And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. (Mark 14:35-39 ESV)
When we looked up to heaven and ask God why, we should turn to this passage from the Gospel. For what better comfort to us then to see how God's plan is best for all. Can you imagine where we would be had God removed the cup? No Savior to take our sins away. No eternal life with Him.
With Jesus' words to Simon, He is talking to us all. He tells us of the weakness of our earthly bodies to be able to resist the temptations of this world. He instructs us to pray for our spirits to be continually strengthened so that we may fend off sin.
With the amount of temptations that exist in our world, we should be in constant prayer, with every corner we turn and every challenge we face.
Hi John.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting thoughts. However, it is not in prayer that we receive strength to "fend off sin," as you put it. That strengthening comes only from Christ's gifts: Holy Baptism, the preached Gospel, Holy Absolution, and especially Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. We receive these gifts in the Divine Service. Here's the irony: do we Christians ever complain (maybe not outloud, but in our thoughts) that church is too long because the pastor's sermon went on for twenty-two minutes instead of fifteen, or that the distribution of communion will add another ten to fifteen minutes to the service? We're exactly like Peter, aren't we? We can hardly watch for one hour even as our Lord gives us His good gifts. The flesh is weak indeed.