Gospel of Mark Study #48

“Asleep at the Switch”

Mark 14:32-42

Study #48 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

On August 28, 1991, a New York City subway motorman failed to slow at a switch and ended up derailing his train, killing five passengers, and injuring another 200. It was the worst New York subway disaster in 63 years. The driver, Robert E. Ray, had a 0.21 blood alcohol level hours after the crash. According to police, Ray admitted that he had been drinking all day before going to work on the night shift, and that he was asleep at the throttle when the train hit a switch traveling at far above normal speed. He was indicted and convicted on five counts of second-degree murder.

The idiomatic expression, “asleep at the switch,” comes to us from the early days of railroading, when it was the job of certain men to switch cars from one track to another by means of manually operated levers. Should he fail to do so correctly and at the right time, trains could collide. If the “yard goose” or “switch monkey” (railroad slang for a switchman) happened to doze off for a minute during a slack period of railroad yard traffic, he was said to be “asleep at the switch.” Nowadays, the expression refers to any inattentiveness or lack of alertness while on duty.

TRANSITION:

In our text for today we witness several of the Lord’s choice disciples “asleep at the switch” and derelict in their duties. This is a painful passage for us to read, for several reasons: First, it reveals the Lord’s pain and suffering in a way that we can barely relate to; second, it shows the frailty of the disciples in a way that mirrors our own, reminding us that we too are often weakest in the hour when we should to be the strongest.

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 32: They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

·       Gethsemane was a lovely, wooded, secluded place on the lower slope of the Mount of Olives. The name is Aramaic for “oil press.” These days there are two competing traditional sites shown to tourists, both claiming to be the place where Jesus prayed, but no one knows exactly where on the hillside this all took place.

·       Jesus specifically asked His disciples to sit down and wait for Him while He went on ahead to pray. Notice that He left 8 of the guys here together, but He did not give them any further instructions as far as we know. But He had a special plan for the other three guys.

Verse 33: And He took with Him Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled.

·       Why did He only take Peter, James, and John? We do not know but they were the same three that He chose to be with Him on several other occasions (e.g., at the Transfiguration, and in the house at the raising of Jairus’ daughter, etc.). In time of trouble, we want someone with us. We do not necessarily want them to do anything or even say anything, but we want them there with us. This was true of Jesus also. He wanted both divine comfort and human fellowship in His time of greatest need.

·       We see here a little glimpse of the weight of sorrow and dread that Jesus was carrying. The KJV translates this verse saying He “began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy.” That is partly right and partly wrong. The word they translated as “sore amazed” is used elsewhere to mean “terribly upset and deeply agitated.” Jesus was not amazed in the modern sense of the word. He knew exactly what was going on, but the weight of it was almost unbearable. The second word, “very heavy,” means to be “weighted down with distress.” The extent of this is seen in Jesus’ comment in the next verse.

Verse 34: And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”

·       “...My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.” This was a crushing load of grief and it felt to Him like it was killing Him.

·       What was the worst part? Fear of crucifixion? No. Rather, the knowledge that He was being asked to bear the sins of the whole world upon Himself. The sinless Lamb was to be the sacrifice for sinners. 

Verse 35: And He went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.

·       So, Jesus left the three disciples and went on ahead by Himself to pray. It says He “fell to the ground,” which reveals the depth of His pain and suffering. In His grief, He prayed. There is a lesson here for us. Sometimes we do other things to deal with our pain and frustration—we scream, curse, complain, cry, take our pain out on others, blame God, drink, etc. But Jesus prayed. We should do the same. In times of trouble, we should draw near to God, who is our source of comfort and strength.

·       What was the substance of Jesus’ prayer to the Father? - “...that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.” Here we have God the Son asking God the Father if there might be some other solution, some other way to redeem fallen sinners. But from before time the answer was clear—there was no other way to accomplish what needed to be done. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.” The blood of the Lamb had to be spilt. A perfect sacrifice had to be offered on behalf of helpless sinners. The Father knew that. The Son knew that. All of Heaven knew that. Yet the human part of Jesus cried out to God, hoping for another way. But there was no other way. 

Verse 36: And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”

·       The word, “Abba,” is just the normal Aramaic word for “father.” It is a familiar term, not a formal address, but it is also not a “nursery word” as some have alleged. It communicates love, tenderness, and respect, all at the same time.

·       “This cup” in verse 36 and “this hour” in the previous verse both refer to the same thing—they refer to the time when, in the plan and purpose of God, the Son would have to suffer and die as the atonement for sin.

·       “...yet not what I will, but what You will.” This phrase perfectly describes how Jesus lived His whole earthly life. Everything He did was to carry out the will of the Father. This was just the culmination of that lifestyle. 

Verse 37: And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?”

·       Jesus poured out His heart to the Father in prayer for a while. Then He got up off the ground and walked back to where He had left Peter, James, and John. As He approached, He could see that all three of them were sound asleep. He addressed Simon Peter, the leader of the group. “Simon, could you not keep watch for even one hour?” But notice that Jesus used his earthly name, Simon, rather than his spiritual name, Peter. Right now, he was acting as a natural man, not like a spiritual man.

