"Could You Not Keep Watch with Me One Hour?” | Matthew 26:36–46

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways.

Hey, welcome, welcome, welcome, we are Christian, Jeff, step right

up right? Is that it is? What sounded like?

Yeah?

Yeah, step right up?

And I was thinking of Steve Martin in The Jerk

in nineteen seventy nine when he says step step right

up and win some garbage.

Yeah, we were just at the county Fair. Do you

ever go to the county Fair? Do you ever go

to the fair? Jumping the county Fair in oak County?

Go to the Oakland I did the city fair when

I first moved here, and that was rough.

I went to downtown Detroit and I was for the

state fair, State Fair. State They closed that down. They

don't do yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, I've never

been to the county. You don't go to the county fair.

I love County Fairst, but where is it really? Oakland

County Fair? It was last week? Oh yeah, you don't go.

My family loves fairs. Really if we known about elephant

ears and walking tacos and oh yeah yeah we we

I like it. You get your red neck on for

like twenty four hours. Stuff. We went and we went

to the figure eight races. Oh nice. But then when

we were done with the figure eight races, I took

my grandson with me and uh and uh my daughter

in law. They had a lot of fun and they

were smashing cars and making loud noise and it was funny.

So then when that was done, we go walking through

the midway and my grandson rides a bunch of rides

and then we walked past all the games and the

guy who's the barkers are out.

There and you step. Yeah, hey, I can't believe that.

I don't know that. You have no idea how much

our family loves that.

Yeah, oh we love it.

We're if we drive, if we're driving by and we

have the margin and we see any little fair in

any parking lot, we will stop.

Oh wow, Well then you need to go to the

county fair one because that's big time. Then you to

see all the cows and the goats and the Oh yeah,

we love that. Yeah you like that. Okay, Well where's it? Well,

next year we'll take you. Next year. You have to

get on the list. Maybe maybe we'll give you an invite. Wow.

Yeah, and it's just and it doesn't go year round.

It's just they said, just.

Yeah, that's how all the county fairs work is They

last one week. It's always run usually by four h

everybody's getting all the awards, and then finally they're moving

towards the regional and state fairs. You know.

No.

Oh yeah, it's big, it's it's it's a whole thing.

It's a thing, yeah, which is different than the little

carnivals in the parking lots, right right, yeah, definitely. Okay,

all right, well, hey that was a lot riveting, Like

are they really talking about county fairs?

I know, we need to get onto our segment. We

got to do it quickly. I suppose this is a

hot takes showdown. I'll give you a controversial statement and

you must either defend or debunk it.

No middle ground.

Okay, all right, I just read the first one.

Okay, here's the first hot take that you have to

debunk or embrace.

Okay, go ahead.

Musicals are the best form of media. Let me one

up it, zach Efron, Musicals, it's the best form of media.

Stop. Hey, listen, here's what I would say that's hysterical.

You made my day, maybe my whole week. Hey, here's

the thing.

This may surprise you, but I'm a very literal person, right,

very literal. So if you're going to say the word best,

I'm going to say, of course, it's not. In fact,

musicals are Actually I enjoy musicals a lot, but when

people just start breaking out in song for no reason

at all, you got to get past that, which means

it has to be a good musical. In order for

that to take place, it has to make sense, right,

you know. So, so I would say radically, no, musicals

are not even close to the best form of media.

So there's this idea with regard to drama and art

in general. Yes, and it's this, so for good art,

we have to have a mutually agreed upon suspended disbelief.

That's that's that's the right. So we're both agreeing to

suspend our disbelief so that we can engage in the idea.

So with that being said, let's just say we all

just had that built in then our musicals the best,

the best form of media.

It's because you use the word best.

Yeah, okay, for a guy who lives in hyperbole, you're

having a hard diamond embracing and best. But I'm very literal.

You're literal, except every time you're going to jump off

a bridge. Okay.

In order for me to agree with the statement, I

would have to say that musicals are better than any other.

Form of me. Okay, okay, okay, And I can't do that.

