“Little children, I am with you
only for a little longer and where I am going, you cannot come.” The darkness
closes in and the candles burn brighter in the upper room. Quiet hymns of
praise, mark the changing of the story and the crucifixion marches on – marches
on to the garden to the place of new beginnings and the voice of Jesus cries
out, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but
your be done.”
Alone
for a little while and what will we do? How often don’t we feel so alone, so
afraid of the night sounds and we wonder if we’ll see tomorrow. But Jesus gives
us an important commandment that calls upon a sacrifice – a sacrifice of love.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another.”
While
in the Upper Room that dark and gloomy night, “Jesus got up from the table took
off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into
a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel
that was tied around. Him.” Then, to show how to love Jesus began to teach the
disciples that just as he has washed the feet of the disciples, you also ought
to wash one another’s feet. For I have set an example. Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send
receive me and whoever received me receives him who sent me. All this is to
tell us that in the absence of our Savior, for a little while, we will be
alone, but Jesus will send to us an advocate, Spirit God that will sustain us
through the darkest hours and in the meantime, we must love one another, as God
has loved us.
While
shadows grow darker and the flames of the candle grow dim, one of us will
betray our Lord, one of us will deny that we know Jesus many times, many of us
will flee from the loud cries of crucifixion, and won’t be present to hear the
hammer strike the head of the nail and the cry of our Savior shout out,
“Father, why have you forsaken me!” The hour is coming when we must stand alone
and where will we be standing? Perhaps we’ll gather in the home of a friend,
lock the doors and hope no one saw us with the Lord. Maybe we’ll stand in the
shadows of the night, just peaking a little to see for ourselves if Jesus was
right when he said to us, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands,
and they will kill him, and three day after being killed, he will rise again.”
Or will we be at the foot of the cross to hear him say, “It is finished.” Where
will you be?
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