“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Mark 14:38
Today we enter the Garden of Gethsemane with our Savior, not to pray but to watch Him pray. His prayers were agonized, because His life depended on His Father’s answer. Three times He asked His Abba to take the cup from Him. What cup was so dreadful? It was the cup of God’s wrath against all human sin.
Jesus didn’t deserve a single drop of that wrath, for He had lived a perfectly obedient life, inside and out. But that night He faced the great temptation to turn from the cross. His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak, just like ours.
By taking a body like ours, Jesus became weak like us. That is what makes Him sympathetic to our weaknesses, as He was to Peter, James, and John that night. “Watch and pray,” He told them, but they were too weak to do it.
God said no to Jesus’ prayers that night, but strengthened Him to face the cross.
Are you tempted today? Fearful? Facing a test of your faith? Jesus isn’t just telling you to watch and pray during your crisis. He Himself is praying for you from His Father’s right hand.
Jesus didn’t deserve a single drop of that wrath, for He had lived a perfectly obedient life, inside and out. But that night He faced the great temptation to turn from the cross. His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak, just like ours.
By taking a body like ours, Jesus became weak like us. That is what makes Him sympathetic to our weaknesses, as He was to Peter, James, and John that night. “Watch and pray,” He told them, but they were too weak to do it.
God said no to Jesus’ prayers that night, but strengthened Him to face the cross.
Are you tempted today? Fearful? Facing a test of your faith? Jesus isn’t just telling you to watch and pray during your crisis. He Himself is praying for you from His Father’s right hand.
Scripture Focus
Mark 14:32-42
Insight
“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)
Bible In A Year
- Deuteronomy 33-34
- Psalm 96
- Acts 20
