In the garden of Gethsemane, our Lord Jesus urged his disciples to sit with him, to keep watch while he went to pray (Mk. 14:32ff). They struggle to do so and he finds them asleep, twice. They have no words of excuse or explanation. The assessment is provided by our Lord himself: "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
It is a measure of his compassion for them that he both acknowledges their willingness to watch with him, while at the same time alerting them to the very real and present danger of their fleshly weakness. He isn't dismissing them, nor is he discounting their commitment to him, but he is laying before them their very real vulnerability. It is something they need to see and to face.
David knew the value of a willing spirit in the face of temptation and on the back of sinful failure (Ps. 51:10). His request remains a key prayer for every disciple of Jesus. But, on its own, a willing spirit is not enough. The innate weakness of our flesh is something that Satan can exploit and disciples who rely on the strength of their own convictions, the willingness of their spirit, will find that they, too, flee in fear (v.50).
These past months have demanded much from each of us, whatever the precise circumstances of our lives. The mental, emotional and physical toll has been high and costly. And it remains so; our flesh is weak and susceptible. Tiredness, distraction, emotional wear-and-tear; all make us prey to temptation, to fear and discouragement.
When we come to faith in Jesus we are not delivered from the weakness of the flesh. We're not yet mended. We still need, very much, to watch and pray so that we do not fall into temptation. A willing spirit is not sufficient protection on its own.
But we are not on our own. The promised Holy Spirit has come. The Comforter is at work within us, to sustain our spirits, to strengthen that willingness and to give enabling grace in the face of our ongoing weaknesses.
There is much we can do to help ourselves; advice on eating, exercising and resting is plentiful and sound. But we need the Spirit's help, both in taking hold of that wisdom and, more deeply, in guarding our hearts, in renewing our minds, in sanctifying to us our deepest distresses, in daily ladling our hearts with the love of our Father in heaven.
We need his insight to "understand the present time, that the hour has already come for [us] to wake up from [our] slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." For, truly, "the night is nearly over; the day is almost here." (Rom. 13:11,12)
************
'We rest on Thee', our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
'We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.'
Yes, 'in Thy Name', O Captain of salvation!
In Thy dear Name, all other names above:
Jesus our righteousness, our sure Foundation,
Our Prince of glory and our King of love.
'We go' in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
And needing more each day Thy grace to know:
Yet from our hearts a song of triumph peeling:
'We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go'.
'We rest on Thee', our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle; Thine shall be the praise
When passing through the gates of pearly splendour,
Victors, we rest with Thee through endless days.
(Edith Adeline Gilling Cherry, 1872-97)
