Stay away!

What Mark presents as the occasion for Jesus to utter this command to Peter, James, and John that they should pray to be protected against becoming the agents of πειρασμός [peirasmos (testing/trying/tempting)] is his realization that they are on the verge of putting God to the test. In Mark’s presentation, then, the “testing” against which Jesus commands Peter, James, and John to pray can be nothing other than the testing of God and his faithfulness. The objective of the petition in Mark 14:38 is help in refraining from putting God to the test. I argue that this is also the objective of the parallel request in the Disciples’ Prayer.—The Disciples’ Prayer, page 155