Lk.9:32 – Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who were standing with Him.

The Bible often talks about people as being asleep. Often times the sleep that is being described is spiritual rather than physical. Could it be that that is exactly what Luke was describing in this passage? Falling asleep at such an important moment seems to be brought on by a different kind of slumber, they were spiritually unaware of the incredible moment they were in, God’s glory was being unveiled and they had no idea. What is it that causes this dreadful spiritual sleep that robs us of the glory of God all around us? It is actually a condition that all of us were born with, only an awakening of our soul by the touch of God can change all of this. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this moment.

“We are told here, though not in the other Gospels, that the disciples were heavy with sleep (very sleepy). Perhaps it was because of a sinful carelessness: when Christ was praying with them, they did not consider his prayer as they should have, and, to punish them for that, he left them to sleep for now, and so they lost the opportunity of seeing how that miracle was performed. These three were asleep now, when Christ was in his glory, and again later, when he was in his anguish. One would have thought that nothing could be more moving to these disciples than the glories and the anguish of their Master, and that both would have been most intensely moving, but neither the one nor the other could keep them awake. This shows us how much we need to pray to God for reviving grace, to make us not only alive but lively! After a while they recovered, and then they had a precise view of all those glories, so that they were able to give a detailed account — as we find one of them does (2Pe 1:18) — of all that took place when they were with Christ on the holy mountain.”

Think about this scene for a moment. Peter, James, and John, the chief apostles were sound asleep. This is an event that would be included in three of the gospels as well as in Peter’s final epistle. This was a critical moment in the life of Jesus and they were asleep!?!? How often do Moses and Elijah show up for a consultation? But there they were. Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge these three disciples, after all we have all been asleep at the wheel before. The end of the age may just be upon us, maybe its time for us to wake from our sleep.