You can't do that. Yeah, all right, Well, because listen,

could you craft could you craft up an email from

Chris Sarba to zac Efron and tell him his chosen

pharm of media is the worst? Yeah, the worst? Okay? Yes,

So then how about this one. Water tastes different depending

on a cup or bottle radically one hundred percent. Yes,

it's true. Oh of course it is. Everybody knows this

is this everybody. Everybody knows. He couldn't embrace the word best.

He does embrace the word everybody. Is there a.

Single human everybody knows that would say no to this?

Well? Perhaps no? Oh, come on?

Even people in Africa could be like, could you not

use the tin?

Could you use the plastic jug? Really? Go when you go,

get walk out of the river because I want to

drink tin. Water tastes different depending on the bottle or cup. Yes,

of course, what do you mean think what's the best?

Then what does it tastes best? From?

Glass?

Glass?

Yeah? Yeah, yeah, glass so so so yeah. Water that

touches plastic, not always, but every once in a while

it'll taste you taste the plastic, right yeah, but definitely metal.

We all know this. The you know, the those water

bottles that you'll get, especially the cheap free ones, right

you know, they're like, oh, I put my logo on this. Here,

take this and you fill it up with water, and

all of a sudden, you drink it and it tastes metallic,

and you're like, man, that is crazy how it does that?

So yeah, I mean that's that's the metal I think

is the worst, don't you think?

Yes? Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm going to agree with

that one too. Water tastes different depending on this.

Everybody knows this, everybody.

So I was in Sicily and I had this I

like sparkling water. The guy poured this sparkling water and

I loved it, and then I commented on it and

he had already filled all of our cups with still

water and he said this is the same and he

says it's great. So I drank the stillwater is fent.

This is the best water I've ever had. And he said, oh,

this is from and he talks about this region in

Italy and it's it's the purest water in the world

that comes right out of the well this way, all

this stuff and it's all bottled and glass bottles. And

then when we were in Rome, we were at a

restaurant and they did the same They served the same water,

and I said, this water is amazing. And before I

get anything else, he goes in the same spiel, this

is the best water in the world. It's the pierced

wall in the world that only comes from this one place. Stuff.

So I loved it. Well, then there's an Italian grocery

store here in our community, and I don't know, several

months ago, we go walking by and they had that

water for sale. You've had it in my house. I've

had the ones say they're in big tall glass glass. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm forgetting the name of it, and I'm drawing a

blank of the name. But uh, it's it's a little

too expensive. But man, it's just fabulous water. And there's

a reason. So when I was on their website, it

explained that they bottled in glass bottles on purpose, so

that there's no alteration to the original flavor of the water.

Wow.

Yeah, So even these top water bottling companies say glass

doesn't affect the flavor, which means plastic and metal and

all those other things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, So when you bought the water locally

here in the States, it tastes the same.

It's exactly the same. They imported it, this Italian This

Italian grocery store imported it.

That's amazing.

Yeah, h from Italy. So hey, I don't know if

those were hot takes, but it is maybe surprising to

most of our listeners that you don't consider musical is

the best form of media. Well, it'd be, it'd be

absurd if I did. Would you consider it one of

the greatest forms of media?

I would say yes, second best, No, no, where is

it a third best?

Third best? And honestly, I think it depends on the

musical like like Greece, the best Greece is not let's

do this the best musical? Yeah, is one of the

best forms of media? Yes, okay, okay, the top three

maybe trying to get there.

Okay, Well, it's it's our because I'm thinking of because

media is a very broad word, right, and so I'm trying,

but I'm trying to view it through the lens of artistry. Right,

So media is such a broad I mean, come on, right,

media the word media. But but but if I, if I,

if I take a musical, the best of musicals, and

I and I view it through the lens of artistry,

I would say, for me, you can get so symbolic

and so like.

For instance, you ever see Chicago.

Do you remember when he's in the office and he's saying,

sell of Fae, you know, miss to sell of fame.

Unbe believable, unbelievable, how much that can convey, right, I

mean just all the emotion, all the symbolism, all all

that it represents. I mean, you could accomplish through that

type of musical, You could accomplish something that you just

can't accomplish anywhere else, and you do it in such.

