39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
47 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" 49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51 But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he touched his ear and healed him. 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, "This man also was with him." 57 But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean." 60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
1. Jesus withdrew "a stone's throw away" where he prayed hard saying "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." A stone's throw in my mind is a fairly close distance, so the disciples would have been able to see him praying, and yet they fell asleep. This despite Jesus' instruction to them to pray that they not fall into temptation. They fell asleep at a crucial hour in the life of Christ.
2. Peter's denial of Christ and what that result was in the life of Peter. He wept bitterly.
I have to wonder if the two incidences are connected you know. If the lack of prayer made it so that Peter was alarmed but what the association to Christ might mean for him personally and so he was tempted (and followed that temptation) by denying that he knew Christ at all.
And then I stopped and thought for a while... What is MY reaction when I deny Christ? Does it bother me enough that I weep bitterly over it?
Peter's heart was after Christ and his action of denial bothered him so much that he cried over it, and not just a few tears, but tears of bitterness and sorrow.
Some bible translations have this as "wept bitterly" and others as "wept uncontrollably". Either way the tears were real, they weren't short lived, and they showed Peter's sorrow at his actions.
Reading this makes me aware of how much I need to love God more. How I need to further develop my relationship with him.
For if I do things that I know Christ would not want of me... or when I don't speak of him when I aught, it makes me sad, but it doesn't make me weep. And I want to love Christ so deeply that the thought or action of denying him would make me weep bitterly because of the stupidity of my action and the denial of who God is in my life.
Oh that I might love God more.