A couple of weeks ago while we were reading Luke in one of our classes, we discussed the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. You know the one I’m talking about. Jesus and His disciples go to the garden after the Last Supper, and Jesus asks the disciples to pray. He kneels down a short distance from them and prays, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Yet when he returned to the disciples, they were sound asleep. Jesus would be crucified hours later, but the disciples were asleep!

This is not the only time the disciples fell asleep at an important time in Luke’s Gospel. A few chapters earlier, Peter, James, and John nearly missed Jesus’ transfiguration because they were “very sleepy” (Luke 9:32).

I would like to think that if I had been there with Jesus I would have stayed awake and prayed. But the reality is that I would have been the first one with z’s floating above my head.

I have an ongoing battle with sleep. I can get a full 7 hours of sleep and then sit down to read my Bible in the morning, and I can barely hold my eyes open. Yet if I check email, study for class, or watch the news in the morning I have no problems staying awake. It’s a maddening cycle. I long to spend time with God early in the morning before I do anything else, but I am lucky if I can get through reading one chapter in my Bible before my head starts nodding, much less spend much time praying.

Thus, I am no better than the disciples. Despite my best efforts, I fall asleep. I can picture Peter in the garden that night, “Must pray. Must…stay……..awa……….” I can just picture his face when he realized that once again Jesus caught him asleep. But that’s the beautiful thing about Jesus. No matter how many times we fall asleep, He patiently wakes us up and allows us to start anew.

So my battle with sleep continues. I am confident that one day I will overcome this obstacle, but until then, I will take solace in the fact that the disciples fell asleep with Jesus standing right there in front of them.

Peace & Grace,