When we linger in Gethsemane, we learn much about our Savior. What we learn deepens our gratitude, love, and devotion toward Him. What we see of Jesus in Gethsemane constrains us to follow Him, to be His disciples. In Gethsemane, we also glimpse something about ourselves and what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus.
As aspiring disciples of Christ, we can learn some lessons from the three disciples closest to Jesus that night in Gethsemane. When Jesus asked his three chosen disciples in Matthew 26:38 to “tarry ye here, and watch with me,” He was inviting them to share in His life. What is incredible about being a disciple of Jesus, then and now, is that we are invited into a shared life with Jesus! Sharing in Christ’s life means sharing both His sorrows and triumphs. Romans 6:5 says, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” When we believe on Jesus Christ, we are planted together with Him. Our old sinful self has been crucified with Him and our new righteous self has been raised to life with Him. We identify with His sorrow and death, but we also identify with His resurrection and triumph! This is what the ordinance of baptism represents—identifying with and sharing in Christ’s life. When we share in Christ’s life, we may experience suffering because of persecution, just as He did. I Peter 4:13 says, “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” Even when we are persecuted for Christ’s sake, there is joy in knowing that we will also share in His glory.
From these verses, we see that being a disciple is not just about following a set of rules that Christ has given us, but it is about following the example Christ has set for us. It means to walk with Him, talk with Him, tarry with Him, and watch with Him. It means taking Christ’s steps and thinking His thoughts after Him. It means to sorrow over that which Jesus sorrows. It means to love what Jesus loves. This is discipleship—sharing the life of Christ.
From the disciples’ response to Christ’s request, we can learn a second lesson about ourselves and being a disciple of Jesus. After His first season of fervent prayer, Jesus returned to find His disciples sleeping where He had left them. Hadn’t they heard Jesus tell them about His exceeding great sorrow even unto death? Their bellies full from the Passover supper they’d just shared with Jesus, the disciples neglected Jesus’ request for companionship and prayer (Matthew 26:38). How could the three innermost disciples of Jesus let such a precious moment and opportunity slip by them? The disciples allowed carnality to rob them of spiritual blessing the same way any of us do today. They missed the moment because they failed to read the moment. They were not tuned into Jesus’ sorrow or His words. They were tuned into their tiredness. As a result, they slept when they needed prayer the most. Had they prayed then, perhaps they would have responded better when the crowd came for Jesus later that night. But because they had slept then, they fled later.
As humans, we are naturally in tune with our own needs and wants, sometimes to the point that we tune out Jesus’ words to us. How can we avoid failing our Lord and fleeing the face of adversity? A good disciple must take to heart Jesus’ words—the words that these disciples seemed to ignore at the time. Those words are found in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” As human beings, we often have good intentions. We are willing to follow Jesus, but our natural needs and wants sometimes get in the way. If we are going to be faithful disciples of Jesus, we will need more than our good intentions. We will need to heed Jesus’ command to watch and pray.
The first part of Christ’s command to His disciples is to watch. To watch means “to keep awake or to be vigilant.” We see this admonition to keep awake and vigilant throughout the Bible. I Corinthians 15:34 says, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” As disciples of Jesus, we must be intentional about pursuing righteousness. If we are passive, if we fall asleep, we will fall into sin and miss opportunities to share the gospel of Christ with others. Another reason we must keep and awake and be vigilant as a disciple is that the Devil wants to devour us. Earlier that night, Jesus had warned Peter that the Devil desired to have him (Luke 22:31). To this, Peter hastily insisted that he was up to the task of following Jesus to the ends of the earth. Perhaps Peter did not take the threat of the Devil’s designs on him seriously at the time. It would seem that he didn’t, since Peter fell asleep in Gethsemane! Rather than mimicking Peter in Luke 22 and Matthew 26, we must take to heart the warning that Peter, under inspiration, later delivered in I Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Perhaps Peter remembered that night in Gethsemane as he penned these words. The sleeping Christian is no match for the roaring lion that seeks to devour him. Yet the Devil is no match for a watching Christian who is sharing in Christ’s life.
Not only did Jesus ask His disciples to watch, but He also asked them to pray. Prayer is a disciple’s primary line of defense against sin and the Devil. The reason prayer is such a great defense is that it is an expression of our submission to God. As we are told in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” When we are submitting ourselves to God, we are simultaneously resisting the Devil. A praying disciple means a fleeing Devil! While the Devil is not afraid of the disciple, he fears the One protecting the disciple. When the disciple submits himself to God’s authority, he is also putting himself within God’s protection. I John 5:18 says, “he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” The believer that keeps himself in Christ, or holds fast to and observes His commands, is untouchable to the Devil.
Perhaps this is why the Bible is so emphatic about prayer. We are told to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17), to “continue you in prayer, and watch in the same” (Colossians 4:2), and to be “praying always . . . and watching thereunto with all perseverance” (Ephesians 6:18). Watching and praying go together. When we neglect prayer, we slip back in negligence rather than vigilance. Negligent, self-reliant disciples, like the three in the garden that night, become sleeping disciples. Then, when the temptation comes, they are caught off guard. Rather than making the Devil flee from them, they flee because they were sleeping rather than praying. When Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow and the evil judge in Luke 18, He made this point: “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” If we are praying, we will not be fainting or fleeing when temptation comes.
We can learn from the three disciples who spent that night in Gethsemane with Jesus, even if theirs is a negative example. From the remainder of scripture, we know that these disciples learned from their mistakes that night and followed Christ whole-heartedly. Because of their renewed decision to watch and pray until Christ’s return, God used these same disciples to turn the world upside down with the gospel! The Christ that we see in Gethsemane—this fully human and fully divine Jesus—can do the same with you and me today! If we will choose to enter a shared life with Christ, to watch and pray always, God can use us to influence our world with the gospel! As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, let’s not miss the lessons of Gethsemane. Let’s linger with Jesus in Gethsemane and awake to true discipleship.