In the Garden
69
long struggle; the disciples were fast asleep. Ah! if they had realized
that this was their last night with their beloved Master while he lived a
man upon earth, if they had known what the morrow would bring him,
they would hardly have yielded to the power of slumber.
The voice of Jesus partially aroused them. They discerned his form
bending over them, his expression and attitude indicating extreme
exhaustion. They scarcely recognized in his changed countenance
the usually serene face of their Master. Singling out Simon Peter, he
addressed him: “Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one
hour?” Oh! Simon, where is now thy boasted devotion? Thou, who
didst but lately declare thou couldst go with thy Lord to prison or to
death, hast left him in the hour of his agony and temptation, and sought
repose in sleep!
John, the loving disciple who had leaned on the breast of Jesus, was
also sleeping. Surely, the love of John for his Master should have kept
him awake. His earnest prayers should have mingled with those of his
loved Saviour in the time of his supreme sorrow. The self-sacrificing
Redeemer had passed entire nights in the cold mountains or in the
groves, praying for his disciples, that their faith might not fail them
in the hour of their temptation. Should Jesus now to James and John
the question he had once asked them: “Can ye drink of the cup that I
drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
they would not have ventured to answer, “We are able.”
[98]
The evidence of the weakness of his disciples excited the pity and
sympathy of the Son of God. He questioned their strength to endure
the test they must undergo in witnessing his betrayal and death. He
did not sternly upbraid them for their weakness, but, in view of their
coming trial, exhorted them: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation.” Then, his spirit moving in sympathy with their frailty,
he framed an excuse for their failure in duty toward him: “The spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and,
fainting and exhausted, staggered back to the place of his former
struggle. Again he was prostrated to the earth. His suffering was
even greater than before. The cypress and palm trees were the silent
witnesses of his anguish. From their leafy branches dropped heavy
dew upon his stricken form, as if nature wept over its Author wrestling
alone with the powers of darkness.