Sit, Stay, Watch and Pray

I’ve been reflecting upon Matthew’s record of events and Jesus’ simple commands given to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane just before His crucifixion and death in Matthew 26:36-46.
 
We read how (v36) “… Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane …” Tim referred to it in last week’s Sunday message that it was a place where olives were pressed for their oil. (Hebrew: gat shemanim meaning “press oils”). This was a place of physical ‘pressing’ or ‘pressure’ and would be a place of spiritual pressing and pressure in that eventful hour.
 
Jesus said to his disciples, of which there were eleven present (minus Judas), “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Here is a simple command to SIT. A command to not go any further. Sometimes the Lord calls us to pause, to sit awhile, to sit together with others. A place of waiting, abiding. Sit, don’t run. Sit, don’t rush.
 
However this command to “sit” was really given to eight of the disciples, for (v37) “He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John] along with him …”. Those three were not to sit, but to continue further with their Lord. And it is those three who witness Jesus’ demeanour change as “he began to be sorrowful and troubled.” In fact, Jesus spells it out to them, (v38) “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” The Lord called this trio to venture further, deeper with Him – pressing into the pressure. He lets them in on His suffering.
 
Will we choose to share in His suffering? Apostle Paul writes that, “we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Rom 8:17) Peter testifies and appeals as “a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed …” (1 Peter 5:1) And suffering is not without comfort for “just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” (2 Cor 1:5)
 
It is to the three that Jesus gives His second command, to STAY: (v38) “Stay here …” They are called to stay in the place of pressure, suffering, sorrow and trouble. A difficult command and calling to receive and obey. But this is no idle or static stay, for the Lord attaches it to a third command, to WATCH: (v38) “… and keep watch with me.” The place of staying is also a place of watching. They were not only to stay still, but also to stay alert, to stay awake, to stay on guard.
 
And Jesus perseveres in pressing into the pressure: (v39) “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus, face to floor, bears His heart upward to His Loving Heavenly Father, in intimate, honest, humble agony.
Yet, when Jesus returns to His disciples, what does He find? Will he find them faithful? (Proverbs 20:6) Will he find faith? (Luke 18:8). He (v40) “found them sleeping.” Instead of staying awake and alert, they stay asleep. Instead of keeping watch with their Lord and friend, (v40) “for one hour”, they choose to slumber the hour away.
 
Jesus repeats his “watch” request to Peter but adds a fourth command, to PRAY: (v41) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Peter, soon, will be faced with further temptation; to deny and disown Jesus, something he has taken great pains to assure Jesus he will never do.
 
And Jesus (v42) “… went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Under pressure, the oil of obedient submission to the Father’s will comes forth – clear oil that gives perpetual light (Exodus 27:20, Leviticus 24:2), the fragrant “anointing oil of his God” (Leviticus 21:12), the “oil of joy” setting Jesus above his companions (Psalm 45:7, Hebrews 1:9, Isaiah 61:3).
 
Jesus returns and (v43) “again found [the disciples] sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.” The matter is settled: the cross is THE WAY. Yet to his disciples, Jesus asks, (v45) “Are you still sleeping and resting?” Following Jesus in the garden may not prove to be a walk in the park, but rather a persevering under pressure.

Revd Michael Hogg