Watch and pray? Or sleep on?

The Editors

“Couldn’t you three keep awake with me for a single hour? Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak” (Matthew 26:40, 41, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English). This was the plea Jesus made to his disciples as he faced the most daunting event of his earthly career. He begged them a second time to watch and pray. They still didn’t. When he went to them the third time, the King James Version of the Bible says he said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest” (Matthew 26:45). And, without their watchfulness and prayer, he moved on through his arrest, beatings, crucifixion, and the resurrection, deserted by most of them.

Do we really want to sleep on—stay in the deadening material sense of existence?

In this moving incident, was Jesus first pointing out to the disciples what they needed most in order to face the events of his upcoming crucifixion? And then was he realizing that even if they failed to take his advice to watch and pray—yielding to sleep instead of being watchful—they would still learn (even if in a more difficult way) what they needed to know to progress spiritually? That their sleepiness and inaction at this crucial hour might have slowed down but could not stop their spiritual progress? We can only imagine that had they watched and prayed with him, how different their experience might have been. At the very least they might not have run away when he most needed their prayerful, vigilant support.

When we fail to watch and pray on a persistent, daily basis, we, too, may find ourselves running away from difficult circumstances instead of facing them with the earnest conviction that comes from a perpetually prayerful life. Yet the Christ, as expressed so beautifully in the life and actions of Jesus, will never give up on us.

Though we may at times choose snoozing to watchfulness and prayer, thereby slowing down our progress, we will eventually rise, like Peter, from any denial of the Christ in our thought, or, like Thomas, from any doubt in our heart, to do the prayerful watching and working required to awaken us to our God-appointed mission to heal and bless.

The question then may be, how soon do we want to awaken to reality, the kingdom of heaven that is always, always here and available to us to experience now? Are we choosing to linger sleepily on in the material sense of existence for a few more hours, days, weeks, years? Do we really want to sleep on—stay in the deadening material sense of existence? Or will we choose to watch and pray persistently—and experience the joy of our own resurrection now? Is the Christ still gently pointing this choice out to each one of us?

Yes! The Christ is always speaking to us, always rousing us to our God-appointed mission to heal. And to do it now.

Send a comment to the editors

This is the end of the issue. Ready to explore further?

Online features Audio

October 21, 2013

Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit