Good Friday?

Alone…Jesus must have felt so alone that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. And so distraught. Pacing. Crying. Sweating…even sweating drops of blood.

When I think of what happened on Good Friday over 2000 years ago, I don’t believe the people that were there thought it was so “good.” I believe they, too, felt alone, and the darkness was probably overwhelming. And today, Saturday, as the reality of what had just happened set in, I can imagine there was an unfathomable heaviness in the air. Some people smug, saying their “I told you so’s,” and others not understanding why the Messiah was just gone.

I went to a Good Friday service last night, and as I meditate on Jesus’ experience, I feel just a portion of his panic. I picture Jesus, while fully God, also fully human, feeling the array of emotions that one might feel knowing that to obey His Father, to fulfill His calling, He must endure overwhelming pain. He knew He had to suffer abandonment and rejection from those He called His friends and family, and betrayal by the very people He came to save. And Mark 14:32-42 walks us through how Jesus navigated knowing His plight.

Jesus was anxious, He was afraid. He knew what His cup would hold, and it was terrifying. So He gathered His closest friends to Him. He reached out and asked for help, for support, for those He trusted the most to keep a watchful eye out for Him. He knew what it meant to be in community with those He loved, and who loved Him, and He relied on that. Even though the very people He relied on fell asleep, He continued to rally them. He continued to reach out. Jesus knew that His friends couldn’t rescue Him from what was to come, but He wanted them close by. Community is imperative.

And He retreated to pray. Knowing His friends were there provided some comfort, but He was still afraid. Jesus reached out to His Father. He cried out in anguish, and as Luke 22:44 says, “…His sweat was like drops of blood…” He begged God to “take this cup from me,” but still was committed to obedience, “yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Vs. 42) As he prayed, He paced back and forth between his friends and seeking intimate alone time with His Father. Prayer is essential.

Jesus knew what needed to be done, and He knew that despite the impending annihilation of His body, and death on a cross, the bigger picture was what was most important. God knows what we don’t. And as Jesus hung on that cross, beaten, bleeding, and suffering, God had to separate Himself from His Son for the moment.

For the bigger picture to take place, Jesus needed to embody all our sins, if even for a moment, and because of that, He could not be in the presence of His Father. For the moment, as Jesus called out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” He was alone. Truly alone. But Jesus’ obedience to His Father brought with it a gift to all mankind, one that keeps us from ever having to experience the kind of “alone” that Jesus experienced. We will never be separated from God because of that day on the cross.

Amen!