Social Distancing.  Did anybody ever think we would hear a term like that? Growing up in rural America, the words “social distancing” would have been as foreign of a term as “blue laws” in today’s culture.  Being social was an important part of life, and in nobody’s mind would the thought cross that it would ever be taken away from us.

            But things have changed.

According to the CDC, 

“Limiting face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).”

The term “Social Distancing” is something I’ve never heard coined before until this pandemic.  They define it as:

“Social distancing, also called “physical distancing,” means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home. To practice social or physical distancing:

• Stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) from other people
• Do not gather in groups
• Stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings”

            I don’t know if you are following CDC guidelines or not, but the quarantine is definitely putting a damper on mystyle.  I like to be around people.  I often go to Barns & Nobles to sit with my laptop, get a mocha latte, and enjoy the atmosphere to write.  It’s different than sitting at my desk at home.  It’s nice to say “hi” to people that you know and sometimes even converse with strangers.  Now I realize that this simple pleasure was a greater privilege than I thought.

            Some people are really having a hard time with isolation right now.  We are created to be social beings.  Staying away from the people who live around us, those in our neighborhood, or those who live on our street, is actually quite hard to do.  For me, one of biggest things that I miss is that I don’t get to visit with my church family right now.  I also have a mother-in-law who is in a nursing home, and it saddens me that she is not getting our visits right now. The last time I saw her it was standing outside the building talking to her through the glass.  No visitors allowed.

            The whole “social distancing” thing got me thinking

            This is Holy Week

            I’ve never witnessed a more relevant time for this post than now.  The world is still in a state of chaos over Covid-19, and social distancing isn’t going away anytime soon.  It made me think of what our Savior did for you and I, and gave new meaning to what He endured.  

            Sometimes we don’t truly grasp what Jesus did for us.  In light of our current world crisis, the things Jesus did for you and I this week mean a whole lot more.  Let me explain why.

Do you feel distanced?

            There is no doubt that Jesus was more aware of the week’s events than His disciples were going into Holy Week.  If they really would have understood, they wouldn’t of argued back to him so much during their last supper with Him, and they wouldn’t have fallen asleep in the garden while Christ prayed.  They were human, with limited knowledge and understanding of the time at hand.  Jesus however, had full understanding of what was occurring, and had to emotionally and physically deal with it.  Many times we treat the Lord differently because He was God in human form.  But He still was human.  He had emotional and mental needs too.  To have everybody fall asleep in His darkest moment would have been hard. When the soldiers came, and Judas kissed Him, betrayal would have felt like a piercing knife in your back. Do we feel the strain on us emotionally and mentally from “social distance?”  The Lord’s own disciples all fled when He could have used their support the most.

Matthew 26:47-56

While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Do you feel lonely?

            Do you feel lonely during this time of world crisis?  Jesus is right there for you, and He knows exactly how you feel.  How do I know this?  His best bro’s all ran in fear.  The one who promised to have His back to the death completely disowned Him. When Peter, the bold and boisterous man of God who would later become the pillar of the modern church was asked about his relations with Jesus outside the court that night, he denied him emphatically.  Your bro’s are supposed to be there for you.  Jesus’ disciples were not.  How do you think that made the man-part of Jesus feel?

Luke 22:60-62

But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Do you feel isolated?

I heard the sad story this week of someone who committed suicide due to the strain of the quarantine’s social isolation.  How terribly sorrowful that makes me feel, when I know that there is a God out there who knows exactly what that person felt like.  How sad it is that the Lord was there for that person, knowing full well what pain he was experiencing, yet the individual wasn’t able to stand on that truth.  How do I know that Jesus Christ knows what it feels like to be isolated?  His own mouth tells us His feelings.

Matthew 27:45-50

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

            In Jesus’ own words He tells us the pain He felt in that moment.  “Why have you forsaken me?” was the cry of His emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual condition.  All the pain and weight of the world was put on Him, the one true and living sacrificial lamb.  He took everything in that moment, the sins of our past, present, and future. He once and for all paid the full price that you and I could never pay ourselves.  He was not the one who deserved to die as the consequence of sin- it was us.  He paid for your salvation and mine; it came with an incredible cost.  Christ hung on that cross, in the darkness of the ninth hour, feeling the tremendous weight of isolation.  Isolation… all because of His tremendous love for you and I.

            How great a love Christ had for us.

            This week, as we are not permitted to have normal Church services due to “social distancing,” my challenge to you is to reflect on the distancing that Christ went through for you and I, and to thank Him for it.  He paid a high price to save us.  He endured all the temporary pain and suffering so that we could be with Him eternally in the glories of heaven.  If we can’t get into a church “building” this week, we can still pay reverence to God and have our own services at home to honor Him.

What an opportunity we have for our households.

By Chuck Carr