I'm Feeling Lonely This Easter

 

KEVIN!!

That’s the cry you give when you get on a flight and suddenly remember you’ve forgotten your 8 year old son, and left him Home Alone. ­­­Though don’t worry, if two robbers like Marv and Harry come and try to break into the house, Kevin will have it sorted. He'll simply head off to the $2 shop and get all the knickknacks he needs to provide a secure and safe house for the week.

Let me tell you straight: I’m not a big fan of being lonely. I'd rather crack a few jokes with a group of friends and have a good 'ole belly laugh. When I get a belly laugh, it can wobble for hours. I don’t know about you. You step into a crowd, look around, and realise deep down, you’re alone. People might smile at you and wave hello. People might be friendly towards you and that’s nice. Though sometimes you’re looking for friends, not just people who are friendly. That feeling of loneliness is hard to describe, but underneath the fake veil we put over our faces to protect our self-esteem, we can feel it. And it hurts.

Let me be vulnerable with you for a moment. I’m two and a half months into a new Salvation Army appointment on the other side of Australia. I’ve met new faces, lots of incredible people and am enjoying serving the Lord in this new space in Morley. But I woke up the other morning, just feeling lonely.

I feel like I want to qualify a few things. I don’t always feel this way. And the feeling will probably pass. And I’ll make some friends and the world will keep spinning. But in one moment recently, I felt lonely and alone.

Well, to be frank, I’m not alone in my aloneness. According to the Australian Psychological Society (2018), 1 in 4 people were reporting that they were experiencing loneliness. This report is back in 2018. Throw us Covid-19 and lock us in our houses, take away some of our liberties, and some rightly label it the loneliness pandemic.

Alone at Easter

My mind is then cast to the event of Easter week, and as I read the scriptures, I saw line after line something that I had never seen before.

Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane, alone.

Jesus went back a number of times to see if his disciples were praying, and they weren’t and I wonder if Jesus felt… alone.

Then Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss and in the gospel (Matthew 26:56) you have this gut-wrenching line that says… ‘Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.’ They had left him all… alone.

Imagine that feeling.

Arrested and alone.

The feeling of being lonely doesn’t stop there. When Jesus is nailed to the cross, on that hill in Calvary, God forsakes Jesus.

And Jesus is alone.

As he took on the sins of the world, people were deserting him. The disciples had run away. The religious leaders mocked him. Soldiers divided up his clothes.

My heart is captured by the reality what is happening. Jesus is brutally murdered and everyone had turned their backs on him.

Stop and pause for a moment. Have you ever felt alone? Jesus has experienced this very thing. 

On the Third Day

We are fortunate that the story doesn’t end there. Jesus conquers sin and death and rises from the grave! What an incredible story of resurrection power!! Jesus is alive! Without wanting to skip over the resurrection let me fast forward a little further. Picture for me, the resurrected Jesus who is now standing on a mountain about to say some last words to the disciples, before he ascends into heaven.

Even if you’ve read this before. Take a moment:

Matthew 28:16-20 ¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus calls the disciples to a world-changing kind of mission. Now, that’s incredible in and of itself. But that aside, did you read the last verse?

You and I might, at times, or even often, feel lonely. But Jesus promises that he will be with you and never leave you or forsake you. That’s not some nice theological sentiment, it’s a rich promise from the Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s so much more to say and so many questions to ask. Like, what’s our role in befriending someone who’s lonely? What can we do to care for those around us? How can we truly love our neighbour and heal the broken-hearted?

While at times I feel a part of the loneliness pandemic, I can experience the powerful and awe-inspiring message of Easter. God loved the world so much, he sent Jesus into the world, so that through him, we are no longer alone. We are set free and loved and saved and bought with a price.

Through Jesus Christ, we now have a relationship with the Father in heaven.

And that’s good news.

Because...

I’m not alone.