Watch and Obey

The Lord who spoke from the mountain is the same Lord who, in the night of His betrayal, found His disciples sleeping. His commandments are not empty thunder, nor is His sorrow in Gethsemane a scene to be admired from afar. In both readings, God claims the whole man: worship without idols, speech without falsehood, hands without blood, bed without uncleanness, goods without theft, and hours ordered before Him in reverence and restraint. The woman who poured out the ointment did not honor Christ with words only, but with costly action. Judas, by contrast, kept company with the Lord while preparing his price.

So the danger is not only open rebellion, but divided service. One may confess the true God and yet bow to appetite, money, fear of men, or sloth. When the hour of testing comes, sleepy souls fall quickly. Therefore Cyprian sets before us the Lord’s own warning: “...the Lord Himself, teaching humility, said, Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; Mark 14:38...”

The commandments are still sharp at the edge. As the Didache says: “You shall not commit adultery, Exodus 20:13-14 you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, Exodus 20:15 you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.” Christ does not relax this holiness; He walks into death to make a people able to keep faith with God. Therefore let us watch, pray, and obey before the cock crows and our denials are exposed.