On Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples and then retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane with his inner circle to pray. The disciples were pretty much in the dark on what would unfold in the coming hours and days. They had no idea that Jesus would soon be arrested, beaten, crucified, and buried. Jesus shared with Peter, James, and John his deep grief and soul travail that he was experiencing over the price he would pay the next day, asking them to “stay awake” with him. However, they went to sleep (see Matthew 26:38-40). He ask them again to “stay awake and pray” (v. 41), but again they fell asleep. A third time, he came back and “found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open” (v. 43).

I can’t help but think, if the disciples had understood the urgency of the moment, they would have been awake, alert, watchful, attentive, and vigilant. These are some of the meanings of this word translated “watch” or “stay awake.” Because of their spiritual blindness, the disciples lacked the urgency to obey Jesus.

I too have been a sleeping disciple. I’ve too often been inattentive to Christ’s commands and unmotivated by the urgency of obedience to Jesus and the needs of the world. Busyness, laziness, worldly desires have often lulled me to sleep and kept me from pursuing what is most important.

What did it take to awake the disciples? The were awakened by the passion of the Christ. The next 24 hours would be the most difficult and painful hours of their lives. The one they had left everything to follow would be betrayed by one of their own, falsely condemned, humiliated, tortured, crucified, and buried. Now they were awake! And in the coming days and months, they would awaken to the full plan and purpose of God as they experienced a risen Christ, the forgiveness of their sins, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the urgency of spreading the news to the world.

This story, the person and work of Christ, and his purpose for our lives should be enough to wake us up and make us alert. Being awake means we are prayerful, pursuing God, watching for opportunities to obey, on the lookout for God at work around us, ready to tell the story and display his grace in the lives of others.

“Stay awake” became a regular part of the vocabulary of the early disciples (see 1 Corinthians 16:13; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 16:15). It should also be a regular part of our personal examination of our lives.

• Am I ready to obey Jesus?
• Am I looking for opportunities to share and show the Gospel?
• Am I devoted to prayer? keeping up my spiritual disciplines?
• Am I awake to the temptations around me? and the adversaries prowling?
• What is it in my life that tends to lull me to sleep and keep me from obeying the Lord?

Lord, help me stay awake. I want to be alert, attentive, watchful in regard to your desires. Awaken me to your passion, displayed by your death on the cross. Awaken me to your power, displayed in your resurrection from the grave. Awaken me to the needs of the world around me and the eternal destiny each one faces. Let me not be too busy, too lazy, too worldly to understand and follow your will.