When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was alone. He took steps to be alone, leaving the apostles to their own devices (so they, being manly men, took a nap).
Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, “This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me.” Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?” When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” He then left them a second time. Again he prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I’m ready. Do it your way.” When he came back, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open. This time he let them sleep on, and went back a third time to pray, going over the same ground one last time. When he came back the next time, he said, “Are you going to sleep on and make a night of it? My time is up, the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s get going! My betrayer is here.”
Matthew 26.36-46 (The Message)
Prayer
Prayer is the primary component of this time of solitude. If you read the Gospels closely, Christ takes many such moments - time alone during which He can pray and be with God.
This time alone with His Father is obviously incredibly important to Him, and He had such a relationship with God that He felt able to be completely honest… to tell God that “this really sucks and I don’t want to do it, but I will if You say there’s no other way.”
There being no other way led to
The Solitude of the Cross.
Even with a criminal on either side and crowds of people surrounding Him, Jesus was alone at this time - arguably His greatest hour of need.
The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor’s palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. They stripped him and dressed him in a red toga. They plaited a crown from branches of a thorn bush and set it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mocking reverence: “Bravo, King of the Jews!” they said. “Bravo!” Then they spit on him and hit him on the head with the stick. When they had had their fun, they took off the toga and put his own clothes back on him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion. Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus’ cross.
Arriving at Golgotha, the place they call “Skull Hill,” they offered him a mild painkiller (a mixture of wine and myrrh), but when he tasted it he wouldn’t drink it. After they had finished nailing him to the cross and were waiting for him to die, they whiled away the time by throwing dice for his clothes. Above his head they had posted the criminal charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Along with him, they also crucified two criminals, one to his right, the other to his left. People passing along the road jeered, shaking their heads in mock lament: “You bragged that you could tear down the Temple and then rebuild it in three days - so show us your stuff! Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!” The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him: “He saved others - he can’t save himself! King of Israel, is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We’ll all become believers then! He was so sure of God - well, let him rescue his ‘Son’ now - if he wants him! He did claim to be God’s Son, didn’t he?” Even the two criminals crucified next to him joined in the mockery. From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around mid-afternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Some bystanders who heard him said, “He’s calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and got a sponge soaked in sour wine and lifted it on a stick so he could drink. The others joked, “Don’t be in such a hurry. Let’s see if Elijah comes and saves him.”
But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last. At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and rocks were split in pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened up, and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised. (After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.) The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!”
Matthew 27.27-54 (The Message)
Death
Although Jesus was surrounded by people, both along the via dolorosa and at Golgotha, He was alone. Upon the cross, He was even more alone. His contact with the Father ripped from Him, the hole in His soul becoming bigger with every ragged breath, all He could find to do was use the words of the Psalmist (it’s the beginning of Psalm 22) to cry out in desperation.
How many of us have called out to God with this same emotion? “God, where are You? I need You here with me, now, and I can’t feel You at all! Please, come back to me now!”
That separation is - or can be - devastating. It is a kind of death, if you will. And reconnection requires that death be complete.
The Solitude of the Tomb.
Finally, some peace and quiet, at least for a little while. The Gospels don’t give us any indication of what happened to Jesus Himself, but we can assume that He fought the devil and won.
Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate granted his request. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linens, put it in his own tomb, a new tomb only recently cut into the rock, and rolled a large stone across the entrance. Then he went off. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary stayed, sitting in plain view of the tomb. After sundown, the high priests and Pharisees arranged a meeting with Pilate. They said, “Sir, we just remembered that that liar announced while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will be raised.’ We’ve got to get that tomb sealed until the third day. There’s a good chance his disciples will come and steal the corpse and then go around saying, ‘He’s risen from the dead.’ Then we’ll be worse off than before, the final deceit surpassing the first.” Pilate told them, “You will have a guard. Go ahead and secure it the best you can.” So they went out and secured the tomb, sealing the stone and posting guards.
After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move. The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed. “Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ That’s the message.” The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. “Good morning!” he said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. Jesus said, “You’re holding on to me for dear life! Don’t be frightened like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I’ll meet them there.”
Matthew 27.57-28.10 (The Message)
Resurrection
Christ’s resurrection happened in solitude. In the deep, cold darkness of the tomb - a tomb that was not even meant for Him - He was raised to life.
After death, rebirth. After death, renewal. After death, resurrection.
From death comes life.
*****
I am waxing philosophical, poetical, whatever. I apologise if this is difficult to read/understand.
But I have to wonder, you see…
…if we hold Christ’s life as the model for our own, then how does this solitary trinity affect us?
Prayer, Death, Resurrection
The duality of Christ is seen in His humanity and deity, strung together as one. Our duality is seen in both our humanity and in our desire for holiness and righteousness.
In prayer we come to the Father, on our knees, in anguish, lifting to Him our concerns and intercessions. “Yet not my will, but Thine be done.”
In death we lose our selves, shedding them like a second skin. We hold the duality of the world within us, and we know too well the despair of feeling separate from our Lord. “Why have You forsaken me?”
And in resurrection we are awakened to the new life that awaits us. We are healed of the pain of this world and assumed into the next. “He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.”
These are ongoing processes for us all. We do not experience one moment of death, or one moment of prayer, or one moment of resurrection. Rather, life is an ongoing prayer, an ongoing death, and an ongoing resurrection.
But these are solitary exercises. We cannot expect our true prayers to be spoken in the presence of others. We cannot experience full death of/to self except we are alone. And we dare not be revived where others can see it happen.
No, there is much to be said for the privacy and intimacy of solitude.
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