A moving and artistic way. It's just unbelievable. Wow. Well,

when it comes to musicals, I think you can keep

going on for an hour. Yeah, but you know who

couldn't keep going for an hour? This life? That's terrible,

that's the worst. That is the worst.

That's the worst possible transition, which is one of our goals.

Yep. And the disciples, of course, couldn't pray for one hour.

That's what Jesus said. That's his famous saying, could you

not keep watch from you with one hour?

Okay with me one hour? That's funny. I made a

joke about something that was kind of sad here, that

was kind of I feel bad about it now what

There was nothing sacrilegious about that. No, it just this

is a sad moment, of course, is all sure?

Matthew twenty six.

Yeah, So in Matthew chapter twenty six, Jesus has already

shared the last Supper with them. Yep, this is my blood,

this is my body. Jesus has already predicted Peter's denial.

And then they're done with the with the supper and

they go out. They sing him, and they go out

and they go to the Did you mean to say,

Jesus is trail? No, he had predicted that, not betrayed denial,

Peter's denial. Oh oh, okay, because I thought, okay, he'd

already talked about jesus betrayal.

He was about to be betrayed. So I thought you

were referring to that.

Yeah, no, he had already told them about that, but

not in chapter twenty six. Okay, it's other places. But

he does talk about Peter's denial, and then right after

he tells him, before the rooster crows three times, you're

going to deny me. And then then they go out,

and it says then when Jesus went with them to

the olive grove called gessemone, and he said, sit here

while I go over there to pray. He took Peter

and Zebede's two sons, James and John, and he became

anguished and distressed, and he told them, my soul is

crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here

and keep watch with me. He went a little farther

and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, my father,

if it's possible, at the cup of suffering, be taken

away from me, yet I want your will to be done,

not mine. And then he returned to the disciples and

found them asleep, and he said, Peter, couldn't you watch

with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray so

that you'll not be given into temptation, for the spirit

is willing. But the body is weak. Then Jesus left

them a second time and prayed, my Father, if this

cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your

will be done. And when he returned to them again,

he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes open.

So he went to pray a third time, saying the

same things again. And then he came to the stiples

and said, go ahead and sleep, have your rest. But look,

the time has come. The son of Man is betrayed

in the hands of sinners. Up, let's be going. Look

my betrayer is here. Yeah.

Wow. So Jesus went to getsemone and he once again

takes Peter James and John right, And so Peter James

and John he wants him to. He wants those three

disciples to pray with him and the other ones fall asleep.

But for some reason, he only questions Peter, James and

John and he says, can't you stay and pray with

me one hour? And I've always thought, you know, because

I had this thing, and I've mentioned it so many

times before, but I had this thing about why I

think he responds only most of the time just to

Peter James and John. But anyway, but in this moment,

here's what I sort of believe. I believe that he

expects more from Peter, James and John than he does

the other disciples. That's why I think that he says

number one, come pray with me, and then number two,

I can't believe you guys couldn't stay awake with me

for one hour because he really wanted and expected more

from those who were closest to him. Yeah wow, yeah,

so that's the first thing that stands out. The second

thing that stands out is he goes to the garden

gainst semone and I can't even read this passage without

thinking of the trees in the garden to get Semene.

Yeah yeah, yeah, you went recently, so you probably are

you have a fresher explanation about how unique the trees.

Are in the garden. No, no, I'm asking you.

Okay, So the trees in the garden casemite, they are

thousands of years old, whereas like it's it's pretty crazy

to think that some trees and redwoods can be that

way too. Redwoods can actually last thousands of years old.

They last three four thousand years, which is pretty crazy.

And the trees in the garden. What they do is

they sort of grow and they and they sort.

Of they sort of life comes out of the old.

Then yeah, yeah, that I don't even know how to

say it, but it looks so strange. It's like you

see this outer shell of this ancient bark and then

and then breaking through, you see these new branches come through.

And so it looks so strange, but it isn't just

a typical tree that has like one big trunk and

a bunch of branches. It's like this one big trunk

and then from this trunk you have these new branches

that poke through, and there's a literal hole in the

bark and out comes this brand new branch. And it

just seems to constantly reproduce itself. And it's the strangest thing.