Verse 38: “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

·       This is some of the best advice ever given to Christians: “Keep on watching and keep praying so that you do not fall into temptation.” The verb tense speaks of continual action, meaning without stopping. But notice that Jesus does not say anything about the devil. He does not blame Satan for this kind of temptation. No, He points to another source, one that is more insidious, that can easily sneak up on us because we underestimate its power—the FLESH! Jesus says that even though our spirit may be willing to do the righteous and noble thing, our FLESH IS WEAK!

·       It was not the devil that Peter and the boys were fighting that night, it was their own weak, selfish, whining flesh. “I’m tired, I want to sleep. I worked all day and I deserve a little nap. I’ll just close my eyes for a minute while I pray. In fact, I always pray better with my eyes closed—less distractions and all you know.” Yada, yada, yada!

·       “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation.” What temptation is Jesus referring to here? I believe He is talking about the temptation to deny the Lord, run from trouble, choose cowardice over courage, and fold up like a cheap lawn chair when the soldiers show up. 

Verse 39: Again, He went away and prayed, saying the same words.

·       Jesus probably went back to the same area where He had been praying before, and once again, He fell on His face and poured out His heart to His heavenly Father, using the same words, expressing the same pain mixed with submission to the will of the Father.

Verse 40: And again, He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.

·       After a season of prayer [another hour, perhaps?] He went back a second time and found the three disciples asleep once more.

·       “Their eyes were very heavy.” Have you ever had this experience before, when you just could not seem to keep your eyes open? They feel like someone has tied lead weights to them. Your head nods, your eyes droop, you get that spacey, far away glazed look. Back when I was in college, for about 2½ years I worked the night shift at KPDQ 93.9 FM, a Christian radio station in Portland, Oregon. I was going to college full-time during the day and taking a heavy class load and working a full 40-hour schedule besides. “NoDoz” tablets and strong coffee were my constant companions. Sometimes at night while I would be playing that soft Christian music, “the Sound of Inspiration,” I would fall asleep behind the control board. I would think to myself: “I will just shut my eyes for a minute while this song plays out.” Suddenly, I would startle and wake up to the sound of absolute silence in the studio monitors. That was terrifying. In the radio business that is called, “dead air,” and it can get you fired if the Program Director happens to have a mild case of insomnia that night and just happens to turn on his radio to make sure that everything is running OK at the station. My spirit was willing. I wanted to do a great job. I wanted to make my boss proud of me, but sometimes my flesh was weak.

·       “...and they did not know what to answer Him.” Can you imagine how they must have felt, getting caught napping for a second time? There was nothing to say. They were caught without words, which was especially rare for Peter! 

Verse 41: And He came the third time, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

·       So, Jesus went back and prayed some more, hammering on the doors of Heaven, wrestling through the issues, the possible alternatives, coming to the inevitable conclusion that there was no other way. Having reached His decision He placed His life and His fate in the Father’s hands, submitting His will to that of God the Father. At that point He was ready to move forward.

·       He got up and went back to where He had left Peter, James, and John. Once again, He found them sound asleep, asleep at the switch. Rather than stand with Him in prayer, they gave in to their weakness. Their failure was complete. What is so sad about this... whenever the disciples needed Jesus, He was always there for them; but when He needed them most, they were nowhere to be found. AWOL! Asleep at the switch!

·       This story is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Luke’s account, in 22:45 he writes: “He came to His disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow.” We can perhaps understand this. Stress is very tiring, and they too were going through stress and worry, even though they did not really understand what was happening to Jesus or to them. However, this does not take them off the hook. Just because we can understand how hard it was for them to stay alert and awake to be able to support Jesus in prayer, it cannot excuse their failure. It is what it is—a negative example, to be used for our warning and our instruction.

Verse 42: “Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

·       He stirred the three men out of their slumber, perhaps just with words or by a gentle hand on their shoulder.

·       At this point everything had been decided, everything had been determined. He knew what He must do. He knew what lay ahead. His disciples had been no help whatsoever, but His Father had given Him all He needed to face the task ahead. But it is still sad that Peter, James, and John were such losers when He needed them the most.

·       “Behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!” Jesus knew that Judas and the soldiers were on their way. He knew that the betrayal had already been accomplished. He knew that His hour had come, the cup that He had hoped to avoid, was now His to drink, and He was ready.

CONCLUSION:

This passage reveals two serious faults of the disciples:

1.       Unwatchfulness - “Keep watching.” “Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?” Jesus had pounded in this point only a short time before, as recorded in 13:33-37. However, apparently it had not made an impact.

2.      Prayerlessness - “Keep watching and [keep] praying, that you may not enter into temptation.”

These same two things will get us in trouble too, every time. Do not kid yourself; we also can be taken by surprise by our own weak flesh. We do not need the devil to “lead us into temptation.” We can do that all by ourselves. The apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 10:12 - “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” That verse comes immediately before this very well-known one: “No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able; but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”

Based on this verse, I do not believe that the result of the testing of the disciples in Mark 14 was inevitable. They did not have to fail, just because they were frail. Oh yes, if success were only a matter of human strength, then sure, they were doomed to fail from the beginning. But success in spiritual matters has nothing to do with human frailty or human strength—it is all about appropriating God’s strength to accomplish His will. Peter, James, and John failed, not because of their tiredness and human weakness, but because they gave into those things and failed to appropriate the resources that Jesus was there to willingly give them if they had but asked Him. Instead, they just lay down, and fell asleep at the switch.