Much of what took place in the Garden of Gethsemane is a mystery to me. I don’t know how to explain the emotions of the God-man, because I don’t know where the Son of God begins and where the Son of Man ends. So, this evening, I’m not going to dig into what Jesus was suffering. Suffice it to say that Jesus “began to be sorrowful and very heavy.” I saw that one Greek expert said that “sorrowful” may be related to “being away from home.” That is an idea well-worth a full consideration, especially in the Lord Jesus. Jesus was not at home emotionally or in other ways. But we won’t go there tonight. And then there is Jesus’ prayer, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
It is not the sufferings of the Lord Jesus which concerns me tonight. Rather it is His exhortation to some of the disciples as His sufferings began – “Watch with me.” Should we confine these words only to the eleven under these special circumstances. Or more specifically does this apply to the three who went further into the garden with Jesus? Or is this for you and me as much as them?
Let’s consider this deep and intense passage of scripture under three simple headings: expectation, exhortation, and examination.
What EXPECTATIONS did Christ Jesus have in VERSE 36?
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” This was after the Lord’s supper in the upper room. This was after the departure of Judas. “When they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives,” where Gethsemane was located. The sky may have been dark by this time, but there is no mention of lamps or candles.
When they entered the garden, the Lord may have gestured to one spot saying, “Sit ye here.” And then He may have pointed down the path to another more secluded and darker spot. “I’ll be over there in prayer.” At that point I imagine everyone started to find rocks to use as chairs, or they began to sit on the ground. But Jesus said, “Peter, bring James and John with you, and follow me.” As the four of them moved more deeply into the shadows, and with shadows filling His heart with darkness, Jesus told His companions to stop where they were and to watch with Him. Then as He went a little further, Jesus dropped to His knees and began to pray.
Now, go back to the eight disciples of verse 36. “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” Can I say that the Lord Jesus wasn’t prone to micro-manage His disciples? Of course, there were His many parables and lessons bearing all kinds of instructions, but they were laid out somewhat generally. And then there is the Sermon on the Mount. But don’t we find more practical exhortation for Christian living coming from the writings of Peter and Paul than from the Lord Jesus?
In this case the Lord said, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” If we are going to be precise, the exhortation to “watch” was only given to Peter and the sons of Zebedee. Jesus simply told the others to have a seat with the expectation that He would return at some point. He didn’t warn these disciples not to fall asleep. He didn’t tell them to pray or rehearse their memory verses. He didn’t give them specific instructions of any kind. Did they fall asleep? Probably.
But was that what they should have done? When the Lord told them He was going to spend some time with His Father, shouldn’t that have been taken as a suggestion of what they should do? How could they have best redeemed that time under the circumstances? There may have not been enough light to read. They didn’t have any cell-phones with which to check their messages or go to FaceBook. They probably shouldn’t have started to play “mumbly peg” or “rock, paper scissors.”
Why does the Lord have to tell His disciples – why does He have to tell us – to pray, for example. Are we a bunch of lazy Christian teenagers, who have be given specific instructions all the time? If prayer was a good idea for the Lord Jesus, it should also have been a good idea for the disciples. And that leads to any number of other Christian responsibilities.
How disappointed is the Lord in us, as He looks at us. How disappointed should we be of ourselves as we look back at the way we spent our day? How many opportunities to witness have we missed; how much time have we wasted? How many temptations to sin have we tolerated and toyed with, rather than immediately kicked to the curb? How much time have we spent in communion with our heavenly Father? How many opportunities to meet with the brethren for prayer have we let slip through our fingers? One of those eight brethren should have said, “Who’s going to join me in prayer?”
I think verse 36 hints toward the fact the Lord has expectations in us, even if He doesn’t give us direct orders.
Then in VERSE 38 Jesus directly expresses a single, double edged EXHORTATION.
