Mark 14:39-40

‘And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words, and again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy. And they did not know what to answer him.'

For Jesus a continuation of the same battle. Luke puts it this way, ‘and being in an agony He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down on the ground'. For them a similar result. They slept. We can almost hear Peter saying to Mark, as he tried to explain how they could have failed so, ‘our eyes were very heavy'. No one would dare to ask about it, but Peter would feel that he had to give an explanation.

‘And they did not know what to answer Him.' What could they say? They had failed again. But the poignant lesson that comes out of this failure was that the path that Jesus had to tread was one that He alone could tread. And none could tread it with Him. They could not battle with the forces that were arrayed against Him. That they were blameworthy Jesus made plain, and yet there were forces at work that night that they had never dreamed of. And these were surely finally responsible for their sleep. There is no other explanation. These were men who had known what it was to toil all night at fishing and never sleep, and yet here they could not keep awake even when they had been shamed and were aware of Jesus' agony.

In a sense this strange sleep provided the answer to His prayer. It said that they could and would have battled with Him against the possible, but against what He was facing and must face they could not even begin to try. As Luke puts it they slept ‘for sorrow'. Grief stricken, heart broken, burdened down by what Jesus had told them, and what He was now experiencing, torn by the fear of the unknown, afflicted by Satan, their bodies could fight no longer, they could only sleep. It was all beyond them. He must go on to face it alone.

But it is greatly to their credit that although no one knew of this but them, they later admitted it openly. They could have hidden it. They could have given the impression of how fully they had supported Him. But they were honest enough to be willing to tell the truth without embellishment and without excuse.