Sleeping Peter

And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. – Mark 14.37-38

Imagine yourself being outside of a quiet garden on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is late evening. It has been a long day. You have just come from supper with Jesus. The Master has been speaking about betrayal. Judas has left the supper.  Jesus has told you that before dawn the next day you were going to betray Him.

And now Jesus has told you that He is going to get alone and pray. This is nothing new, He does that all the time. He asked you and the other disciples to stand guard and watch for trouble, and for you to pray as well.

So you settle in to ‘watch and pray.’ It’s dark, it’s late, you’re tired. The fire is crackling, you have had a bit of a chat, and then things calm down. As time goes by who find yourself getting drowsy. It’s hard to keep your eyes open. Your head keeps nodding. ‘I’ve got to stay awa…’

‘Peter, Simon!’

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you hear ‘couldn’t even keep watch for one single hour?’

‘Your spirit was willing, but your flesh was weak.’

As I read this I can certainly feel for Peter. I don’t sleep well so I can really understand how it must have felt to be dozing off. It happened to me all the time when I sit down and take it easy during the day. Watching the telly or reading or whatever can get me in the same kind of lazy and lethargic attitude no matter how much I want to stay awake.

But is goes much further than that. Jesus’ statement that ‘’the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ That really describes a lot about doing things for God. I really want to trust God for my future completely. I really want to pray more. I really want to be a bolder witness. I really want to love more. I really want to do more for the poor. My spirit really, really wants to do those things.

I really do.

But my stinking flesh is weak. Laziness and self-centredness and pride all get in the way. A lot of times I just fall back on the comfort zone that is my flesh. That is the easy default.

Lord, you are my strength. Give me the strength to overcome the weakness and frailty of my flesh. I do want to do right, give me the power to do it in my daily practice.