November 1, 2025 -The Flesh is Weak
- brooks16055
- Nov 1
- 2 min read
JOHN 18:1-2
MARK 14:32-42
MATTHEW 26:36-46
LUKE 22:39-46
MARK 14:43-52
MATTHEW 26:47-56
LUKE 22:47-53
JOHN 18:3-24
Matthew 14:33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 34 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Luke 22:40 There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”
Jesus is in deep troubling distress over what is about to happen. He asks His friends to be with Him and in Luke, he more specifically asks them to pray. Pray they don't fall into temptation. Which I am sure could be a large number of things. But keeping watch with Him I would think should include being there for any need. Watch out for anyone who might be coming their way. Pray for Him as they clearly could see that He was in distress. They were able to recount what He said and did while they were still awake, so they knew His anguish. The had to be compelled to pray. When a friend asks us to pray for them it is a comfort for them to know that there are people praying. But in reality, most of us are like the disciples here. When I say I am going to pray for someone I try to pray for them in that moment and then pray any time they come to my mind after that. Sometimes that is often other times the distractions of the day hinder those prayers. I guess you could say I fall into temptation to not pray. Now I don't know anyone who has suffered the kind of distress that Jesus is going through and if you think you have you are wrong. We cannot even begin to understand what this was like for Jesus. Whatever our worst suffering is it was worse for Jesus. But we have all been where the disciples are.
Matthew 14:37 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?
Jesus calls Peter by his old name. His before Jesus name. In that moment he was not like a rock that the church would be built on. They were all weak. But as humans we can't help but be weak. Our bodies can only do so much. The flesh really is weak. Physical exhaustion is bad enough but when you add in all the emotional exhaustion and worry that they were going through I know I wouldn't have been able to stay awake either. I love looking at this example to remind me that even when I fail, Jesus will call me back. He knows that Simon is going to betray Him, but He also knows that He will restore Peter. When we fail He will call us back and restore us. The flesh is week, but our Lord is strong, and we are made strong in Him.
I read the scripture and make my comment before reading your post. Often times we like to disciples write the same thing but from a different perspective and I love that.
Matthew 26:36-46
Jesus had just finished the Last Supper, and He knew what was coming. He knew betrayal was on its way. And He takes Peter, James, and John with Him — His closest friends — and He says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”
He doesn’t ask them to fix it. He doesn’t ask them to take the pain away.
He just says, “Stay here. Stay awake. Keep watch with me.” Just be present.
But they fell asleep.
Not once. Not twice. Three times.
And there’s such an irony in that, isn’t there? Because when we’re in pain, when we’re walking through something heavy, we often find that the people we expected to be…