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Why was Jesus’ soul exceedingly sorrowful? Of course, it had to do with His upcoming death. Probably at the forefront was the fact that He knew that He was going to bear the sins of His elect. And He knew that His Father was going to turn away from the Son during the midst of His ordeal. There was probably more about the next few hours that were coming up into his Son-of-Man-mind. But there on the periphery of these things was Christ’s knowledge of how these disciples would react. They would deny Him, despite denying that they’d ever deny Him – verse 33. And they would forsake the Lord; they would come close to losing their faith in Him. They would somewhat lose their faith in God the Father as well. Some of them would come near to deserting the field. And that spiritual departure would be illustrated in their lack of watching and their lack of prayer.
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Did the disciples know what Jesus meant? Do we understand after all these years of Bible study? Does the original Greek help? In one New Testament verse that word is translated “to be vigilant,” and it is set in a particular context. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” – I Peter 4:8. Was the devil on the prowl the night of Jesus’ arrest and just before the crucifixion? Absolutely. “Tarry ye here, and be vigilant because we are in it here tonight.” Most of the time that Greek word is translated “watch,” but once it is rendered “to be awake.” And of course, that seems to be at least a part of Jesus’ intent in this case. I Thessalonians 5:6 – “Let us not SLEEP, as do others; but let us WATCH and be sober.” I Thess. 5:10 – Christ “died for us that, whether we WAKE or SLEEP, we should live together with him.”
It would make perfect sense under the circumstances for the Lord to tell the disciples to “stay awake” with Him. But that doesn’t really make sense in the light of Jesus exhortation: “tarry ye here, and watch WITH me.” Perhaps Colossians 4:2 puts the word into the context of Gethsemane. “Continue in PRAYER, and WATCH in the same with thanksgiving.” Doesn’t Paul encourage the saints in Colosse to “watch WITH prayer and thanksgiving?”
There are other verses where the word is translated “watch” – but the context adds more substance. For example there are occasions where the Lord Jesus uses the word in the sense of awaiting His return. In one of His parables in Mark 13 He said, “For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. This is certainly an appropriate way in which you and I are to “watch” in these last days. The Lord is coming again soon. Let’s diligently watch for Him.
Another reference could apply either to those men or to us. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” – I Corinthians 16:13-14. If there was ever a night when the disciples needed to be strong in the faith, it was that night. Unfortunately they were not the men the Lord needed them to be. He needed them to be men of faith.
How does all this apply to us? I think we can round up all of these English words and apply them to ourselves. The Lord wants us to watch in prayer and faith; to watch for His return; to stay alert as the world grows darker and darker. And we are still living in a day when “our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” Christ Himself teaches us that it is a good and blessed thing to be watchful. Luke 12:37 – “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to set down to meat, and will come forth and serve him.”
Lastly this evening, verse 40 should remind us that there will be an EXAMINATION.
“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Once again, I wonder about Jesus’ tone of voice. Was it simple and matter of fact? Was it as harsh as it deserved to be? Was there a tear in it, as perhaps there should have been? Did the Lord Jesus expect an answer? Was there a pause before He went on to verse 41? “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
You might wonder why Peter was singled out, when James and John were asleep as well. I think that was because Peter was who Peter always was up to this point in his life. Just seven verses earlier, Peter attempted to correct the Son of God. “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” On another occasion Peter said, “I’ll lay down my life for thee,” but laying down to sleep is not the same thing.
“WHAT, could ye not watch with me one hour? The New Testament is filled with various exhortations for God’s saints. Don’t we have dozens of responsibilities both as children of God, and as servants of Christ? Many of Paul’s epistles close with a variety of exhortations, and Peter adds a few more. But even beyond the commands the Lord gives to us, aren’t there unexpressed expectations as well? Does the Lord have to command us to pray? Does He have to remind us to live holy lives? We should always be cheerful and helpful, we should always be courteous and generous. We shouldn’t need some sort of parent hovering over us telling us to be polite. The Lord has higher expectations of us than our parents ever did.
And when your life’s work is ended and we cross the swelling tide, we shall eventually stand before the Bema judgment seat of Christ. And we are going hear our Saviour – with perhaps a tear in his voice ask – “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” And like Peter in the courtyard of the high priest, we will have to turn away ashamed.