Alone in a Crowd

"Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me."
~ John 16:32 (NKJV)

We have heard the story countless times, of Jesus' final hours and death. But we also know that it ends happily in His resurrection. And so we seek each year to somehow recapture the horror of the tale, so we might treasure it with increasing depth.

If one point captures me, again and again, it is the agony not of Gethsemane, but of a baby Boy's anguished cry:

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"
~ Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)

Surely every one of us has known the pain of feeling completely alone in a crowd. Jesus would face the extreme contempt of one crowd after another, all alone. Yet the malice of ignorant mortals cannot be compared to the point when the Father turned away from the filth of sin laid upon Jesus, forsaking His beloved Son.

Hours before Gethsemane, Jesus affirmed that "the Father is with Me"—the Father His ever solace in solitude. Then Jesus thrice begged His Father to take away the cup. I cannot help but wonder if the Father mercifully veiled until the last minute that the full cost of our sin included being forsaken.

"I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross."
~ Chris Tomlin

We who are in Christ shall never know the cost of being forsaken. Though we may taste loneliness—perhaps even persecution—we are never alone.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed ...
~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NKJV)

Father, thank You that I shall never know personally the cost of my sin. Here I am to worship You, to serve You, to love You.

Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
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Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Man of Sorrows, Conclusion Intimate With Anguish

He is scorned and given no heed by men;
A Man of sorrows and intimate with anguish.
And as one from whom we avert our faces,
He was despised—and we regarded Him as nothing.
~ Isaiah 53:3 (author)

Some Bibles render Isaiah's description of Jesus as "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief."

"Grief" doesn't fully capture the essence of the Hebrew chŏlîy, which literally means "sickness." It can mean a disease, an infirmity or weakness of health, or sickness of heart because of anguish.

The translation "acquainted" doesn't work for me at all. The original Hebrew word, yâda', occurs nearly a thousand times in the Old Testament. While it can include the meanings of "to learn, to perceive, to discern, to experience," yâda' is most often translated "know," and never requires the translation "acquaint." Yâda' is the word used to describe the most intimate knowledge possible among humans, of sexual intimacy between a man and woman.

To say that Jesus was "acquainted" with grief or anguish implies a passing encounter. The Bible is filled with references to Jesus' intimate experiences with suffering, in both body and soul. He weeps more often than the noted instance at the grave of Lazarus. His anguish in Gethsemane is more intense than the Bible describes anywhere else. And a strong case can be made for Jesus' death resulting not from crucifixion, but from a broken heart. (See the post "Broken"; also see Wikipedia's article on "Takotsubo cardiomyopathy" ['broken heart syndrome'])

And when He had sent the multitudes away, [Jesus] went up on the mountain by Himself to pray... Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
~ Matthew 14:23-25 (NKJV)

At the end of that very long day, after Jesus fed the 5,000, He finally obtained solitude. He surely had much anguish to discuss with His Father that night, between the news of His cousin John's beheading and the widespread conflict and rejection He would face the next day. As long day of people became long night of prayer, I imagine a weary and grief-stricken grief Jesus making the pre-dawn walk of nearly four miles across the sea to His disciples.

If my heart is broken, may it be to hear the good God—Who is both love personified and Man of Sorrows—depicted as indifferent to human misery; may my heart bleed to think of how my Savior suffered at Calvary and is grieved even this day for my sin; may the greatest ache in my soul be for the scorn and rejection our precious Lord has suffered throughout all of human history, by even His own.

May I never draw back from fellowship with Jesus in suffering.

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You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Broken

Broken

And He began to be troubled and deeply distressed... [He] fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."
~ Mark 14:33-36 (NKJV)

Jesus presented broken bread in token of fellowship and covenant, calling it His body. Hours later He showed what it is to allow oneself to be broken in submission to the Father’s will.

Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
~ Luke 22:43-44 (NKJV)

History records exceptionally few instances of a person under the most extreme duress sweating blood—the result of broken blood vessels releasing blood through the sweat glands. In Jesus' case, He was strengthened by an angel to persevere to that point.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother ...
~ John 19:25 (NKJV)

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
~ Matthew 27:46 (NKJV)

Consider the agony of suffering any one of these: betrayal, ridicule, false accusation, denial, condemnation as vilest criminal, humiliation of public nudity, inconceivable torture, shame and guilt for overwhelming sin. Just one of these would devastate one of us. Jesus endures them all, takes on the weight of all sin for all time, then faces His mother in her moment of greatest agony while His Father's face is turned away. What excruciating pain of heart accompanied the physical torment?

Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him... And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice ... [Then] Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.
~ Mark 15:25,34,37 (NKJV)

Joseph of Arimathea ... coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead.
~ Mark 15:43-44 (NKJV)

Crucifixion is not quick death by impalement, but death by slow suffocation taking days. Jesus' severely weakened condition is evidenced by the need to have Simon of Cyrene carry His cross. Yet Jesus' ability to twice cry out with a loud voice immediately before dying indicates He still had the ability to draw a strong breath. Pilate saw Jesus just hours earlier and obviously expected a protracted death. The testimony suggests cause of death was not suffocation.

One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
~ John 19:34 (NKJV)

There are records of strong emotions causing people to literally die of a broken heart. If one of the heart chambers or large blood vessels near the heart bursts from such psychosomatic stress, blood flooding into the pericardium (sac around the heart) can rapidly separate in to clotted blood cells and watery plasma.

Reproach has broken my heart,
And I am full of heaviness;
I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;
And for comforters, but I found none.
~ Psalms 69:20 (NKJV)

In this passage which prophesies of Jesus' bitter crucifixion, the Hebrew verb for "broken" is shabar. Its most literal meaning is "to burst." Scripture strongly suggests that while Jesus' demise was aggravated by multiple and severe physical injuries, His cause of death was a broken heart due to the most extreme emotional trauma ever known.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things ... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
~ Philippians 3:8-11 (NKJV)

Today is Good Friday, with its recollection of suffering and death.

Sunday is coming—and with it, the power of the resurrection.

Fellowship with Jesus means receiving only a taste of His suffering and death, yet sharing fully in His resurrection and life.

Your feedback is appreciated. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. Copyright 2010, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
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