Mosaiek Church Lent 2025: Jesus' Questions in SufferingSample

“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

-Luke 22:46 (NLT)

The reason Jesus wants them to wake up is not because He has anything against sleep. He wants something more than a physical awakening from them. He wants them to be aware together of what is really going on, and they will only achieve that by fighting physical sleep now, in these circumstances. When you sleep, you lose consciousness. That is why sleep is also linked to death. Death is referred to as falling asleep. Paul gives the command “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead…” (Eph 5:14). We can be physically awake, like the Ephesians to whom Paul spoke, but spiritually fast asleep. We can be sleepwalkers. (Don’t sleepwalk through life (1 Thess 5 MSG)). Jesus invites us to wake up and stay with Him. He is wide awake, aware of what is going on; of the Father’s work in these very challenging circumstances that seem like everything is bad and is going wrong. Life is so different when you are aware of Him in seemingly direct circumstances. This is life… “Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God”. We can spend our lives in a psychotic fog – in a state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness where we are not in touch with reality, and nothing is real or has meaning for us. Like a little baby, we can be in the most beautiful natural scene and find ourselves in the most beautiful circumstances but be blissfully unaware of what is going on around us and suck on our bottles with our eyes closed.

Reflection: Begin the day by asking Him for the grace of a deep awareness of His presence in your life. Repeat the prayer as often as you think of it throughout the day. End the day with a reflection on the day and notice where you experienced an awareness of His presence throughout the day.

Prayer: I ask for the grace of a deep awareness of His presence in my life.