
He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. He came a third time and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! (Mark 14: 37-41)
We understand Jesus to be of one being with the Father, begotten, not made. But at Gethsemene the humanness of Jesus brought him to a very lonely place.
He offers his own prayer to be spared the time of trial. There was, evidently, no immediate response.
Jesus was, perhaps, unaccustomed to this loneliness. He reached out to his friends. But they had already left him, falling into sleep.
Jesus returned to prayer. Once again asking, "‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want."
Once again, no clear response or at least no response Jesus was ready to hear. Once again he found his friends asleep. Jesus was alone in his urgency.
I appreciate the translators simple use of "Enough!" But given the context the original Greek may suggest something more than exasperation.
The verb is apecho, a compound of ap, meaning to separate or take away, and echo, meaning to have, to hold, to possess, and especially to hold or find one's self.
It can sometimes be a sense of separation that brings us to better understand our most important relationships.
Above is Separation by Edvard Munch.
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