A reading today comes from Matthew's Gospel chapter 26,
starting in verse 36 through 46. Then Jesus went with them to a
place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here
while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and
troubled. Then he said to them, My soul is
very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.
And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed,
saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but
as you will. And he came to the disciples and
found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not
enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. Again for the second time he
went away and prayed. My father, if this cannot pass
unless I drink it, your will be done.
And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were
heavy. So leaving them again he went
away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words
again. Then he came to the disciples
and said to them, Sleep and take your rest later on.
See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into
the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, you may be seated whether you're joining us
in person or online. Welcome to Holy Week at Park
City's Presbyterian Church. This is perhaps our favorite
week of the year as a church family, and we're so glad that
you've joined us. The gospel writers slow down
during this week in Jesus life, and so do we.
They focus their attention on Christ's death and resurrect
resurrection, and so do we. They long for people to grasp
the significance of these historical events, and so do we.
And so we're praying for us, for our family and friends, for
people who don't yet know Jesus, that he would do a great work in
our lives this week, this year, as you probably know, we'll see
Holy Week through the eyes of a number of characters in the
story, because we want to see what they see, but also what
they don't see, so that we can see what we see and what we
don't see as we behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world. John Stott once said, the cross
is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled,
but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.
So, friends, wherever you are this week, we invite you to draw
near to the cross. Come in out of the cold, and
come around the blazing fire of His love.
And we pray that He would give us grace to draw near enough
that the sparks fall on us. As we dive into this familiar
passage, I just want to pose one question.
Have we ever been asleep when we were supposed to be awake?
It's actually one of my deep fears, and I come by it
honestly. When I was a freshman in high
school, I was playing basketball and my team was on a bus on the
way to Rockwall to play a game, and I happened to fall asleep on
the bus. I woke up with a sense of some
sweetness in my mouth and the coach, my coach standing in the
aisle next to us saying, guys, what's going on here?
And as my senses came back online, I realized my mouth was
full of chocolate. So through the chocolate I said
ask him. So while I slept my so-called
friend had been stuffing Rolos into my mouth to see how many he
could fit. So that day my friend learned
not to do that as he had to sit out the whole first half of the
game and I learned not to fall asleep in public places.
This is a terrible feeling to be asleep when we're supposed to be
awake, but that's really what our passage is about today.
So much has happened in our passage since Jesus triumphal
entry on Palm Sunday. Imagine the whirlwind of a week
that the disciples have had, and on this night in Matthew 26,
they've already gathered for the Passover.
Jesus has predicted his betrayal.
He's instituted the Lord's Supper, and now they've come to
this familiar place where they gathered before the Garden of
Gethsemane. Just imagine three years with
Jesus. All that's happened.
The disciples have to be exhausted.
In verse 43, we read that their eyes were heavy and with a storm
losing on the horizon for Jesus. I don't think they fully grasp
it, but they sense something is coming.
They're sorrowful. In the same episode in Luke
2245, we read they were sleeping for sorrow.
So the disciples have sleepy eyes because they're exhausted
and sorrowful to realities that we know all too well.
When's the last time you heard someone say I just feel so
rested and energetic? We're exhausted.
And whom do you know who hasn't been touched by deep sorrow?
We all have sorrow and exhaustion and sorrow lead us to
fall asleep or to be sluggish when we're supposed to be awake.
And I don't just mean physical sleep.
Some people are completely asleep, unaware of who God is
and what He's doing. Holy Week comes year after year.
The good news is preach week after week, and they are asleep
to it all. And some of us have been
awakened by the Holy Spirit. But we're still prone to fall
asleep when life gets busy or hard, when disappointment or
suffering comes. In these moments, we're tempted
not to lean in, but to check out, to doze off.
We're like the spouse that loses the wonder of being married.
We can fall asleep in the most important relationships.
We're like the soldier who falls asleep at his post.
We can fall asleep in the most important assignments.
