Holy Week Trilogy Part 3: Alone

Matthew 27:43-50

Good Friday opened with Jesus once again in the midst of crowds, only this time the voices were jeering and mocking. Romans and Jews alike were shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” and “Hail, king of the Jews!” The way to Golgotha was lined with onlookers taunting him with bad theology and sarcastic insults.

Matthew spares us any details of the actual crucifixion, but dwells on the reactions of spectators. Which one am I in that crowd?

Of the “seven last words of Christ” found in the gospels, Matthew records only one: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.?” I want to dwell on this statement today.

On that cross, Jesus was completely alone.

In every other crisis of his ministry, in every other challenge or forward thrust of his mission, Jesus always had the Father to lean on, to consult with, to rely on for guidance. But not here. Hanging by the wrists, slowing suffocating, Jesus bore not only physical pain but also the psychic pain of abandonment.

All Jesus knew at that moment was the weight of human sin leading to death. His death. Just as the high priest offered sacrifices for the sin of the people, laying a hand on the sacrificial lamb to signify the transfer of transgressions, so Jesus died with all human sin and its consequences on his head. No consolation was forthcoming. No help was rendered. Jesus was doomed to die alone, in agony.

But great good was accomplished in the death of Jesus. Jesus was doomed, but so was our sin that he bore! Jesus took the penalties we deserved upon himself, and when he died, we were declared free from sin’s bondage to death. The only one who could accomplish that feat was God incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth.

The emotional challenge was wrenching. For an instant Son and Father were alienated. The Father let his Son die. This temporary separation was necessary for the healing of the nations and the redemption of all people.

What can we say then, in light of this great mystery? Thanks be to God for accomplishing our redemption!

— § —

It is said that you can see what a person is really like when she is under pressure, and this is certainly true.

But one is also confronted with one’s true nature when alone. My self—in all its weakness and strength, sin and faithfulness—is always with me. I may ignore or mask my inner self when life is carefree and busy, when noise drowns out God’s voice within. But in silence and solitude, I am my own companion. If I don’t like the company, what am I to do?

Jesus of the Cross invites us to transfer our sin and waywardness onto his head, to seek forgiveness, and receive the gift of grace he has offered to everyone. When we do this, we invite him to reside in our hearts so that we are never again alone, but always have fellowship with the One who loved us enough to die for our sin. We can celebrate this reality even when distancing ourselves from each other during the pandemic. We are not alone! Jesus took aloneness upon himself, for us, so that in this challenging time we can experience relational closeness with God.