Stay awake and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
This saying is one of the most important exhortations of the night in Gethsemane. It is addressed not only to the disciples, but to all believers. Christ reveals a fundamental law of spiritual life: prayer keeps a person from falling into temptation. “Stay awake” means: do not let the soul fall asleep in indifference, but be watchful over your thoughts, words, and choices. “Pray” means: remain in living fellowship with God, because without that bond a person becomes defenseless. With the words, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” Jesus describes the conflict within a person. The spirit is ready to love, to obey, to believe, but the nature of the flesh is contrary; it is inclined toward ease, fear, and passions. This means that the believer always lives in an inner struggle, and only prayer unites spirit and body in the will of God and in obedience. This saying is also a warning to Peter and the other disciples: they sincerely wanted to remain faithful to Christ, but they did not have strength from within, because sleep (spiritual inactivity) deprived them of watchfulness. Jesus does not rebuke them, but shows the way out: victory in spiritual warfare begins with prayer. Staying awake here is not only being physically awake, but inner wakefulness, when the soul does not allow worldly cares or fear to darken faith.