“Watch that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” — Mark 14:38 (ESV).
Jesus uses these words in Mark 14:38 to chide Peter as he’s falling asleep while Jesus, James, John, and Peter are praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Mark 14:37, Jesus asks Paul, “could you not watch one hour?” in response to Peter entering into his temptation to sleep.
Peter couldn’t even stay awake one hour to pray with Jesus as he contemplated and foresaw his own crucifixion. But Peter is not just chiding Peter, John, and James — the words were said as his own prayer as he asked in Mark 14:36 to “Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Jesus, as the Son of Man, knew that he was going to be betrayed, denied, and then crucified.
Maybe Jesus was talking about Himself when he said that His spirit was willing to go to His fate, but His flesh was weak. His disciples falling asleep would be a foreshadowing of the fact that they would let Him down when the time came and following Jesus…
