Staying Awake
Sunday, December 27th, 2009(from http://watchandpray.wordpress.com/)
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter,
What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
-The Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 26, verses 36-40
How could they have stayed awake? It was very late in the night; the garden was so quiet. What’s more, they had just come from a passover feast. And prior to that, they had been travelling, looking for the donkey, procuring supplies, renting a room. Then there was that frenetic welcoming at the entrance of Jerusalem. Was Jesus being unreasonable in asking them to keep awake? Was Jesus someone who could not feel and therefore understand their weariness?
No. It was the night before His sacrifice and Jesus himself felt weary and sore and heavy; much more, in fact than they did for he knew what was coming and was terribly anxious and sad about it. His words, “couldn’t you watch one hour?” was not the reproof of someone who could not feel the heaviness. On the contrary, it was from someone who understood that this was the very time that darkness was spreading over the land and he urged his friends to smarten up and fight it.
We are living in such drowsy times. Don’t you feel it? Everything around us causes our soul to become sluggish. I have caught myself sleeping many times. and whenever i awoke, it was never a pleasant feeling, because my eyelids still drooped and my spirit, long in repose, found it difficult indeed to untangle myself from the sheets.
The Lullabies The World Sings to Us
Everything in the world lulls me: the “what makes me happy” philosophy lulls me. I rather like it’s proposition?it’s all warm and fuzzy? and i like it when friends tell me: whatever makes you happy, just go do it! The phrase has become so fashionable that not to say it to a friend becomes condemnable. We say it sincerely as a friend; we say it to flatter; we say it to advertise how good and supportive a friend we are. Find what you love and go do it. I would have thought that everything was neat and nice, if I had not awakened one day and realized: personal happiness has become so important to everybody that almost nothing else matters. Thinking of divorce? Sure, whatever makes you happy. Tired of last year’s celphone, you want to get the one with even more memory, even more features? Sure, whatever makes you happy. Want to hold on to a bad, indulgent habit because you’re not hurting anyone anyway? Want to leave your kids behind and go ‘find’ yourself? Want to establish a new religion? Why not, dear? It’s your right? whatever makes you happy! (It propagates two myths: one, that doing what we think will make us happy is good, and two, that we know what happiness is all about.) The result is: the world is in a state of quiet, insidious anarchy. We support each other in everything that we would like to do. Friendship has come to mean fattening up each other rather than building each other up. We are no longer governed by right or wrong, but by feeling good and feeling bad. When I make decisions, I catch myself asking the question: which one will make me feel good? Sometimes, some things make me feel bad because they happen to be wrong? then, I am lucky. But most of the time, what’s bad really makes me happy. Then I’m lost. The frog loooves the steam pool he has just discovered, and before he knows it, he’s cooked meat.
It is dangerous for us humans, with our penchant for daily comfort and weakness for temptations, to make happiness the pointer for goodness? because we often stop at happiness and never progress. But from seeking goodness proceeds happiness? and happiness that is mingled with wisdom, understanding and peace, which are the components of joy. This is the happiness that lasts and- if you’re prepared to accept it- the kind of happiness that lasts even after death.
To be surrounded by wealth, too, is such a soft bed? wealth with its comforts and privileges are like layers and layers of soft quilts, and down pillows. That is why the wise man said “give me neither poverty nor riches that i may not forget you.” (Proverbs 30:8 -9 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. ) I am not exactly rich, and many times I catch myself wanting to be, craving to be. I am guilty of loving money occasionally, and of inviting it over into my bed. And so i work- I work until i have no time to live- to buy more of this soft bed and feather-down pillows.
And so, on the pillows i already have (and which i want more of), I lay my head. Then, in the night, a voice comes to tell me a fairy tale, a surprisingly sweet story: that God wants to give me more money if i but give some away? or that he will give me a Porsche if i will but give the Camry to my worthy pastor- or that God will provide for school tuitions if I but help the tele-evangelist get his much-needed private jet. Ah, it is the happy endings of all happy endings! God and money in one bed! How wonderful to hear it and believe! How inspired I feel whenever i hear it happen to others! Read me this fairy tale again, pastor, that I may sleep… Sleep forever! Sleep the sleep of death.
Then one day, while the fairy tale was being told, I suddenly heard the stiller, softer voice say: God is God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He created me, redeemed me, and if the universe were ever to do an accounting- the book will show that he owns me and every other being on earth. If a person gives away his Camry and then gets a bicycle (or even n-o-t-h-i-n-g!), he still should be able to praise God and thank him. He gave me His life that I may live! He owed me nothing then! He owes me nothing now! On the contrary, it is I who owe Him everything. It is I who must give Him everything without expecting anything in return. Everything that I have is His. And that, is not my own choice. It is a universal truth.
It is these things that lull us to sleep-and more so besides. The devil is cunning and the days are evil. “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end shall be according to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). There are wolves among the sheep, constantly coaxing us little by little into their lair, successfully deceiving those whose hearts are far from Jesus Christ.
Dear Reader, Stay Awake.
We are living in lavish and dangerous times. Let us not sleep, lest we fall. We must only listen to one voice- the voice of our Shepherd Jesus Christ. We must seek him contritely, and constantly, and not stray far from His hand. Get to know Him through His words. Study His ways, His personality and character, His values plainly revealed to us in the Bible and in the universe around us. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) Do not trust in strange voices even though they may sound authoritative, even though they say they bring the gospel. Believe no one who quotes the words of Christ but does not promote His message.
Stay awake. Do not let your flesh be accustomed to heavy meals, which will make even your spirit sleep. “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty comes.” (Proverbs 6:10) It is true of man’s livelihood, and it is true of our spirit.
There is a folklore told in Asia about a great, colorful, wondrous bird called Adarna.
Three princes, one by one, are sent to capture it; for the magical bird, it is said, could cure the dying King. But the Adarna is a perfectly elusive bird. It makes its nest in a high and ancient tree and sings long and beautiful songs as only a voice coming from heaven could. The voice is so lovely it makes all who hear it forget their home and their troubles, transporting them to land of dreams, where everything is as they desire it to be, until blissfully oblivious, they fall into a deep sleep at the very foot of the tree- directly beneath the magical Adarna whose eventual droppings turn them into stone. Only the one who can stay awake all through the Adarna’s seven long, beautiful and mesmerizing songs can capture it and make it do his bidding.
The first two princes are arrogant, foolish, and full of themselves. They ignore a poor, dirty old woman who asks for their help along the way; and so misses the fairy and her special gift: a bunch of small, potent lemons. The two princes fall for the Adarna’s beautiful concert and, hardhearted to begin with, ended up frozen into stone.
The third prince, however, is wise and humble. He listens to the old woman and receives her gift. The fairy then reveals the secret to fighting the Adarna’s spell: she instructs him to make a slash on the forearm for every song the Adarna sings and to squeeze the lemon upon the wound. And so the Prince obeys. At the Adarna’s most beautiful refrains, he slashes his arm and squeezes the lemon on the wound. Pain most unimaginable shoots up his arm and he winces in agony. Like his two brothers, he would have liked to lay his head on the grass and listen on and on to the beautiful song, to be transported far away by it, to fall for its melody and soothing words. But he fights to stay awake, even if it means great sacrifice and discomfort.
Friends, if you must prop up the eyes of your spirit in order to keep awake, you should do it. If you must give your spirit the equivalent of caffeine, go for it. If you must slash your heart everyday in order to see starkly the reasons why you need God, do it. Be merciless upon yourself.
Sleep comes slowly, insidiously. You may not even know? like the two hardhearted princes you will not even know!? that you have been turned into stone.
