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1998-01-08 - Sleeping on Watch
The Cross Series, Part 22
Luke 22:43-46 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him,
strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony He was praying very
fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the
ground. 45 And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples
and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, "Why
are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
(NAS)
As many of you know, Luke was a physician. It is not uncommon for Luke to
cite physical details that others leave out. It was a part of his chosen
profession to notice these details. The modern medical term for what Luke
saw is hematidrosis. It is a situation where the capillaries, tiny
blood vessels, in the forehead and face burst when the person is under tremendous
mental or physical stress. It is supposed to be physically exhausting and
weakens the individual. It can be fatal. The blood from the capillaries mixes
with perspiration from the sweat glands. This can give the appearance of
sweating blood.
There are two interesting things here. The first is the level of suffering
and strain that Jesus is already under. The intensity of His request to the
Father is of such force that it has a physical manifestation. The
desire to avoid that moment when the perfect fellowship between Jesus and
the Father would be broken as the Father must turn His back on sin. This
conflicts with the Lord's desire to be obedient to the Father and to follow
the plan to restore the human race to fellowship with their Creator. Once
Jesus submits to the plan and to the will of the Father, He knows the road
home to Heaven is through the cross. There is the impending moment when the
Messiah will crush the head of the enemy. A moment that had been foretold
to Adam and Eve. Opposing forces: will and submission, suffering and joy,
death and victory.
The second point, He will begin the night is a weakened and physically drained
state. Humanly, what we are about to walk though in a devotional study, is
impossible to expect the victim to survive as far as the cross. The physical
abuse and beatings that will be inflicted upon Jesus would crush the life
from a man. Most prisoners did not survive the scourging when the count was
thirty-nine lashes. Most would die from shock and blood loss. And here Jesus
has already been physically traumatized at the beginning. We are faced with
the fact that supernatural forces were involved in getting Jesus to the
cross from the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus returns from His prayers to find even his closest disciples asleep.
They were sleeping from sorrow. They had
been through the Passover meal with the Master. They had seen and heard things
that they were still attempting to comprehend. Jesus the Messiah, stripped
naked washing their feet; Jesus explaining that He must die; the first communion
with the pictures of the body and blood in the bread and wine. Then they
would have heard Jesus as He begged His Father to find another path to redeem
fallen mankind. Spending time with someone who is mourning, suffering or
the like is very draining. It takes and effort to be there and be supportive
of someone in emotional need. It can be exhausting. For the disciples to
hear this man they had proclaimed to be the long awaited Messiah in such
apparent distress must have been too much for them. They succumbed to the
night air and long days. Matthew records Jesus encouragement to his friends
after His first time in prayer:
Matt 26:41 "Keep watching and praying, that you may not
enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
This can be said of us so many times. The things our hearts long to do for
Jesus. We want to be a witness to that co-worker or friend. Then a perfect
moment arises, and the words just won't come. Sometimes for fear of rejection,
sometimes we just don't know why, but we have let Jesus down. Did Jesus upbraid
His charges? No. He knew the disciples as He knows us. Our flesh is often
surprising in its resilience, but is still very frail. Our minds and wills
are not the stalwart, resolute things we would hope. In order to disappoint
someone, they must be surprised. Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him, He
knew the disciples would scatter at His arrest, and that you and I would
blow it from eternity past. And the Lord knew He would have paid for that
too and it was so recorded in the Book of Life before time began. So, the
next time you blow it, know that Jesus understands. The thing I think He
hopes is that we will learn a little more of how much we depend on Him for
everything. If we learn that, then we will know where to turn for strength
that will not fail the next time.
Thank You Jesus, for your infinite patience, wisdom and understanding
as we learn to walk this path. Help us to see ourselves as the fragile children
we really are. If we can learn a little more each day, of our dependence
on You, then we will be much better prepared for the 'next times'. Amen
Grace & Peace,
Mike
jmhoskins@gmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
All verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
CFD | January 1998
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