And so what they say is like, that's the reason

why this tree can survive so long. It constantly sort

of replenishes itself. And so when we were in the

garden Agasseemite, they said, these are the trees that we're

here because this tree right here that's twenty seven hundred

years old, That tree right there that's twenty two hundred

years old, that tree right there, and you're.

Like what, and it's just it's like what, So.

Jesus was praying amongst these exact trees in the garden

and that's that's what yah, that's what they say is true.

So they kind of have they vacillated a little bit

on that when when I really leaned in, oh, really,

they do know that they are every tree there, just about,

all those the big the you know, the big ones

like this because it's strange because they come up and

then they just pop open and they look like a

normal sized tree in the top. It's not like they're

these giants but around it's just like they keep growing out,

growing out. So they said, we're very confident that all

of these trees in here just about are over a

thousand years old. I said, well, a thousand isn't two thousand, right,

So which ones we're here when Jesus was here? They said, well,

we're we think a couple of these were probably here

in some form when Jesus was here, but we do

know that this is the exact grove where he was.

And so it seemed like because we came in and

they started giving that speech, and when I said, which

ones all of a sudden, they started backing off and

kind of going you know, so it felt like maybe

it was a little bit of goods maybe well, I

don't know. It just seemed like they stepped back from

the initial statement that these were the trees too, this

was the grove, and maybe some of these trees were

here then, but we do know that they can live

thousands of years, and so it's not ridiculous to say

some of these trees may have been here to witness

Jesus prayer. Well, and then and then there's that big rock, right,

there's the rock on the edge of that church. That's

that's there, that has been there all that time. Yeah, yeah,

in there, and that may have been the place, because

it does say he you know, uh, that's kind of

the description, is that he went and prayed off away

from them. But it is a beautiful garden and it

was one of those places. I really wished I'd lingered

longer there. I wish I'd had more time because we

were only there maybe thirty minutes or so. Yeah, Yeah,

that sounds about right for us love to have stayed

for Yeah, like I would have loved to sit there.

Couldn't you make it kind of a long could have

stayed for one hour. For one hour, thank you, Chris. Yeah, yeah,

the past thirty minutes. Yeah. Yeah.

So when I visited Newer Woods in California, there's a

redwood redwood forest, they said that the oldest tree in

that forest. I calculated it and it was around when

when Neamiah rebuilt the wall.

Wow, isn't that amazing? Yeah?

It was like it was like, what so when Neama

was rebuilding the wall, this tree was right here. Yeah,

and it's like, are you kidding me?

That's incredible? So yeah, I mean, I mean, so.

Trees do last, you know, quite a long time, and

it depends, of course on the type of tree, right,

and and so those trees in the garden. Now, I'm

telling you, sure, as I'm sitting.

Here, let's ask chat GPT while you're doing this, let's ask.

Sure, as I'm sitting here, I know for a fact

that they that the Bible what do you call it,

like the tour guide the Bible tour guide that took

us did say that they were over two thousand years old,

So maybe maybe he was just taking us for a ride.

But either way, I think that there's the tourist version,

and then there's the science version. When you push the

tourist version narrative, then they back off a little bit. Yeah,

and it's it's likely some of these were there, Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, But either way, it's still pretty incredible, right

to know that, like, you're still there in the exact grove,

and you're also there with the exact scene. Right, the

same types of trees are there, and most likely they've

you know, they've sort of reproduced in the same spots

as well.

So I said, so, how many trees were in the

gardening becausemite today were there when Jesus was there? Said

short answer, possibly none, but maybe their roots go back

that far. And that's the issue with these, with that

kind of olive tree, is the same root systems keep

pushing up new trees. Yeah, yeah, right, that's that's the thing,

and it's it's so it's not dishonest to say thousands

of years but that current trunk you're seeing may not

have been the trunk Jesus saw, but that root system

produced trees when Jesus was here. Interesting, it's producing them now.

So scientific testing conducted in twenty twelve showed several trees

in the garden that were twelve hundred years old. But

olive trees are notoriously hard to kill, and the roots

can survive and sprout new growth over and over again.

