Holy Week Trilogy Part 2: Strength Together, Solidarity Apart

Matthew 26:17-30; 36-46

Holy Week feels like a new experience this year while living under “stay at home” orders. One day merges into another, and yet again, I forget what day of the week it is. Ordinarily I would be going to services for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and anticipating worship with the family of God on Easter Sunday. Alongside those expectations, I would be going to work and enjoying scheduled interactions at church or in the neighborhood.

But physical distancing—now three weeks for us—is stretching my introversion to the limit. Today I feel a bit depressed without the social stimulation that the extroverted side of me craves. The fact that introversion and extroversion reside in the same personality points to our need for finding balance between constructive aloneness and faithful companionship.

During Jesus’s last week on earth, and particularly on Thursday, his movements demonstrated the balance he achieved between fellowship with friends and being alone. It is a good Bible study exercise to comb the gospel accounts for those times when Jesus withdrew from the crowds for prayer. When the pressure on him was greatest, he would find a solitary place and commune quietly with his Father. If he needed that peace and solitude, then I do, too! And now I am getting it in abundance, as is most of the nation, whether it sees any spiritual benefit or not.

But Jesus also thrived among his friends—groups of three, twelve, one hundred twenty, and even five thousand—and drew from an inexhaustible well of self-giving love to meet and minister to people.

On Maundy Thursday, Jesus, knowing his time was at hand, felt the need to get together with his disciples for the Passover supper. They didn’t know it would be their last meal with him that week, but he did and wanted to prepare them for what was coming. During the meal, he instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper by which he and his sacrificial death would be remembered for all generations. The gospel accounts reveal different aspects of this supper time, emphasizing variously a teaching review, resetting expectations, modeling humility, and celebrating Passover in anticipation of the new covenant in blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. The betrayer Judas and the denier Peter are identified; Jesus’s companions were not necessarily loyal friends. But they were together, and Jesus drew strength from them.

Then after dinner, they all took a walk out to the Garden of Gethsemane that overlooks the city of Jerusalem. In Matthew’s account, Jesus asked eight of the disciples to sit while he withdrew to pray (Judas had been dismissed). He brought along Peter, James, and John and privately shared his sorrow with them. “Stay here and keep watch with me,” he said, and then he walked farther to be alone in prayer with the Father. For insight into his emotional range during this prayer time, see a previous blog here.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die (Eccl 3:1-8). Jesus showed that there is a time to be alone and a time to gather. He needed strength of togetherness and solidarity while apart, both in his life and as he approached death.

We too thrive with the benefits of being alone in quiet and together in fellowship. In this particular season of Covid-19 avoidance, the scale is weighted far more on the lone endeavors. So if you are feeling out of sorts, irritable, lonesome, unappreciated, aimless, or anxious, it is partly due to the fact that you have fewer people around you for the hugs and affirmations needed for emotional health. We need those three who will “stay and keep watch” with us, so seek them out and ask for their help. But don’t go overboard with the Zoom / Skype / virtual wine and cheese parties you have cooked up to bat away silence and solitude. Give God a chance to wean you away from the media or social escapism you employ and to reintroduce you to a balanced life.