Call of Duty
Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” Matthew 26:38 NASB
Watch– We know the story all too well. Yeshua makes a request that the disciples are unable to handle. In spite of Yeshua’s obvious need for emotional support, the disciples all fall asleep. When the time for moral encouragement of their Master finally came, none of them were up to the task.
Perhaps we need to be transported to the Garden on that night to see how we would fare. These men spent every day with Yeshua for three years. He poured out all of his teaching, coaching and compassion on them, and they usually benefited from his efforts. There were times, of course, when what he did and taught simply escaped them. But his commitment to them was demonstrated again and again. Now the moment arrives when Yeshua faces the single most difficult event of his life. His identity and existence hang in the balance. The Garden will seal the agreement, his voluntary sacrifice for the enemies of the Father. Yeshua brushes against a hell we will never be able to fathom because we have never known the intimate relationship of sinless obedience that he had with his Father. All of that was about to change.
The Greek word chosen to describe Yeshua’s request (grēgoréō) comes from a verb that means, “to arise or arouse.” Here the context shows that Yeshua is asking his disciples to stay awake. But there is more to this than just keeping your eyes open. The verb carries a metaphorical sense of being watchful of danger or threat, especially in the spiritual realm where mental confusion or moral slacking can easily lead to attack and defeat. We find the same word used in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 and 1 Peter 5:8 where spiritual vigilance is in mind. Paul considers this action a duty, not an option (1 Corinthians 16:13 and Colossians 4:2).
When Yeshua makes this request, it is not merely a call to guard duty. It is a call to intercession. Yeshua is not afraid that the soldiers will come to arrest him. He knows that they will. His request is a plea that those who are closest to him will enter into the trauma of this moment and beseech the Father on his behalf for courage, strength and the will to surrender to the Father’s plans.
Do you want to know how you would have reacted? Just ask yourself this question: When you were last presented with a request of intercession on behalf of someone who faced life’s deepest pain, did you quickly say, “Yes, I’ll pray for you” and just as quickly let the commitment slip from your “To Do” list? Did you really intercede with watchful, deliberate attention, or did you throw a quick sentence toward heaven and turn to the things most pressing in your life? Just one more question, if you will allow it. This Greek verb is not just about mental stamina. It is about physical response. “Remain here and watch” means to do what is necessary to lift another one up. And that brings forward the last question. Was your commitment to intercede followed by substantive action on behalf of the other? Did you do what you could do, or did you pray, “God, take care of this need (so that I won’t have to)”? James makes the duty quite clear. If you have the ability to do something (anything) and you don’t do it, you have failed to stay awake.
Topical Index: watch, duty, grēgoréō, Matthew 26:38
Yesterday was Thanksgiving day and I feel like a turkey. I owe Skip and this community an apology. I am not keeping score (and I hope Skip isn’t either) but TW may have set a dubious record yesterday; one for which I am primarily responsible. Skip received 13 ? on his own comments in just 4 of his replies to people on a topic in which I choose to pick a fight. I am sorry. This is Skip’s site and his journey in which I am privileged to both obsereve and participate. I don’t want to lose this priceless privilege because of my issues with the RCC, (and they are legion) nor do I want anyone or everyone to lose this opportunity because my abrasiveness wore Skip’s thick skin thinner. Skip has a passion and the talent for photography (and writing) and a right to proudly share with us whatever he chooses, including ornate Gothic Cathedrals he finds aesthetically pleasing and I wrongly condemned him for his subject choice. I was wrong to do so. I’m sorry. Skip, please accept my apology. I won’t do that again…though I won’t be going to a priest in an ornate Cathedral to confess my sin and be obliged to recite 10 Hail Marys as a penance. Happy Black Friday.
Michael, you are right: Skip is entitled (and he has paid for) his own opinion and emotional resonance with anything and everything: we all are, of course. (I even have mine!) I think we can forget, however, that we cannot give to others what we are not simultaneously giving ourselves. Black and white thinking can be tempting to those of us who have been trained in the trespass of boundaries (yep: I am talking to myself), but you cannot cut Skip his slack if you do not cut yourself the same, too.
I think your opinion yesterday was just as valid as his – as well as everyone else’s, too. If we can learn to respect ourselves correctly, we will naturally respect others. (One step forward, two back, right?) If you failed him then, you perhaps failed yourself first, in that you did not ‘own’ your opinion; which is to say, give it proper validity as your OWN OPINION (I fail at this a LOT!), and so therefore you inadvertently couched it in more universal terms? I think that perhaps it is when we mistake our own take with a more universal one that we can sometimes find ourselves stepping on the toes of others who inhabit that universe with us. However, I think it can be because we can forget that we are all equally valid, as well as equally limited, too. I know the slack I need from others is most often the slack I need to cut myself.
Michael, I admire your apology to Skip. I never got an apology much less an acknowledgement. So much for openness and honesty.
Try apologizing to someone, and then it backfires because they use it against you. I’ve had that happen. This vulnerability stuff is hard.
It seems as though you think that if I don’t respond that means the attempt to be open and honest isn’t true. Perhaps you should have considered that I only respond to some of these blogs because it is not my purpose to respond to all. This is a place where my readers interact, not where they have free access to my time. I’m sorry you felt slighted, but perhaps your expectations were out of place.
