Abandonment: The Garden and The Cross
Have you ever felt unaided, unassisted, unaccompanied, unattended, or unbefriended? What about comfortless, companionless, or cast aside?
These are all words that describe what it feels like to be abandoned and alone! These are also words that could describe the plight of Jesus as He labored in prayer in the garden of Gethsamane. His near future consisted of a sure death by murder, and prayer was His only weapon to not only admit His fear and anguish, but to also surrender His will and life to God. (Read Luke 22:41-44 NKJV).
In light of Holy Week and reflecting on Christ’s final moments in His earthly body, we want to bring healing and hope through engaging the topic of abandonment. We have our own story of abandonment that we share in our Daddy Hunger book and we are confident that many of you have had experiences of abandonment in your lives too. Abandonment can be a short-lived experience or lifelong! In the story of Jesus, as He embarked upon the cross, He unquestionably had moments of abandonment. Let’s take a look!
In Matthew 26:40, Jesus says “What! Could you not watch with me for one hour?” (NKJV). Now just imagine, you are about to be in the spiritual and natural fight of your life and you implore your closest friends (in Jesus’ case, Peter, James, and John) to stay nearby and fight with you in prayer (Mark 13:32-33 NKJV). Imagine that you trust these friends to have your back and honor your request, but they abandon you for sleep! Now, it may not be ‘sleep’ that others have abandoned you for in your life, but maybe selfish desires, sin, work, money, forgetfulness, busyness—you name it! All are possible reasons to be forgotten.
Jesus was seemingly forgotten for an hour as He questions Peter—”Could you not watch with me for one hour?” One hour may not seem like a lot of time to make a case for abandonment, but Jesus certainly felt unaided and unaccompanied at that time. Needless to say, He found them sleeping three times!! Three times he was forgotten!
Have you ever had to question your loved ones or friends in their abandonment towards you?—”You’re late again? You left me again? You didn’t show up again? You forgot my birthday again?” Trust us! We know this kind of pain and so does Jesus! He says in Mark 14:41 “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough!”
Sounds like Jesus was fed up with them doesn’t it? Now remember, this was His third time coming back to find His friends sleeping. (Read Mark 14:32-42 in its entirety). If The Christ Himself felt frustrated in His moments of abandonment, then He surely understand your frustration and pain.
Now even though these moments of being forgotten were notable, His biggest moment of feeling left hadn’t happened yet. It is while Jesus is hanging on the cross when He feels the complete darkness and defeat of desertion and cries out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
This cry was not based on reality that God had left Him, because scripture promises God will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6). However, it was based on His intense grief and feelings of what He was enduring.
No matter how intense your suffering has been or how intense the moments of abandonment have been for you, God will not leave you. Friends and family may forget to call or text you. They may not always be there when you need them. People may ignore you or reject you! Others may even outright hurt and betray you. Jesus can sympathize with you as He was rejected and despised in His life too (Read Isaiah 53:3).
During this Holy Week, remember your rejection, abandonment, and loneliness is not unfamiliar to God! He experienced it throughout His life, in the Garden, and on The Cross! Take your own pain to the Garden where you and God are, and remember the redemptive work He did on the cross.
Here are 3 healing invitations for you to explore:
Make the sign of the cross over your heart. Reflect on the horizontal bar of the cross; as it represents the relational disappointment you have experienced. Notice what feelings and thoughts come up. Shift your focus to the vertical bar of the cross; as it represents the connection to the Divine Love of Christ—the God who never leaves you. Notice what comes up for you.
Ask a friend to keep you company—but leave space for them to disappoint you.
Flower-pressing is an artful way to preserve flowers/leaves by placing them in a book—which helps retain the color, definition and form. Find a leaf or flower petal out in nature and press it in your bible in whichever gospel account of the Garden of Gethsamene you prefer. This is your reminder that you are preserved and you are God’s keepsake.
Many Blessings,
Tish & Nell—Twinpowerment
