Why the Insomnia of Jesus Matters to Us
— Thursday, April 21st, 2011 —
When the disciples screamed in the face of a storm, Jesus slept (Mk. 4:37-38). When Jesus screamed in the face of a cross, the disciples slept (Mk. 14:37,41).
Why could Jesus sleep so peacefully through a life-threatening sea-storm, and yet is awake all night in the olive garden before his arrest, crying out in anguish? Why are the disciples pulsing with adrenaline as the ship is tossed about on the Galilee Lake, but drifting off to slumber as the most awful conspiracy in human history gets underway?
Peter, James, and John rebuke Jesus for falling asleep on the boat: “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk. 4:38) Jesus rebukes them for falling asleep as he prays before the cross: “Could you not watch one hour?” (Mk. 14:37)
Jesus isn’t the anxious sort. He tells us, remember, to be anxious for nothing, to take no thought for tomorrow (Matt 6:25-34). So why is he awake all night, “greatly distressed and troubled” (Mk. 14:33). In the storm, Jesus dismisses the disciples’ terror with a wave of the hand. In the garden, he screams, with loud cries and tears (Heb. 5:7), until the blood vessels in his face explode.
It is because Jesus knows what to fear. Jesus knows to fear not him who can kill the body, but instead Him who can cast both body and soul into hell (Matt. 10:28). Jesus doesn’t fear the watery deeps, which can be silenced by his voice. But he knows that is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Danger doesn’t keep Jesus awake; the judgment of God does.
The disciples are just the opposite, and I fear I am too. They are worried about relatively meaningless things, things that need only to be given over to the attention to Jesus. But they are oblivious to the cross that overhangs the cursed world around them, and within them.
I lose sleep quite often over the things Jesus tells me I should not worry about: my life, my possessions, my future. Such is not of the Spirit. Why is it easier for me to worry about next week’s schedule, and to lose sleep over that, than over those around me who could be moments away from judgment? Why am I more concerned about the way my peers judge my actions than about the Judgment Seat of Christ?
The Spirit of Jesus joins us to him in his Gethsemane anguish. We groan with him for the revealing of the sons of God, for resurrection from the dead (Rom. 8:23-27). We like him, through the Spirit, come to terms with the crosses we must carry. And, through it all, we cry with him, “Abba, Father!” (Mk. 14:36; Rom. 8:15).
The next time you find yourself unable to sleep due to worry, ask whether you’re in the Galilee waters or the Gethsemane garden. Ask yourself whether your wakefulness is of the weakening flesh or the awakening Spirit.
18 Responses to “Why the Insomnia of Jesus Matters to Us”
Trackbacks
- Jesus’ Insomnia vs. Jesus’ Naps – Justin Taylor
- Meditations this Good Friday | A Watchman for the Morning
- Cerebration » Blog Archive » Insomnia and Jesus
- Why the Insomnia of Jesus Matters to Us « sōtēria
- iPródigo | Por que a Insônia de Jesus é importante para nós?
- Refletindo sobre a insônia de Jesus | Autoridade Crista
- Good Reads Lately « A Thousand Daily Deaths
How powerful the juxtaposition of these two biblical accounts! Thank you for the insight. What humility our Savior displayed.
Beautiful devotional thought. Thank you.
Great insight!! Thank you very much!!!
I feel edified and rebuked at the same time. Thank you for sharing this…
My friend in Christ. Before reading what you had written, I had not given it much thought. The more I read, the more my eyes were opened. Thank you my brother!
What a blessing to read this post, really ministered to me this good friday morning.
solid post.
Thank you brother this comparison is insightful and very edificant. God bless you
Easter morning now and I am a disciple bound to slumber so often. The Spirit of the Lord stired me at 5 am only to find this shared in my email box. It speaks to me as I am 7 weeks from my first baby and very recently without a job. Like them I see the storm but I am reminded to see the Savior. We serve an Amazing God.
TY Dr.Moore for this post..i ask for your prayers..i will be having back surgery monday and will be offline for several weeks..i am on fb abd twitter..also i need some encouragement..i am disabled and wanting to follow my Lamb Jesus..Lamb is the title of Jesus i love the most..it bothers me to hear people use my Lambs name in vain an elderly lady always in her talk says God,Oh God etc..if i rebuke her she will get angry i need to find a question in response to this..the only one i can thinkof is when she says His name in vain is..Do you need Him? and say you called his name..etc thanks for your prayers and encouragement
feel free to email me..will be offline Sunday 9pm and back when i am able..thanks..
Kim Eriksen
Savannah G
In between the incarnation and the crucifixion I find two major events in Jesus ministry eclipsing all others. One is the Transfiguration, the other the disciples complete failure to pray with Jesus, at His request, just hours before His death.
Even at this late hour they could not support Jesus when He needed them the most. It seems clear the disciples were not even close to recognizing the agony, the awful clutch of a closing in decision to take the cup or reject it, the fearful intensity of aloneness gripping Him.
Why were they so indifferent to His death? Why were they so uncomprehending? To this point, even after the Transfiguration, they were unable to recognize His mission, and by that, a failure to even start to appreciate the awful pressure He was under. Though told repeatedly He would suffer and die, they did not accept this.
My point in all this is that they treated Jesus so blindly, and were so unable to provide critical support on the only occasion Jesus asked them to pray in His behalf, because they really did not know Him. They were unconcerned! From their sleep on the mount, to His resurrection, He had to go it alone! What a shameful situation. It is sobering for me to think about all this and in that light to evaluate my own concern for Him now.