Despair

On the Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus knew what was about to unfold - it was a difficult final day he spent with His disciples, ultimately sharing a Passover meal and praying in the Garden - while they slept. He was arrested, another necessary step in His ultimate death. But, things would change - dramatically. 1st Corinthians 15 states:
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up--if in fact the dead do not rise.
16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

The cross brought intense suffering and death for our sins.  Jesus gave His life, but death could not emerge victorious over Him - He is risen from the dead and we have been raised with Him.  But first, we have to die, we have to surrender to Him, so we can experience that new life. His disciples faced despair, but on that Resurrection morning, they discovered the living Lord, the One who came to bring eternal life to those who would be believe on Him, who has provided for us a magnificent hope!

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By the time we reach Thursday of Holy Week, we see that a sense of foreboding had gripped Jesus and His disciples - He knew what He was about to do, and He had actually taught them about His death and resurrection.  But, now reality had set in, and the time had come.  

At their final meal together, Jesus used powerful symbolism to demonstrate His great love and His sufficient sacrifice. We can read in Matthew chapter 26:
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

One of the words that you could use to describe those final hours of Jesus' life: Despair.  He suffered so that we might be lifted from our despair and experience the joy of His presence.

An article on The Christian Post website started out this way:

Deaths by drugs, alcohol and suicide, known as “deaths of despair,” dramatically increased among middle-aged white Americans in the late 20th century due to lower participation in organized religion that was preceded by a repeal of blue laws that prohibited commercial activities on Sunday, a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows.

The study showed "States with larger decreases in religiosity showed larger gains in the rate of deaths of despair." The researchers stated: “Using shocks based on the repeal of blue laws, we then demonstrate that negative shocks to religious practice had relatively large impacts on deaths from poisonings, suicides, and liver cirrhosis for middle-aged Americans in the late 20th century..."

Timothy Carney, wrote at the Washington Examiner website:

Blue laws restrict all sorts of commerce on the Sabbath, which is Sunday in most of America. When blue laws are repealed, religious attendance falls as people have more alternatives to church: shopping, brunch, entertainment, and so on. Research has shown this effect for years, and the authors say plenty of studies show the causality is one way: Blue-law repeal causes lower attendance, rather than secularization leading to blue-law repeal.

Carney went on to note:

For the middle and working classes of America, the central institution of civil society has always been the church. It has been the source of friendships, mentorships, modeling, and guidance. Church is where the typical nonelite members of society have found their opportunity to serve others, as well as a human-level safety net.

If you've ever had your freezer overflowing with casseroles after breaking your leg or having a baby, you know this very concretely.

Changes that tear us away from the pews, whether it be opening Main Street or trying to replace church welfare with state welfare, may strike the elites as progress, but they hit ordinary residents as a death sentence.

And, as this study I referenced shows, not surprisingly, there is a correlation between the decline of religious practice and deaths related to the despair that comes from a void of faith.  And, this research shows that the failure to "remember the Sabbath" is a contributing factor. 

As we consider the events of Thursday of Holy Week, we find a somber meal in which Jesus shared the Passover and demonstrated, through the Passover, what He was about to do. He labored in prayer in the Garden and his disciples, while he prayed, fell asleep. Later in Matthew 26, we find these words:
40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?
41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Watch and pray. I believe that the Church has that call, that invitation, even today, to keep watch - placed in a world of despair in order to bring light and hope.  There is much that would, as Timothy Carney says, "tear us away from the pews," and put us to sleep.  But, we need to be awakened to the presence of God and be diligent to be a conduit of His love.  He died, Jesus gave His life, so that we might live; that we might live a surrendered life.