After Peter's declaration in the Upper Room (Mark 14:29) of unswerving loyalty, sleeping on duty was not a good start.  But the sleep of weariness or despair is never invigorating; it is just an anaesthetic for the hopeless heart.  Every spiritual failure starts when we stop watching the Lord - which was the error of these men, despite Jesus' human plea and Master's command.

The gospel message, which these men and eight others were being trained to proclaim, depended on the reliable witness of at least two people (Deuteronomy 19:15).  Jesus chose three.  They had witnessed His glorious transfiguration (Mark 9:1-3;  2 Peter 1:16) and now were to witness His sin-bearing agony.  They were selected to have a little fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10) which each of them would subsequently experience personally (1 Peter 4:13).  Without an adequate understanding of the suffering that Jesus Christ went through on our behalf, there could be no assurance of sins forgiven, peace with God or hope of heaven.  Their witness would be crucial for the progress of the gospel world-wide and through the ages (Acts 1:8).    

It may be true that Peter had little idea of the significance of the moment, but that is just why he should have been watching.  Instead, he and the others came to their own view as to the pointlessness of watching - and let sleep take over.  Their disobedience was going to make them vulnerable to one temptation after another; and for Peter the temptation would come within hours as Jesus predicted (Mark 14:30).  As it was, Jesus had to break off from His prayer time to wake them up to teach them the importance of watching Him.  Then they did see Jesus in raw agony (Luke 22:44).  Jesus woke them to rebuke them and let them see what they needed to pass on (1 John 1:1-3).

Watchfulness and prayer go together.  Although intercessory prayer is a spiritual activity, it requires the cooperation of an alert body and mind.  But the bodies which contain our fleshly nature are remarkably reluctant to keep looking to Jesus or to pray.  Such reluctance is our great spiritual weakness and needs to be fought against with all the energy of the exhausted marathon runner (Acts 20:24) – like Jesus, longing to stop but convinced that there is no winning without completing the course (Hebrews 12:2-3).  Prayerlessness is probably every Christian's number one weak point, enabling every temptation to be considered a desirable option, and every divine Word to be stripped of its imperative command.  Let's acknowledge our personal failure and get back to watching Jesus, as we meditate on the Scriptures and defy the Tempter!  Start date: today!