The Saddest Moment of Jesus’ Final Days

To my new readers that come to my page to find stories about travel and parenting, on occasion, I write about faith. This is my take on Jesus’ final two days. If you are not a Christian, this story will probably seem like mythology. However, I think this story is about friendship, love, and a desire to not be alone.

During the Easter season, we often look at the last 2 days of Jesus’ life in depth. On Thursday, which Christian tradition calls, “Maundy Thursday,” Jesus and his Disciples gather at the table for the Last Supper. Later on that day, Jesus and his disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas betrays Jesus, and he is arrested. Then, on Friday, Jesus is crucified.

The last days of Jesus are filled with heartbreak and physical and emotional pain. My emotions are all over the place while we celebrate Easter. There is one thing though that saddens me more than all the events. It might surprise people what saddens me the most isn’t the torture and death of Christ. Maybe it doesn’t hit me the hardest because I’ve been desensitized to images of the abused, killed, and ridiculed Christ. Museums and churches around the world showcase those images. I’ve seen thousands of paintings in museums of the crucified Christ. They are tough to look at, but that isn’t what crushes me while reading about the last days of Jesus’ life.

What saddens me the most leading up to Jesus’ arrest is the lack of friendship. I can’t identify what it feels like to be tortured and sacrificed. I don’t know what it is like to have my suffering put on display. I know what it is like to be abandoned.

Jesus and the disciples gather on Thursday to celebrate Passover. At one point, either during the meal, or before the meal, Jesus took off his outer garment and poured water into a basin to wash his disciples’ feet. When I first encountered this story in the Bible, I thought it was strange for someone to wash another person’s feet. I would never suggest I wash a friend’s foot. But back in those days, washing feet was necessary. They walked on dirt roads and wore sandals. Feet were nasty and you wouldn’t want nasty feet walking around your clean floors. In those days, washing feet was a servants’ job. Once you realize Jesus was serving his friends, the task makes more sense.

After Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, which must’ve lasted a long time. He puts his garments back on and returns to the table. At the table is where Jesus offers the first communion and shares that he will be taken away from them. He instructs the disciples to “love one another as I have loved you.” At the table is also where Judas decides to betray Jesus and leaves the group.

I’m not a theologian and am moving through this story quickly. I’ve skipped major story points, such as the Apostle Peter suggesting he wash Jesus’ feet and then asks to be washed from head to toe when Jesus informs him that in order to be present before God, one must be clean. There are plenty of writers and pastors that have discussed this part of the Bible. I’m focusing on one part of the story.

After the Passover dinner, Jesus and the disciples go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where they were going to rest for the night. Jesus was scared, tired, and depressed in the garden. Before he went to pray, he asked Peter, James, and John to stay awake with him. During his prayer, Jesus asks to be spared. He asks that the “cup pass before him.” Jesus didn’t want to go through with what was about to happen, but he was willing. Jesus was in such agony during the prayer that he sweat drops of blood. When he returned from praying, everyone was asleep. Jesus responded to them, “Could you not watch with me for one hour?”

Jesus goes back and forth a couple more times, each time returning to the disciples to find them asleep. After the last time, he says to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? The hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

There are multiple reasons Jesus wanted them to stay awake. The Bible says he asked them to stay awake “to watch and pray so they don’t fall into temptation.” I believe there is one more reason; Jesus didn’t want to be alone.

Once Judas and the guards show up, chaos breaks out. Peter cuts off a guard’s ear, and Jesus heals the guard. The other disciples flee. And then later, Peter, who swore he would never disown Jesus, says he doesn’t know him. In the last moments of Jesus’ life, His Father has turned away from him and all the disciples flee, except for John.

During the Easter season, I think it’s important to remember to not leave our friends and family who are in distress. If someone is in anguish, we should be there for them, however they need. That’s not just something we should do if we feel like it, it’s something we are called to do. Jesus was all about love and He is someone we’re called to emulate. He tasked his disciples with loving one another. When asked what the greatest commandments were, he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I believe we’re sleeping.

If the two greatest commandments are about love, the church has failed Jesus. We’re not loving our neighbor. We’re not honoring God with our heart, soul, and mind. We’ve fallen into the temptation of ourselves before others. We’ve become prideful and have taken on a sports mentality. We act as if we’re “Team Jesus,” and everyone else is an opposing enemy.

The Bible says Jesus washed all his disciples’ feet, which means he washed his betrayer, Judas’s feet. It’s easy to pick who we are to love. It’s difficult to serve those who wish us harm. It’s easy to exclude those that don’t match our level of love or who aren’t like us. But that’s not the way we are to be. The church needs to wake up.