” Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?”
Mark 14:37
I honestly think what broke Jesus up the most was being disappointed by His trusty disciples. This was devastating. I believe that He was counting on the disciples to be there for Him. They simply fell asleep while sitting with Jesus. Now it’s no secret that we need sleep. Sleeping is a part of life, it is something that we require. But we can forego it, without too many issues. Truck drivers and med interns do it all the time–it’s no big deal.
But precious Peter sleeps through the most critical time of His best friends life–even after an explanation. Jesus craves their closeness. The humanness of Jesus yearns for His friends–His companions. He was lonely, and alone.
There is a legend of the Brittany peasants that explains how the robin got its red breast. As Jesus was being led out to Calvary, a bird, pitying Him, flew down and plucked one thorn from the crown of thorns He wore. The blood spurted from the wound and splashed the bird’s breast. It would be from that moment on the bird with the red breast– the valiant robin.
The robin did what it could. The disciples didn’t. After sleeping for a bit, they would scatter. They gave Jesus no solace, no comfort. All they did was to make Gethsemane harder. Death was something Jesus knew was imminent. The torture would brutalize Him even before the cross. But, He would go it alone, without His friends. Jesus would take all the sin on His shoulders and carry it away from us.
Today, we can make up for the disciples gross negligence. In some way, we can sit with Jesus, and spend time with Him, alert to the intercessory burden He carries for the Church. It is an active ministry of simple availability to being used in this way.
“Christ bears the wounds of the church, his body, just as he bore the wounds of crucifixion. I sometimes wonder which have hurt worse.”
Philip Yancey
“So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore. 14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”
Hebrews 13:13-14
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