Asleep or awake?

I find it amazing at how deep and vast the Scripture is.  Even the most well known bits can surprise me with a new insight into a deep meaning that is being conveyed.  This morning was one of those special times when a familiar passage gave me an ‘aha’ moment.  I was listening to the Gospel of Mark and when it came to the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus asking His disciples if they could not even stay awake for a little while and pray with Him while He was in agony I thought back to the story on the boat where the disciples were wondering how Jesus could sleep through the storm that was so terrifying them.

All of a sudden as I thought of these two different stories I realized how they were linked.  Let’s look at the disciples in the boat with a worn out Jesus asleep.  Many of the disciples were fisherman and had spent most of their lives on boats.  I am sure that during those many nights out fishing they had encountered storms and all kinds of inclement weather.  They had obviously survived those storms and had learned how to handle their boats but they were afraid, which means this was some kind of storm that they were now in the middle of.  They were pros and they were afraid, which I am sure made the non-fishermen of the group even more afraid than they were to begin with.  So what is the answer…they wake up Jesus so He can join them in their fear and they could die together.  They even rebuke Jesus for not caring about their plight.  He then calms the sea with just a word and then asks why they have so little faith. 

Let’s read it from Mark 4:35-41
Jesus Stills the Sea
35 On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”41 They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Then we have the scene in the Garden, Jesus has been betrayed and is in the Garden waiting for Judas to bring the guards to arrest Him.  He is praying so hard that drops of blood are oozing from His pores.  He knows that in a matter of hours He will be hanging on the cross atoning for the sins of the world completely cut off from God the Father, alone, in pain, being punished for something He did not do.  And His friends, who He is dying for, are so sleepy they cannot even stay awake with Him for a little while.  He is utterly alone as He wrestles with the consequences of all that is about to take place.

Let’s read Mark 14:32-42
Jesus in Gethsemane
32 They *came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” 33 And He *took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. 34 And He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” 35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. 36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” 37 And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? 38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him. 41 And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

So looking at these two passages the question that came to my mind, ‘are we sleeping at the right time?’.  Do we worry and pace when it is time to sleep and do we sleep when it is time to be alert and engaged with what is going on?

Why did Jesus say the disciples had little faith during the storm?  Obviously, a storm that was bad enough to worry the most professional sailor among them is one worthy of fear and worry.  Why could Jesus sleep through the storm?  Let’s think about this.  It was not because He was God because Hebrews tells us that He laid aside His Godness in order to be human and to live His life under human restrictions.  He was able to do all the miracles He did because He listened to the will of God the Father and then the Holy Spirit worked through Him…he was showing us the way it is to be done and promised that if we did it the same way we could also do the same miracles He did and even more amazing things than He did.

He was asleep in the boat because He knew it was not His time to die.  He was not destined to drown or be thrown off a hill by a mob or have an accident.  He was meant to go to the cross the way it had been predicted centuries before.  He knew that even if the boat went down, He and His disciples were safe because God had promised it.  If the disciples had been listening to what He had been telling them they would have realized that for the time being there was no power in heaven or earth that could harm Jesus or those the Father had given to Him.

But they did not understand,  later they had gotten so used to the idea that Jesus could handle any problem that came up that they fell asleep when He was in the agony of the choice that lay before Him.  He could do the will of the Father and go to the cross or He could decide that humanity was not worth the price and go back to the Father and let the world be destroyed.  The very balance of the total future of everyone alive, who had ever lived or who would ever live was being fought for, yet the disciples could not keep their eyes open for even a few moments.

How often are we guilty of being just like these disciples?  Is our faith so little that we worry when God has promised us that we will reach the other shore?  Or are we so tired that we cannot keep our eyes even open when we have been called to do something important like watch and pray?

A while back the Lord gave me a picture of Him asleep in the boat and I could see the storms raging all around me.  I was going through many, many things at that point in my life but I knew that for that time my choice was to either be afraid or to get my blankie and join Jesus in the stern for a nap.  I pictured myself curling up beside my Lord and resting in His presence.  This picture got me through a lot without the stress that I normally would have felt knowing that God had everything under control.  When stress or fear would rear its ugly head I would close my eyes and picture myself curled up like a little child feeling safe and secure while the storms raged.

Now, I think I need to learn the other lesson in a new and fresh way…to stay alert to what the Lord has called me to.  To not fall asleep or to rest on the past, but to diligently and earnestly pray for the next step and then with the leading of the Holy Spirit to take those steps….one at a time.