So that that's it. While we can't be I'm sure

that each tree trunk we're seeing, we can be fairly

confident that Jesus walked up on the very soil and

the olive roots that still existed it.

So, so Jesus prays an hour uh, and and he's praying,

and he knows that he's about to go to the cross, right,

So we also know that prayer matters, because otherwise Jesus.

Wouldn't yeah, beautiful, yeah.

And then also this is when he was in the garden.

You know, in other gospels we learn that this is

where he prayed Father, you know, if it's possible, and

it says so in this version two, if it's possible,

let the cup of suffering be taken away from me.

And by the way, the reason why.

He called it a cup is because let this cup

pass is because it's a it's a symbol of when

you when you used to go to somebody's home and

you were invited. It was a very very very big deal.

To partake in their household, and you short of were

associated with their name, their approval, all these different things.

And when you set around the campfire, they would have

one cup and they would pass it in a circle.

And and if you it had everything to do with

like accepting the host or rejecting the host. And so

if they passed you something and you, you know, you partook,

then you were you were giving what was given to you.

And what he was saying was, let this cup pass

from me. Hey, when when, Hey, will you drink this?

No?

I don't want to partake. I want to pass it, right,

That's what he's saying. Let this cup pass for me.

I don't want to drink what you're offering me to drink, right,

And you're handing me something and I don't want it.

That's that's the word picture, right, That's why he uses

the word cute.

No thank you, no thank you, I'd rather not.

But uh, but so he praised that, and then and

then and then he praise, uh, my father, not my will,

but yours be done.

So these are the two biggest, one of the most

powerful statements made ever made.

Yea yeah. And so sometimes what we do is we

just recognize eyes. You know what, even though I don't

want it, even though it's hard, even though it's difficult,

even though I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy

in some cases, overall, I just want God's will to

be done because I'm going to trust that God's will

is better than my will, yes, right, yeah, and uh

and that's a that's a tough person times.

So this this is interesting to me because you know,

we don't know when our time is going to come,

most of us, but Jesus did. Sometimes people feel like,

oh man, if I just knew what the future was

going to be like, right, So Jesus did know what

was coming, and the anguish that he went through I

think was even heightened because of it.

Yeah, what says, he's sweat drops of blood blood, And

there's this also scientific reason for that. So sweat blood

can actually go through your sweat glands under unbelievable amounts

of stress, and that's what was happening.

Yeah, and so it created even more stress and more

struggle and in the the in order for you to

bleed through your skin like that, to sweat drops of blood,

it's extraordinarily rare. And it's they say It's the highest,

absolutely one of the highest levels of stress that a

person could go through without dying, just the stress itself.

And so if you've ever been stressed out, I promise

you Jesus has been stressed more right right in this moment.

And yet his answer was not to run. His answer

was not to curl up in the fetal position in

the corner. His answer was to say, Okay, God, you

will be done. Surrender was the only thing that got

him through right, spending time talking to God in prayer

and surrender. And I would say that there have been

times in my life when there was no other answer

than to just spend some time with God and surrender

to him. Otherwise it was going to be too heavy,

there was no way to make it through. And that's

how Jesus made it through. Now, thank goodness, you know

he had it said that it was his regular habit

to go up in the mountains to pray, or to

get away early in the morning and pray, or to

go out in the desert to pray. This is a

regular theme in Jesus' life. So this wasn't the first

time he prayed. He'd been building this habit in his

life all the way up until this day. But when

he's in the most stress, he defaults back to I

have nowhere to turn but you, So even though this

is not what I want, I trust you. Yeah, and

that kind of surrender. Then he stands up and he

goes here they come right, and they're coming to get me.

And he faced it, and he faced it like a man.

But he faced it like a man that was surrendered

completely and totally to God. And this is just a

phenomenal moment. I think when you're in your most difficult times,

the way to face it like a man, if you're

a man, I face it like a woman of God

is to pray, let God know, I have nowhere to

turn but you, and I trust you will that's right.

And that's why he's able to say, up, let's get going.

Yeah, here we go, Here we go.

Yeah, that's great. So hey, well look that's our time,

so let's go ahead and wrap it up and we

will see you hopefully tomorrow on the Bible.

Guys, h