Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation

 Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

'I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered.'

"But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."  But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And they all said likewise.

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch."  He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.  And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.  Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."  Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping?  Could you not watch one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words.  And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.  Then 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.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."

- Mark 14:27-42

Yesterday we read that on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"  And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.  Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"  Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."  So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.  In the evening He came with the twelve.  Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.  Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:  'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'  But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."  Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."  Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."  But he spoke more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  And they all said likewise.  We recall that just a few verses earlier, when Jesus told the disciples that one of them would betray Him, they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  But here Peter resists the moment, and insists that even if all are made to stumble, he will not be.  And all follow suit, and say likewise.  But Jesus prophecies Peter's own denial, giving us stark emphasis on what sort of a time this is.    Jesus quotes from Zechariah 13:7.

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."  And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch."  He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.  And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You.  Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."  Then He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, are you sleeping?  Could you not watch one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Again He went away and prayed, and spoke the same words.  And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.  Then 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.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand."  Gethsemane means "oil press."  This is an orchard of olive trees at the foot of the Mount of Olives.   It is a place known already to His disciple Judas, Jesus' betrayer, to which Jesus has intentionally come.  My study bible says that this shows He was going to His Passion willingly and voluntarily.  It reveals that He went to find Judas, rather than Judas finding Christ.  The Gospel shows us fully the human responses to incomprehensible tragedy and betrayal.  The disciples sleep, perhaps not able to take it all in.  Abba in Aramaic is like saying "Papa."  It is a title of intimacy, showing Christ's relationship to God the Father.  Jesus' human response is openly on display -- as a man, He wishes He could avoid this, that the Father would take this cup away.  Ultimately, however, Jesus' human will is subject to the Father's and their wills are united; He is without sin.  "Watch and pray" are words Jesus has given already in His prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and also of His Return and the time of the end (see this reading and the two before it).  My study bible says these words are the key to Christian spirituality and our struggle against temptation.  By doing so, the Lord's human soul is strengthened, and He faces death with divine courage.  The disciples, however, sleep, in contrast to Christ's vigilance.  Since body and soul are united, my study bible says, the spirit is paralyzed by a lethargic body.  A willing spirit, which recognizes the weakness of the flesh, struggles against its own weakness, relying instead on God's presence and power.

"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation."   This saying by Christ really comes as a type of echo of Christ's words of warning about times of tribulation, in the earlier readings in which He prophesied the destruction of the temple and taught about end times.  Here, it applies to this time of terrible trouble, imminent betrayal, and His Crucifixion and death.  He's already told them as well (quoting from the prophecy of Zechariah above) that the Shepherd will be struck, so that the sheep will be scattered and helpless.   To watch, we remember, is to be alert.  In some sense, it is the opposite of what the disciples are doing.  It is the opposite of sleeping.  To watch is to be aware and awake, keen to grasp exactly what is happening around oneself.  Jesus speaks of watching and praying in order to avoid temptation, and these are words that help us at all times.  Whether we may be tempted by despair, or by fury, or a sense of helplessness -- all of these things work against our own capacities for faith and strength in that faith.   Most of all, one might surmise here, Jesus is most afraid that He will lose His sheep to this time of evil.  All the elements of times gone awry are here:  betrayal, injustice, lies, slander, false witness, violence as a kind of  "solution" which also acts as a type of lie.  We remember that a lie is at the heart of evil, as Jesus characterizes the devil:  "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).  To murder the truth and silence it is an ultimate form of a lie.  It is another form of temptation to succumb to loss of faith, believing the denial in a lie that suppresses the word of truth and the truth about God's love for us.  In the Revelation we read, "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie" (Revelation 22:14-15).  A lie is at the heart of this time of evil in today's reading, but by extending all the forms that lies can take, including extreme violence and injustice, we begin to get a sense of what the words, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation" can really mean for us.  At all times of betrayal and upheaval, temptations to believe lies and denials of truth, injustice and evil, we need to follow His words.  It is at these times when we are most vulnerable to being thrown off the track, away from the true path of our faith, outside of that narrow gate that shows us His way.  Jesus doesn't just call on His friends for help -- although that is also an essential and very important piece of this byword.  We need to learn from this example He sets that watching and praying is also something we do for our friends in times of trouble.  Somehow our strength is multiplied through this effort in which we all may participate together with the grace that comes through prayer and communion with God.  To watch and pray is to take up protection and arms against the enemy, to fight the good fight for the victory of the soul.  In times of great uncertainty, let us always remember His word to us.  Let us not be asleep to the reality of what we truly need.  In this action, we "put on the whole armor of God," as St. Paul said, concluding that we should be "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (see Ephesians 6:10-18).  In this is our strength, through all times and struggles and need.  We start there.