My comment wasn’t directed toward any blog exchange even though it may appear to be. It was a comment about a past event where I was thinking out loud. Just as words mean things, so does a person’s willingness to own up to bad behavior or where harm was caused whether intentional or unintentional. An apology or amends doesn’t erase the pain, but if heartfelt can provide some healing and meaning for both parties. Your apology is a perfect example of how most people apologize. I’m sorry but it is really your problem-your expectations are wrong.
And just for the record, no apology was or is needed for the exchange although I really did not understand what was wrong with my commenting on how Trilling could know what these artists were thinking or feeling.
Apology not necessary but graciously accepted. We all come from our own traumatic backgrounds. As for the Thumbs Down, I didn’t even see that (and really don’t care). But it does make me think that perhaps the bog has run its course and it’s time to shut it down.
Thanks Skip for showing me how I have failed to my brothers and sisters…
In Genesis 27 both sons speak to their father to arise and sit to receive a blessing from him. I’m curious about the word choice there and the word choices here. Yeshua instructs his disciples to first sit here. Then selects 3 to go further with Him. He trusts them for something or desires that they see something, watch.
I’ve held that all called to ministry have this Gethsemane moment of abandonment by everyone, left to Father God as our sole source of supply. I’m interested in how the word would support or not support that.
I teach others that all areas of our lives where we have some expertise progresses from knowledge to understanding to application. There are some with tremendous knowledge of a subject but lack understanding. And others who understand but don’t apply that understanding, they aren’t doers.
We all teach in fashions we are unaware of. But to teach is to love. To learn is to know. Yada is yada.
I demonstrate love to you by letting you know about me. And you to me.
This isn’t your journey Skip, you’ve been called to share and in that, be vulnerable. To teach is to yoke, being the older ox yoked to the younger lets the younger learn the work involved. Where to pull harder, where to turn, etc.
For me, intercession through prayer is connected to supply, or shalom. The man at peace is aware he’s fully equipped to deal with what he’ll encounter this day. So, to intercede on behalf of another is to seek Father God’s supply for them. Give to me to give to them.
I’m reminded of Ezekiel 4:4, to bear punishment, sacrifice is substitution. Be encouraged to endure it.
Yeshua received the encouragement He asked for; angels came to revive Him and assure Him of His Father’s love. I have noticed that the ones who fell into discouragement and were overwhelmed with subsequent horror were the ones who failed to BE THERE when the angels came. I suspect they were given a test run of this on the Mount of Transfiguration: they should have learned their lesson when they woke up that time and realized that they had missed out on a marvelous conversation about the things to come from their greatest Marvel heroes.
I think what we fail to see the most is that when we fall for the temptation – the glitch in our human nature – to separate ourselves from others in the ditch, we expose them AND OURSELVES to subsequent disaster that could have been prevented for both of us if we had just hung in there together. That disaster is experienced separately in the loneliness of being abandoned for the one and the coldness of being shut out of an opportunity to experience the love of God for the other, for we only get love in its fullness when we give it. In the ditches of others, therefore, lie the fulfillment of all our deepest needs and dearest wants – all the richness of love – for this is how heaven works.
I think the disciples would not have fallen if they had partaken of the encouragement Yeshua received in His hour of need. I believe we miss many of the richest blessings of heaven when we refuse to participate in the experience of the needs of others.
Community…”you know it don’t come easy”. Arrogance and individualism oppose it…and then there’s just a mess of hard work and effort. Only God could come up with this stuff!
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. – John 17:11
At the time of Yeshua’s agony in the Garden,
none of the disciples, as far as Scripture reveals,
had yet been recipients of the Spirit and the life
changing power and transformation that follows.
Accordingly, they were all left to their own natural
worldly devices in coming to grips with being able
to follow Yeshua’s request. They did what they could . . .
and they all feel asleep. Finding them this way, Yeshua
explained to Peter: “Watch and pray so that you will not
fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
This was the condition of men when Yeshua went to the cross.
Some have said this is why Yeshua went to the cross.
Thank you Michael Stanley.
This is a call to action. I faced my garden moment. In my past I was a snake. Then I graduated to being a weasel. Finally God drove me to near death before I surrendered. May I be found worthy of my call.
Hi Eric, I think I met you before. Just kidding. Shalom
. ____________A day late, try not to overlook this, it is a call for intercession,_______________
I am facing right now a GardenExperience !!! Standing in the gap for truth, in our congregation, will someone join me please!!!! It has been months, and now division is near !!!!!!, we will not let this happen, for the sake of the ministry of the Lord. Truth will be exalted.!!!!!!
Yeshua brushes against a hell we will never be able to fathom because we have never known the intimate relationship of sinless obedience that he had with his Father.
When I red this sentence I started to cry…it goes so deep
Can we live without missing the mark?
I believe if the women disciples had been there, they would have understood what the Messiah was asking them. Someone told me the Garden moment in your life was YHVH working but I did not believe it at the time. I do now. The abandonment and betrayal I have felt by those closest to me still stings at times. I hope if I ever have another dark night, I can think of my Messiah and know I am not alone. I read this again last night. I was trying to imagine what Yeshua was thinking. I don’t know what his thoughts were, but my heart connected to the despair and abandonment he was experiencing. The overwhelming grief. And I know my pain is only a small reflection of what he had to experience on that cross. How can we ever imagine? My understanding is so limited, but my love continues to grow every day for the Father and the Son.
Perhaps the blog has run its course? Perhaps authentic community has run its course? Yes, comments can be unfiltered because people are unfiltered. Life is messy. People are messy. Even the Pharisee’s unfiltered comments made it into the Biblical text. Personally, I learn as much from the comments as I do TW.