Context No. 1836 of 4322 · Matthew
Context · Reflection
Matthew 26:40-46: in context
40He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour? 41Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.” 43He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words. 45Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Arise, let’s be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”
In Gethsemane, Jesus returns from praying to find his disciples asleep. Could you not watch with me one hour? he asks Peter. Watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He goes away and prays again, your will be done, and returns to find them sleeping still, their eyes heavy. A third time he prays the same words. Then he wakes them: the hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed. The disciples who could not stay awake to watch and pray would soon scatter and fall.
Jesus' words to the sleeping disciples are a warning we all need: watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The disciples meant well; their spirits were willing; Peter had sworn to die rather than deny his Lord. But the flesh is weak, and good intentions are not enough. Jesus tells them the way to be ready for the coming temptation: watch and pray, beforehand, in the hour of testing that precedes the crisis. And they did not; they slept. And when the crisis came, unprepared and unstrengthened by prayer, they fell, scattering, and Peter denying. There is a clear lesson here about how we meet temptation. We tend to think we can rely on our good intentions and our willing spirits when the moment comes; but the flesh is weak, and willpower alone, unprepared, fails. Jesus points to prayerful watchfulness as the preparation: to watch and pray before the temptation comes, so that we enter the hour of testing already strengthened, alert to the danger, fortified by prayer. The disciples' failure in the garden, sleeping when they should have prayed, set up their failure in the courtyard, denying when they should have stood. Prayerlessness before the test leaves us weak in the test. This searches our own practice. Do we prepare for temptation by watching and praying, or do we, like the disciples, drift and sleep, relying on our good intentions, only to find our flesh too weak when the moment comes? The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak; and the willing spirit is strengthened for the weak flesh's testing not by resolve alone but by prayer. Watch and pray, Jesus said, that you do not enter into temptation. The hour of testing is met best by those who have watched and prayed before it came.
Do I rely on my good intentions and willing spirit to carry me through temptation, only to find my flesh too weak when the moment comes, or can I heed Jesus' counsel to watch and pray beforehand, preparing for the hour of testing through prayerful watchfulness rather than drifting and sleeping as the disciples did?
Sources
- Matthew 26:41: watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak
- Luke 22:46: why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation
- 1 Peter 5:8: be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion