Keeping Watch

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour?  Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Mark 14: 37-38

This morning, as I parked and admonished the schnoodle to "STAY" while I went in to my daughter's high school, I wondered about the beautiful, always cheerful friend I needed to update our accounts with.  "What does she need prayer for?" I thought.  She always seems fine.  There must be something...we all have something.  
I found her with a bandaged and sling-tied arm, describing to several moms the very serious car accident her family had just experienced.  She spoke calmly, giving God praise for the close call, that left them with only cuts, soreness and a broken bone or two...all mendable. 
 "I can't believe you're not all dead," the sheriff at the scene had repeated over and over.  

Have I been sleeping?  Where and how must I wake up and keep watch?  

Who is this Man...who prays and sweats blood, and keeps telling his disciples to wake up and keep watch?  Here in Mark 14, He tells them to pray that they will not fall into temptation.  

In Luke 12, Jesus describes keeping watch.  “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,  like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

In Mark, we are to keep watch against the "betrayer" the tempter of our weak flesh.  Our sleepiness and lack of prayer is an open door for him.  How often I go about my day lazily, even sleepily.  Certainly not aware or ready for the life-changing instant that my friend described at school.  Life seems long,and mostly the same, day after day.  It is easy to think it will always be like this.  

And yet, keep watch.  This phrase is way more frequent all through God's word than I realized.  Watch and pray, the betrayer is near.  And also be dressed and ready for service.  

The Master is soon to return.  May we not snooze through life.  May we not take a moment as simply time passing.  There is praying to do.  There are lamps to keep burning.  The betrayer comes, but even so, the Master also is soon to return.  

Days will not always be like this one.  Bones break, glass shatters, a moment comes and goes, and somehow, this Savior knows, watches, prays for us. Get dressed, be ready for service, open the door immediately, as our Jesus comes to us.  
Beloved, watch and pray.  

Who is this Man?

Who is this Man?  Mark 14

They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

“It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.  Mark 14: 19-20

Betrayed by His friends.  And by me. 

Psalm 41: 9:  Even my close friend,
    someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
    has turned against me.

Betrayal...it was a fact of life for God the Son.  And David’s writing about it in more than one Psalm (41 and 55 at first glance) tells me that he knew something of betrayal as well. 

Who is this Man, who directs the winds and the waves, and yet experiences the hurt of betrayal to death by one of His closest companions.  The amazing concept of God being rejected by those who have known Him and followed Him, who have seen His compassion and His miracles.  Judas had eaten the miraculous loaves and fishes, had heard the preaching, had been entrusted with the money even, and now reclined at the last supper and ate the bread that Christ broke and called His body.  He drank the wine, and yet, for money, turned against the Son of Man and went out.   As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.  John 13:30

Have I done this?  Have you?  I also have heard His words.  I’ve seen His miracles (saving me is one of them), I’ve eaten His bread for years.  I know about the broken body and have drunk the cup in remembrance of Him more times than I can recall.  I’ve been given this understanding since birth, really.  But my faith is small, and I’m quick to sink into fear and unbelief. 

My Savior was betrayed by a close friend.  David, a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13) was also betrayed, and even driven out of his home and the city of Jerusalem by his own treacherous son.  

Why would I expect my friends and loved ones to be faithful and true?  As I learn more about this Man, I must also learn that His suffering, including the rejection and betrayal he experienced, will likely also be mine.  I have rejected and do betray Him, when I choose rebellion, selfish pride, and living in fear instead of faith.  And though I desire and expect faithful love from those closest to me, I find in God’s word, that I have no right to.  There is betrayal and rejection for Jesus, and for His followers. 

I cringe at the hardness I feel in myself at times.  May I never betray and reject those I love.  May I betray Christ no more, and let me be peaceful even when betrayed and rejected by those I love. It is a part of this walk with Him.  I signed up for it, prayed for it even.  
He is more than worth it.