We have reached the end of our Lenten journey. The events of the next few days will push the followers of Jesus to their limit and cause them to question everything that has gone before. The next few days will feature questions that continue to be asked, such as “what is truth?” Jesus has questions of his own. Tonight, Jesus will ask Peter a deceptively simple question, but one that is full of meaning:
“Are you asleep?”
Knowing that he is about to face arrest and crucifixion, this is the moment when Jesus most needs the strength his friends can offer. Unfortunately, they cannot give him any comfort for the simple reason that they are unable to stay awake. Maybe they prefer to sleep rather than face the reality of what is about to happen. At any rate, Jesus is alone and isolated in his suffering.
So, we might hear these words as a rebuke:
“Are you asleep?”
Now let’s imagine Jesus asking us this same question – how do we hear it? Do we hear a rebuke, or do we hear an invitation, an invitation into a deeper way of seeing and living?
I hear Jesus inviting us to open our eyes and to live fully, to be attentive to the present moment. I hear an invitation to stop sleepwalking through life, to be mindful and seize the opportunities each new day brings.
I hear Jesus inviting us to be fully awake:
- To the beauty of the world around us;
- To the gifts of God;
- To the opportunities for being dispensers of grace;
- To caring for one another’s needs;
- To embrace and share the incredible love God has for us.
I hear Jesus inviting us into a deeper spirituality.
Once we awaken to the wonderful things God has done for us, we see beauty everywhere and in every situation. We are able to see God in all things, including in one another.
In The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoyevsky writes:
Love all of God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
The love Dostoyevsky is talking about is transformative, growing in us until we love as God loves. That love begins by being awake to the sacred that is all around us.
God is with us; that is the meaning of the incarnation. We don’t have to travel across the world to find God; God is right here in the bread and the wine of communion, in the love that we share, and in humble service to one another. All of this is contained in Jesus’ invitation to stay awake and to watch with him.
So, the question remains:
Are we awake or are we asleep?
Divine Overtones 