Aloneness

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. Matthew 26:40

The enormity of the Passion of Christ is beyond our understanding. We have no experience of the physical pain and the weight of the sins of the entire world. Before the pain and crushing weight of all our sins, came the aloneness of Thursday night. In the garden, Jesus felt the horrible aloneness of separation from the Father and the nonsupport of his disciples.

This aloneness is one aspect of the passion that we have some experience with. Even in a world with exploding population, we experience the sense of aloneness. We are victims of Satan’s strategy of separating us from the flock. He has the cunning ability to make us feel that it’s “just me.” We believe that our sins and struggles are unique and that we are alone in them. The God that we follow doesn’t always “feel” present so we can conclude that we are alone.

We are created for relationship and grafted into the Body of our Lord. Jesus ministered with his disciples. When He sent them out to minister, He did not send them out alone. As a sign that we are His followers, He pointed to the way we love each other, not the way we teach or preach or even minister. When Jesus was alone, it was to spend time with His Father. When He ministered, it was with His disciples.

It is no wonder then that our fear of aloneness is primal. We are, in essence, societal creatures. Satan is aware of this and it’s no accident that it is a point of His attack. If he can make us believe we are alone, he can isolate us from the love of God and the support of the body.

Aloneness however for followers, however, is a lie. Jesus promised his disciples, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20. As His followers, we are heirs to that promise. When the fear of aloneness appears, banish it, remember the promise of Jesus. As the feeling of solitude and the coldness of abandonment creeps in, don’t fall for it. Our Lord is Spirit and sits at the right hand of the Father, but he is really present through His Spirit. He recalls the horror of aloneness he experienced in the Garden. He won’t let His children suffer from it. Aloneness, the most frightful and seemingly real of the horrors of the passion is an unreal lie of the enemy. Don’t fall for it.