The Agony We Caused

30 Mar

“Being abandoned or given up is the most devastating emotion we can cause in another human being.”  ~ Gary Daivd Currie

Today is the second of the three holiest days of the year: Good Friday. On this day, we hang our heads in shame and hide in fear. Why? Because the Savior of the World, the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God was rejected, arrested, condemned, crucified, and abandoned. We share in the collective guilt associated with that horrible day because we, too, put our Lord on that cross by our own sinfulness.

Each and every time we sin, we put a mark on Jesus. Each and every time we sin, we lashed His body in that painful scourging. Each and every time we sin, we forced a nail into His flesh.  Yes, we. You. And me.

And, as if that sinfulness were not bad enough, we did something even worse. When all was said and done, Jesus was abandoned. His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala along with John were the only ones who stood at the foot of the cross throughout His crucifixion. The others? Long gone. They had hidden themselves because they were frightened that they, too, would be arrested and put to death.

I think it is safe to say that we all have experienced in our lives some form of abandonment. When someone who was a good friend left us high and dry, we felt hurt. Actually, we probably felt more than hurt. We may have felt devastated. Can you imagine how Jesus felt as He hung on that cross knowing that He was doing the will of His Father while also knowing that His beloved Apostles and Disciples were nowhere around?

“Being abandoned or given up is the most devastating emotion we can cause in another human being.” It was not bad enough that our sins caused incredibly excruciating physical pain to our Lord. No. We compounded that physical pain with the emotional pain of abandonment. Throngs should have been around that cross, doing all that they could to support Him. However, some of those throngs were the ones who actually crucified Him. The remainder ran away and left Him to Himself.

No one should ever be left to himself or herself. There should always be someone that person could turn to.

Are you feeling more than a little guilty right about now? Good. We should. We need to get in touch with the fact that all of us, sinners that we are, caused incredible physical and emotional pain to the Lord. We continue to do so each and every time that we sin. He hurts for us because He knows that our sins lead us to a bad place in our lives. He knows that our sins harm or destroy our relationships with others. He knows that our sins often leave us feeling so very much alone.

God will never abandon us. That can be a very bittersweet feeling. We can be glad because we know that He will always be there for us but that thought can also make us feel even more like heels knowing that we have not been there for Him.

FAITH ACTION:  Have you abandoned someone or cut someone out of your life? Do what you can to heal that rift.