We're like the lighthouse keeper who dozes off in the midst of
the storm. And so our falling asleep can
have disastrous consequences. All too often when we're asleep,
when we ought to be awake, my heart breaks that this is who I
am. So what do we see through the
sleepy eyes of the disciples? First, we see that our willpower
fails us. Our willpower fails us.
Just before this passage in Matthew 2631, Jesus tells his
disciples, You will all fall away because of me this night.
So Peter replies, though they all fall away because of you, I
will never fall away. Then Jesus predicts Peter's
denial and Peter says, even if I must die with you, I will not
deny you. See the confidence he has in his
willpower? And the text says all the
disciples said the same. Then the scene shifts to the
Garden of Gethsemane where we are.
Gethsemane literally means oil press.
It's a garden. It's an olive Grove.
It's an oil press. In this garden, Jesus and his
disciples are both pressed, but they respond very differently.
In this moment of anguish for Jesus, he anticipates the
suffering that he will face the next day on Good Friday.
So it makes sense that he wants his friends to pray with him.
It's a very human moment. He has eight of them stay in one
place. Then he invites 3 Peter, James,
and John to go a little farther to come with him.
And he tells them, My soul is very sorrowful even to death.
Remain here and watch with me. Just a simple request.
Watch with me, pray with me. And then Jesus goes a little
farther by himself, falls on his face and begins to cry out to
his Father. And the text says he pleads with
his father three times. And in between the praying, he
comes back to his disciples, I suppose, maybe looking for
comfort, only to find them asleep.
And it's not just the other 8 disciples who are sleeping, it's
the inner circle, the three, his closest friends.
So in verse 40, Jesus addresses Peter, who made the boldest
promises. Could you not watch with me for
one hour? You see, even the strongest
among us have failed the Lord. The Lord wants to be with us.
He wants to do something for us. He asked something of us.
But exhaustion and sorrow get the best of us.
And we, like the disciples, miss the wonder of what God is doing
right before our eyes because we're asleep.
So through the disciples sleepy eyes we see our own failure to
stay awake. That, you could say, is the bad
news. But here's the good news.
We also see Jesus resolve to save us.
While we're sleeping, Jesus is fully awake.
He's watching and praying, pleading with the Father.
He's wrestling against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places. He's winning a battle in this
garden that we lost in an ancient garden at the beginning.
While we're sleeping, Jesus is pondering being separated from
his Father for the first time since eternity past.
He's sweating drops of blood. He's praying.
My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be
done. Think about Jesus being fully
human. He has to be more exhausted and
sorrowful than his disciples, but while they're sleeping, he's
awake and fully engaged. He will not sleep in the Garden
of Gethsemane. He will not sleep all night as
he's accused and abused and condemned to die.
And he will not sleep all day on Friday as he's handed over to be
crucified, to carry his own cross, to allow soldiers to
drive nails through his wrists and his feet, to have to push up
on those nails just to take a breath, to feel the weight of
his people's sins bearing down on him until he cries out.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Our Lord Jesus will not sleep until he breathes his last and
is laid to rest in a tune. He will not sleep because he
came to save people like us who fall asleep when they're
supposed to be awake. So friends, are you asleep when
you're supposed to be awake? Hear Jesus word to his disciples
today. Watch and pray that you may not
enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. Come and be with Jesus this
week. Watch and pray with Him.
If life is noisy, come a little farther.
Come away from the crowds. Hear His word, listen for His
heart. Your spirit may be willing, but
your flesh is weak. So if you feel drowsy, ask Him
to strengthen you. But realize our hope is not in
our power to stay awake. Our hope is in the one who would
not sleep until He could say it is finished.
And our hope is in the one who will not sleep on Sunday morning
when it's time to wake up and conquer sin and death and hell.
Let's take a moment now for silent prayer and reflection.
Ask the Lord to show you where you're asleep, and ask Him, by
the power of His Spirit, to awaken you.