Watch with Me

“Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’” –Matthew 26:38, ESV

Here we find Jesus, in the garden of the olive press, praying to the Father before He is to be “betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Mat 26:45). He pauses several times to return to his disciples and urge them, “Watch with Me.” Some translations read, “stay awake and pray” (NET). The purpose: So they would not “fall into temptation” (Mat 26:41). Yet what kind of temptation would they be facing?

Well, the temptation Jesus faced was to serve the will of His flesh (avoid pain) rather than to do the will of His Father. In other words, He was tempted to avoid the cross. And so He prayed, “Not My will, but Your will be done,” with such anguish that he shed drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Consider that the cross was not simply His being nailed to a wooden object, but the road he was to walk to and with it. Consider the fortitude to not retaliate to those who maligned him (Luke 23:35-38; 1Pe 2:23). No mere man has that kind of compassion to endure such injustice and repay evil with good, urging the weeping women to mourn for themselves (Luke 23:28). What incredible love to cry out for the sake of unrepentant sinners, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing,” (Luke 23:34). And He did it all with joy for the prize of His people (Heb 12:2). He willingly lay His life down for His sheep (John 10:11).

Perhaps for the disciples then and now, the temptation was and is the same. Are not all followers of Christ commanded to pick up and “carry our own cross” (Luke 14:27)? Jesus said His mission was “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10), and are we not “sent into the world just as He was sent into the world” (John 17:18)? Are we not commanded to radical forgiveness (Mark 11:25), blessing those who curse us (Rom 12:14), rejoicing when people hurl insults and inflict pain (Mat 5:10-12)? Are we not to seek the ultimate “good of all people” (1Th 5:15)? Let us be clear, we cannot save a single sinner (like Jesus did with His cross), but we are to testify to the saving power of His great work (Act 1:8) and urge others to run to HIM for salvation (Rom 10:14-17). We ourselves may be powerless to raise dead bones to life (Eze 37:1-10), but do we not carry the Spirit of resurrection with us (Rom 8:11), and do we not personally know HE who can call out dead men from the grave (John 11:43)?

Speaking of Lazarus, it is in the account of John 11 that we see the briefest of verses: “Jesus wept” (v.35). The people there thought it was simply His love for the dead man (John 11:36). Yet even though Jesus indeed did love Lazarus (John 11:5), His tears were not with them in their grief, but in their unbelief. Notice His distress at their weeping (John 11:33,38). They were mourning the loss of a beloved man, confessing a belief in a future resurrection (John 11:24), when “THE Resurrection and THE Life” Himself, was standing before them (John 11:25). They were the very blind people they referenced in their doubt (John 11:37), witnesses to signs and miracles but unable to see it was who stood before them.

“Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb.… ‘Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?’ … [After He had prayed], he shouted in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Unwrap him and let him go.’” –John 11:38a,40,43-44 NET

Now consider the father to the prodigal son. He finances the rebellious journey, but then stands out watching for the younger son’s return. So when the boy finally “came to his senses,” the father sees him “while he was still a long way from home,” (Luke 15:20).

“…And [the father’s] heart went out to [his son]; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.” –Luke 15:20b, NET

And not the Father only, but all of heaven rejoices “over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

But wait! Was there not another son who remained at home? Where was he?

He was out in the field (Luke 15:25), working, perhaps even doing as he was told. But what if the father had longed for him to willingly join him as he gazed out on the horizon? Would the father not have wanted his other child to “watch with him” (Just as Jesus with the disciples)? The older boy was “always with” his father, but apparently not in heart. And even though everything that was the father’s was the son’s, he did not value it as enough (Luke 15:29-31). For if he had truly been one with the father, he too would have been watching and running to meet the lost sheep.

O, GOD, forgive me of an uncaring heart. Forgive me for not staying spiritually awake and occupying myself with busy work, pushing from my mind all the lost sheep who spurn my pleadings and reject me. Help me to remember them in my prayers, grieve their separation from You and their blindness to your glory, interceding on their behalf, “LORD, forgive them.” Let me draw close to you as I look out on the horizon, anticipating Your saving Spirit to bring lost sheep to their senses. Father, help me to watch with You!

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
(Brooke Ligertwood, “Hosanna”)