"Peter,
Peter,
are you asleep?
Really? you couldn't keep alert for an hour?"
James and John are sleeping too, but Jesus doesn't say their names, only "Peter".
(I wonder why He singles Peter out? Could if it have anything to do with Peter's exaggerated boasting earlier in the night? Might not seem very equatable or fair, but then again, it's Peter who is being broken, isn't it. But I digress from my primary point here.)
Keep watching, Jesus warns them, keep praying so that you won't give in to temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
What do you think is the fountain of weakness?
Would you agree that it originates in the flesh?
If so, I guess it's only fair that flesh gets "dibs" on dealing with it. I guess.
I've never really stopped to examine who is giving me directions for how to handle weakness. How would I know the difference? What does each look like? Does it even matter who, as long as it gets dealt with quickly?
Normally, when I feel weak, something inside me screams resist, resist, resist. I hear in my head, "fight it off", "you're stronger then this", "you don't have time for it", they are expecting you to be strong". The more I resist, the more I turn inward; the more inward I look, the more I sink into a black hole of discouragement. I feel like Gollum in the Hobbit, muttering snarly remarks to myself and slapping my head against a rock. I whine. I pout. I feel sorry for myself. I look pitiful. But hey, I'm dealing with it, right?
Resist weakness.
That sounds spiritual, sounds strong, but who is making the call? Is it of the Spirit? Or is it just a tired old strategy of my flesh?
There appears to be a little trickery of words, a little slight of the hands.
It occurs to me that flesh blurs the lines between weakness and temptation, making it hard for us to tell the difference. What kind of advantage does this little subterfuge give to the flesh?
Well, if I can be distracted into resisting weakness, how likely am I to be distracted away from resisting temptation? I think very. Have you noticed how we can speak of some weaknesses almost with fondness rather than hate? For example, we say we have a weakness towards things like chocolate, or donuts, or a pair of fine eyes. Too weak to resist flirting, kissing, gossiping, sleeping, drinking, binge eating, don't worry about it! It's harmless, it doesn't hurt anyone, you can't help it. "Fight weakness", flesh would tell us, "unless it makes you feel good, then you should make excuses".
Flesh has subtly deceived us into resisting the wrong thing, and as a result, we drop our guard against temptations. We are too distracted to watch and pray.
Still confused by the illusion? Let's see if I can enhance the picture.
On the one hand, we have weakness that makes us feel inadequate, that saps our strength. That's the one we are pretty certain we don't like, the one that hurts our pride.
On the other hand, we have weakness towards pleasure, sin and indulgences (which is really temptations). That's the one we tolerate, the one we find so hard to resist.
Can you spot the trick?
Can you see the difference enough to take a big ole' permanent marker and draw in bold lines again?
Make it clear -
Resist Temptation; Embrace Weakness.
Let's get something straight, Flesh, no more dibs!
Weakness is God's tool!
He's using it to teach me to cross-walk.
You're just using it to make me miserable.
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