Sleep

I think one of the worst feelings in the world, is when you keep nodding off at a time when you really should be awake. It's embarrassing at the movies, or a concert or lecture. It's dangerous when behind the wheel of a car. One of my most cringe-worthy moments was falling asleep on a date, (think long day and boring episode of Saturday Night Live). I awoke the next morning on my couch to find my date had sweetly put a blanket on me and locked the door on the way out. Needless to say it wasn't a lasting relationship. I can also remember trying desperately to stay awake as a friend and I were driving back, several hours, after going to a concert. Even the cold air rushing in through my open window didn't help keep my eyes open.And what I felt most terrible about as I struggled to keep up the conversation, was that I was letting her down. She was driving, all I had to do was stay awake until we got home sometime the next morning. An easy job at which I was a total failure.

So I have to admit it was with a certain amount of empathy that I brought a warm, soft, snugly blanket in my box today. Empathy for the disciples who were only asked to stay awake and pray with Jesus and yet who, like me, found the spirit willing but the flesh so very weak. Maybe it was the dinner...the bread, the wine, the clean feet, but one by one the disciples drifted off to dreamland, while Jesus struggled with the role he was born to play. It is here, in this moment, that we see how little they understand about the man they follow. Like foolish students, unaware that the final exam is about to take place, they argue over who has the best grades and then fall asleep instead of studying. In Mark 14: 32-42 we are told he wakes them several times, pleading with them to stay awake and pray, yet none of them do.

There are so many things Jesus asks of us that we may struggle to do. Perhaps this Easter, we should make a commitment  to pray, by ourselves, with our children, and as a family. Jesus wants us to share in his journey,  to take up his cross, to join him in prayer. Can we stay awake?