Remember
where we left the story? Jesus is
bleeding from his head from hyper anxiousness, tears are pouring down his
cheeks and he is at his most vulnerable. He has returned to his followers to
find them asleep. ‘Could you not stay
awake and watch over me?’ Jesus asks them.
‘Now watch and pray, please…’ And
they see the blood and see the tears and can see that their teacher is in a
state of panic. Surely they can watch over him. Jesus goes off deeper
into the garden again and prayers the same prayer as before, ‘Abba Father, everything
is possible for you, please take this cup of suffering from me, yet your will
not mine be done’. Again, he needs
support, he goes back and again they are asleep. Even though they have seen the pain, the
struggle, the tears and the blood, their eyes are just too heavy to stay
awake. Jesus leaves them a third time and
uttered that same remarkable prayer once again.
He returns once more and they are still asleep. ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?’ His
speech is interrupted by a disturbance in the garden. Jesus says ‘The hour has
come’. Another of his friends enters the
garden, this time the one he entrusted with the money. Judas knew where to find Jesus, he would be
where he always was in the beautiful garden praying to the Father. However Judas is not alone, he comes with
other men holding clubs and swords.
Judas approaches and he looks into the tear stained eyes of Jesus and
notices a droplet of blood drop to the floor and as it falls he affectionately
kisses Jesus on the cheek. Except this
kiss is obviously a sign, for as he kisses him the men come forward to arrest
Jesus. One man starts to protect his messiah
by slicing of an ear of an accuser, but Jesus tells him and others to stop for
he is not leading a rebellion. And as
the disciples see that he is going to go ‘quietly’, they run, they flee,
they scarper in every direction, leaving Jesus to face his darkest time utterly
alone. In fact only a young man remained
but as they go to arrest him also, they grab his nightshirt but he escapes from it and he flees naked from the scene.
Now Jesus is utterly alone. His
friends have betrayed him. His friends
have left him. Jesus is alone to face
arrest, torture and the cross…
There
are times when like Jesus we can feel utterly alone. Times when we are weeping inside and sweating
blood, yet others either do not notice or fail to offer appropriate
support. Times that feel like battles
that are so important yet not shared with any other. We think of loneliness as someone with no
friends or maybe no family or someone who struggles with social anxiety. Whereas loneliness can be going through life
when no one understands who we are or what we have been through or the struggles we are facing. You can be going through times in life and
it can seem like all around you people are asleep.
But
unlike Jesus, Christians can never be alone because he was first alone. He took the punishment alone, was nailed to
the cross alone and it was there he said ‘My God, My God why have you forsaken
me’. There at Calvary Jesus was totally
alone. But then… those glorious words,
‘it is finished’. Then he breathed his
last and died. And as he died the
curtain was torn in two. The curtain in
the temple that kept holy and separate the Holy of Hollies, the very presence of
God, the veil was torn in two. The room that only
one priest could enter once a year was torn and was now accessible to any that
would come. The presence of God
available for all who follow Jesus. So
the broken, now come… The sinner, now come… The rock bottom, not good enough,
unacceptable, now come. And the utterly
alone, now come. For he became utterly
alone so we would never be. So that we
might know the presence of God for now and for eternity.
Allow me to finish with one last story…
Ez and
I took Gracie to an amusement park. Ez
was heavily pregnant which meant I had to go on all the rides with Gracie. It was out of season and quiet so there were
no queues. We went on the log flume ride
and got in the front of our log to allow others to go in behind. No one did. It was Gracie, then me and then 4 foot of
nothing until reaching the back of the log.
We start to go up a steep hill. I
am sure we are going to fall out. I
start to panic, Gracie starts to panic and I am certain we are in trouble. So I say to Gracie, 'just let go and lean into
me, I will hold on for the both of us'.
She does as I ask. I hold on with all my strength
whilst Gracie falls into my lap and wonderfully we reach the top without falling out. We then go round the top of the ride for a
few minutes before the exciting whoosh and soaking of the downhill! So it is with the Christian life! When we are going uphill, life is a struggle
and we feel utterly alone, we can hear God say, ‘just let go, lean on me, fall
into my arms and I will hold on for the both of us’. When we are on the top of the ride just
going through ‘normal’ life, God says ''I am with you and I can make this a life in
all its fullness'. And during life's whoosh
moments God is with us and is celebrating and is joyful with us.
The good news of Jesus being utterly alone
and abandoned by all is that we never need be alone. We can have the presence of God as our guide
and he promises that he will never abandon us. May
you know the promise of God, that he is with you and you are now never alone, and may you know the
filling of his life giving presence. Whether at the moment you travel uphill and are close to falling out, or
going through normal life or you are even counting your blessings… God is with you!
