It seems like we just celebrated Jesus’ arrival on earth. The King of kings, born in a lowly manager. Angels announced this majestic event to shepherds and His star shone brightly high in the sky summoning men from far away lands to visit this baby King. Now, only a few short months later we find ourselves preparing for Jesus’ departure. The time in between the celebrations of Christmas and Easter is so short that it is easy to forget that in actual history, these two events were 30 plus years apart, and hundreds of years in the making. 

Scripture doesn’t tell us much about the in-between part of Jesus’ earthly life. We get one story about Jesus as a pre-teen when He becomes separated from his family and they find him in the temple (Luke 2:41-49). Luke 2:52 tells us that “Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and man”. That is pretty much it, until Jesus begins His earthly ministry as a young man. 

The celebration of Jesus’ birth makes sense, the long awaited Messiah has finally come. That is cause for celebration! However, as it becomes clear that Jesus is not going to become the earthly king the people had hoped, but instead He is going to be crucified, celebration seems to be somewhat counter intuitive. People had to have been thinking “it’s not supposed to be this way!” or “how did we get this wrong, is He really not the guy?”. Sometimes I try to picture myself in the story and wonder what I’d be thinking and feeling if I were there watching these events play out. What side would I be on? The one yelling crucify him or the one kneeling and weeping at the foot of his cross?

Today, however, I want to pause right before Jesus is taken to the cross, right before He is even arrested. Jesus takes some of His disciples to the garden to pray with Him. We read about it in Luke 22. We all know the story, we could more than likely recount the events without even cracking open our Bibles. Sometimes though, when we slow down and really read the words we think we know, we can get surprised. Check out Luke 22:46 “Why are you sleeping?” He asked them, “Get up and pray so that you don’t fall into temptation.” 

“Why are you sleeping?” A simple question for sure. One that at first glance doesn’t even seem to apply to us today. But what if it does? Stop and ponder that question for a few minutes and ask yourselves – “am I sleeping?” If you answered yes or maybe, why do you think that could be? Eternity is at hand and yet many of us find ourselves “asleep at the wheel” for lack of a better term. Going through the motions, failing to pray, failing to pay attention to what’s going on around us, not fully engaging and therefore not fully understanding the consequences of our actions. Jesus also tells these men why it’s important that they stay awake and pray “so that” they don’t fall into temptation. 

You know the best way to avoid sin? Avoid temptation! Jesus’ words always have purpose and meaning. He is literally telling these men and us “Hey guys, you know if you would just stay awake and pray, you’re gonna be better equipped to avoid the temptation that is coming your way” (my paraphrase). I’ll admit, I’m guilty of both literally sleeping and being asleep at the wheel of life. Choosing not to pray or lying to myself saying I’ll pray about (fill in the blank) later. The problem is, postponing something so simple as a prayer is a distraction that normally leads to us failing to pray all together. We must resist the urge to “fall asleep”!

As we prepare to move into the Lenten and Easter season it’s important that we do so wide awake, with our hearts and minds fully focused on Jesus and the gift He is about to bring us all. Yes, as counter intuitive as it is, this is a time for celebration because Jesus’ death and resurrection is what brings us not only the forgiveness of our sin, but also what brings us the restoration of our relationship with God our Father! 

The idea of celebrating or even participating in Lent was not something I grew up with. However, I understand the idea behind fasting and praying as a way to prepare our hearts and listen to God. I can even get behind the idea of giving up something for Lent as long as we are doing it with a pure heart and not as a way to simply check a box. There is nothing wrong with giving up soda or chocolate for a few weeks. But it’s also important to understand and remember that God asks us to sacrifice our will for His every single day. So, what if instead of giving something up, we made a commitment to stay awake and pray? Now, I’m not condoning trying to stay physically awake for multiple days in a row, but what I am suggesting is that we walk through life, fully awake, fully engaged with our hearts and minds set on Jesus. If that means we sacrifice an hour or two of sleep in order to “pray so that we don’t fall into temptation”, then let’s follow Jesus’ lead and obey.