Not that he didn't understand - we know he knew from Matt.
26:41, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”
So then, why did Christ say to them, Why do you sleep?
One reason is to remind them of the need to be
disciplined. Weak flesh requires a
strong disciplined mind to rule it.
1. The mechanics of quietness, physical stillness,
and yet having and yet keeping the mind engaged with the invisible Living God
is tricky business.
Our fleshly minds see it as a waste of
effort. Our fleshly bodies cry out - if
we are not doing any work, why must we be at the ready?!
2. The spiritual aspect of prayer is also quite
challenging. This is truly the point of
greatest difficulty. We must honestly
reveal our soul - the challenges, the griefs, the sin, all the contradiction of
who we really are - to the Lord.
To say that - I must give an explanation. While it isn't anything hard to agree with God mentally
about our condition - to state it in prayer - we have to hear our own mouth
reveal things to our ears - shameful things, hard things, things which
sometimes challenge what we say we believe about the God we say we love...this is what we struggle against.
So we must wrestle, as a mental exercise. What is our greatest ally in the fight?
Humility.
Humility lets us reveal to an all-knowing God what he
already knows but which we've been hiding from even our own selves. Humility helps us to give over the desire to ‘make sense’ of the challenges of who we are, and what we believe about our
God.
Humility helps us to bear the burdens of our wickedness,
because we see everything in the right perspective. We no longer see ourselves in the pride of
our puny strength - deluding ourselves.
Instead we are, because of Christ in Calvary, able to see a love
for us greater than our own love for ourselves - and thereby rest.
Tears have been my food. (Psa. 42:3) And humility is the best ally in times of temptation - we
are not as strong as we think we are, as Rich Mullins once said. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. (James 4:7-10)
So when Christ admonishes the disciples to watch and pray
that you enter not into temptation (Luke 22:40) it is an admonishment to humbly
present yourself to the Lord (and to your ownself) and trust the omniscient
Loving Lord of the universe. He knows
our frame that we are nothing but dust (Psa. 103:14)
But I am out of time - I have a battle to fight. I need to prevail and make humility my friend.
Amen.
