“Stay awake and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Jesus returned to His three disciples—Peter, James, and John—and seeing that they had fallen asleep, He said to Peter:
“Simon, are you asleep? Could you not stay awake with Me one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:37-38, Contemporary English Version)
As I meditate on these words, I hope to receive the lessons they offer:

(1)

Luke records that when Jesus prayed to God the Father, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done,” an angel appeared from heaven and strengthened Him (Luke 22:42-43, CEV).

(a)
The fact that an angel from heaven helped Jesus has deep significance. The angel’s help is also mentioned when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:13). After Jesus’ testing in the wilderness, when He was exhausted, the angel assisted Him to regain strength, enabling Him to carry out His Spirit-filled ministry and give His best until the end. Likewise, here, as Jesus prayed in agony and was overwhelmed with fear and weakness, God’s angel came to support Him so He could endure the full path of suffering (Hoekema).

(2)

Mark and Matthew record that Jesus returned to His three disciples and found them asleep (Mark 14:37; Matthew 26:40, CEV). Luke adds that Jesus came back from praying, found them “exhausted with sorrow, and they had fallen asleep” (Luke 22:45, CEV). Luke specifically notes that the three disciples were “exhausted with sorrow.”

(i)
Why were they exhausted with sorrow? John 16:5-6 (CEV) explains:
"Now I am going to the One who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ Instead, you are filled with sadness because of what I have said."
(Also see verses 20 and 22 in John 16, which speak of their weeping and sorrow.)
They were exhausted with sorrow because Jesus was about to return to God the Father who sent Him, and soon they would no longer see Him (John 16:19).

(3)

Seeing Peter, John, and James exhausted with sorrow and asleep (Luke 22:45), Jesus said to Peter:
“Simon, are you asleep? Could you not stay awake with Me one hour? Stay awake and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:37-38, CEV).
Peter was the disciple who had earlier confidently said he would never deny Jesus, even if it meant dying with Him (Mark 14:31), yet here he could not stay awake even one hour to pray with the Lord. They were all so physically and emotionally overwhelmed that their spiritual alertness had broken down, causing them to fall asleep (Hoekema).

(a)
Though Jesus told them to “stay awake and pray so that you will not fall into temptation,” they were exhausted and asleep. Jesus said that only prayer could save them from the coming trial (Hoekema), but they failed to pray and instead slept.

(4)

We are no different from Jesus’ disciples. Because we do not stay awake and pray with Jesus, we sin against God. Our spirit desires to stay awake and pray with Jesus and avoid sin, but our flesh is weak, and we fail to do so, thus committing unintended sins against God. What should we do? (Kim Chang-se)

(a)
First, we must hold fast to Romans 8:26-27 and 34 by faith:
"The Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we do not know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. God searches our hearts and knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people according to God’s will... Christ Jesus, who died and was raised to life, is at God’s right hand and is also interceding for us." (CEV)

(b)
Second, to avoid falling into temptation (Matthew 26:41), we must follow the Spirit’s guidance, who helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26) and strengthens us (Luke 22:43), and stay awake and pray together with Jesus, the Son of God (Matthew 26:38; Romans 8:34; Matthew 26:41).

(c)
Third, we must continually listen to and believe in the “seed of God” within us (1 John 3:9), the “imperishable seed” and “living word of God,” the gospel (1 Peter 1:23-25), which is the power of salvation for believers through Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16), so that by faith in Jesus Christ, we can overcome (1 John 5:4-5).