Our text for today is the Gospel reading, especially these words, “‘Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.’”
So is it safe to assume that all of you here today were good, responsible citizens and filled out the 2010 census? That you committed a few minutes of your time to answer those short questions? Not everyone may understand the importance, the practical implications the census may have. Some may not realize that it is the census which determines the proportion of resources and aid your community will receive, as well as account for the proportion of representation a particular area is granted within government. At times it may be used to determine whether or not a community is able to meet its own needs. It plays a significant role in the influence any one area will have on a federal level.
Influence is defined as “the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.” Based on this definition, it often seems that influence and effectiveness are very much connected to numbers. Whether in politics, where one point of view may be in the minority or majority; or even in social movements, influence and effectiveness has to do with numbers: how many are in support, how many are behind it?
But sometimes I believe this is true not only because of the commonsense principle that says that a group of many can bring about and accomplish more than a single person could. “Strength in numbers” also has to do with an individual’s perception. It always seems to me that we are more willing to be influential when we are part of a group. In large numbers, we are willing to stand up and speak out on different issues. As part of a larger group, we find in ourselves a courage and a resolve that we often don’t have when we stand-alone.
In fact, when one feels alone, or isolated, the opposite seems to be true. He becomes less likely to stand his ground on any one issue. Determination and resolve gives way to hesitation and fear. “One-man crusades” are for the romantics, the idealists, and the naïve.
And throughout our lives, we will experience periods of both. There are times when you will feel the strength and support that comes when you stand with others. And yet, there will be times in life when you feel like you walk alone.
We know our Lord also had moments of both. Our Lord had companionship. He did not go through His ministry alone, but led and walked with His disciples. And according to His human nature, we might even argue there were times when Christ would have needed this camaraderie. Jesus expressed His joy to His Heavenly Father, giving thanks that the Father had given to Him those with whom He walked, those He taught. How assuring and inspiring it would have been for Christ to see His disciples leave everything behind to follow Him. How pleasing it would have been to hear the disciples clearly convey their courage and determination; promising to follow Him even to the point of death.
But we also know Christ found Himself experiencing moments throughout His ministry that would have left any of us feeling alone, isolated, forgotten. Moments of sadness, when those same disciples would prove not to have the courage to go the distance. How disheartening it must have been for Jesus, having to rebuke his disciple and companion: “‘Get behind me, Satan!’”
We read the pages of scripture, and we are inspired by the life of Christ. A courage, a resolve, a determination that cannot be matched. We are inspired by the Lord, Who always seemed to be willing and able to walk it alone. When abandoned, He pressed on. When isolated, hated, tormented and scorned, He continued to love and was all the more committed to accomplishing His ministry.
“Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” Do not be inspired by Jesus because He stood alone, but be encouraged by Jesus because He knew He wasn’t alone. Jesus influenced the entire world not because He was on a one-man crusade, but because He and the Father are One. He was determined to change lives and give life not because He was able to find strength when walking alone, but because He didn’t walk alone.
He accomplished salvation not because He had a petition with a thousand signatures. He pressed on, not because of the size of the crowd behind Him. He gave His life, He offered to all people salvation, and He did it knowing He was not alone.
And through that sacrifice, Jesus gives to us today that same peace; a peace that escorted Him as He walked. By cleansing us from our sin, by restoring us to a relationship with our Heavenly Father, we can walk now knowing we are not alone.
We are firmly standing with the One Who has overcome the world. Lifted up by the One Who is able to raise the dead. When we feel scattered, isolated, when we feel overwhelmed, we do not stand-alone. But we stand with the Father Who hears us. A Father Who loves us, and walks with us. A Father Who promises that in those times of fear and tribulation, we have His mighty arm to hold, we have His life giving body to eat, we have His blood to drink.
Think of the strength, the influence we can have in the lives of people…not because of how many we walk with, but with Whom we walk. One Who is able to travel into the darkest of hearts with His light of truth. One Who is able to enter the broken and the lonely, and fill them with His presence. A presence that produces life, that transforms, that creates.
An Ozarks blacksmith, pointing to the front axle of a farm wagon in his shop, explained to a traveler, “You see, these axles last. My father cut this from the heart of a hickory tree 20 years ago, and it is still good. It does not bend or crack or break. It was taken from a lone tree. My father used to travel over the hills in search of sound lumber, and if he found a good tree, he would purchase it as it stood and cut it into timbers for his shop. By experience he found that the strongest wood was taken from trees that stood alone. So he would select hickories that grew in open space, and of these he would make his best axles and wagon tongues. Those trees that stood alone proved to be by far strongest. They had stood up under the storms where there was no protection, and their wood was of the finest grain and as strong as steel. You can’t break those axles.”
Those times when we feel like we stand alone; times of struggle, times of temptation and fear, our strength will not come from how many others are standing around us, how many will absorb the storm’s rage. But rather our strength, our courage will be based on where and how firmly our roots are planted. Our ability to withstand will be determined by whether or not we stand firmly in the Word; whether or not we rely solely on the grace of God.
Christ hung on a tree. And when we think of how much He gave, when we consider the sacrifice He offered, we often see our Lord hanging on that tree alone. We see Him taking the weight of the world, with all its sins, with all its fear, with all its failures; and we no longer see the tree, but the savior who bore the full weight of our sin. A Savior who did not break, who did not fall. One man; alone, afflicted, forgotten. “Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.” Jesus never once thought He journeyed to the cross alone. Though it would not have appeared to be the case, Christ always knew He walked in the power of the Spirit, and in the strength of His Father.
He took the weight of our sins, in order that we may never again have to bear them; that we may never again walk alone. That is the peace He offers to us. That is the peace He brings to our lives. May we always share and experience that peace as we walk with our Father; in the power of His mercy, and the strength of His love. May this be true for all of us. AMEN.
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