.
Fran Peel
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