The Alone-ness of Jesus

March 11, 1990

Isaiah 53: 1-3

John 16:31-32 Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave me alone; and yet I AM not alone, because the Father is with me.

Introduction:

Being alone— being apart— being by one's self— is an experience that is common to all mankind. At times being alone is good and to be sought. At times it is bad, and we will do almost anything in order to avoid it.

Being alone is sometimes a vital necessity. But then there are times when the sense of alone-ness is excruciatingly painful. Perhaps loneliness is the greatest single source of pain in our society today.

Alone-ness can be the agony of isolation, the punishment of solitary confinement. Or, alone-ness can be the stimulation of solitude, the setting for monastic retreat. Being alone can be the deliberate counterpoint to social intercourse, or it can be the very essence of hell itself.

When Jesus cried out from the cross, in the words of Psalm 22, "My God, My God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?," He was expressing the culmination of an alone-ness that was both solitude and isolation, an apart-ness and separation that was very much a part of His life from the very beginning. The text from Isaiah calls Messiah "A root out of dry ground— despised and forsaken of men." Jesus knew what it was to be all alone.

In His final separation from God and man, Jesus was unique; on the cross Jesus knew an alone-ness such as we have never known, and which we never need to experience. But much of the separation and even isolation and loneliness that Jesus knew throughout His life was common to us all.

I. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE ALONE-NESS JESUS KNEW?

There were reasons beyond those common to all humanity WHY JESUS WOULD EXPERIENCE BEING "ALONE."

1. Jesus had an awareness of separation because He, and He alone of all humankind, was absolutely pure and holy. Purity and holiness are at one and the same time very attractive and very threatening and repelling to people tainted with selfishness and sin. To take a stand for the right, for justice, when it is unpopular is to feel something of the separation Jesus must have known. To be alone and in the right is to be in company with Jesus.

   And the heart of this difference, this separation from all the rest of humanity, was the fact that Jesus was and is God Almighty. Those who 'understood' Him the very best understood Him in the most partial way— they never fully understood Him. Those who 'knew Him' the best never really knew Him to the depths. His was the alone-ness of a genuine superiority.

   He was patient, yet there must always have been the hint of that impatience that every mother of small children knows when she has talked to small children all day. She dearly loves her children, but she gets tired of just talking small-children-talk all the day long!

   Certainly we are not incarnate God, and so we cannot know these very special ways that Jesus experienced isolation, separation— alone-ness. But still in keen ways we experience misunderstandings, the superficial and partial ways others think they know us, and the separation that those misunderstandings bring.

2. The Bible tells us of a number of times when Jesus was alone. No doubt there were many, many other times. But these recorded times are particularly significant:
   1. Early in Luke's account we read of a time when Jesus was separated from His parents, and was found alone in the temple. At the age of twelve, Jesus said kindly to His mother: "Don't you understand that I must be about my Father's business?" Don't you understand?

      And even though he continued in subjection to His parents, as was right and proper at the time, still it is clear enough that Jesus knew the alone-ness and separation that comes to us all when we realize that mother and dad's faith are not sufficient for 'me!', and that I must learn for myself to do the will of the heavenly Father.

      It is a lonely business when we begin to confront the great challenges of life, and to discover God for ourselves. Do you remember when you were challenged to be a Christian, a believer, by a direct relationship of obedience to God? It is a scary time for parents and for young people. It is a time when it is easy to have misunderstanding and mistrust.

      But we may be assured that Jesus knows what it is like when God challenges us at 12, or 15, or 17, — or whenever— to be about the Father's holy business, and to live for Him without reservation.

   2. Another time that Jesus was all alone was in the desert, where He was tempted by Satan. After His baptism the Spirit led (or drove) Him into the wilderness where, weakened by long fasting, He faced excruciating temptation, in depths we cannot fully understand.

      Temptation is most devastatingly strong when we are physically and emotionally "down," and when we are isolated and alone! But when we are alone, we have a Friend at God's right hand praying for us! One Who understands what we are experiencing! Jesus knows, and is able to strengthen us if we will ask Him.

   3. Then, Jesus was alone often in the place of prayer. When He was pressed by many demands and the burden of other people's cares, as He carried out the most important assignment ever given to one Person, Jesus simply had to take time— to make time when He could be in the company of the Father alone. To seek the company of God in solitude when there are other demands is never easy. But if Jesus the pure and holy One needed to do it, then we, too, need to seek to be often— regularly— alone with God in the place of prayer.
   4. Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is one time when it appears as though He did not want to be alone with God. He wanted human company. He was facing the supreme test. He took the eleven with Him to a place they knew. He took Peter, James and John as it were into the inner sanctuary, and asked them just to "Watch one hour with Me..." But they could not. It was not just that they were unwilling. They simply could not go into that inner sanctum of surrender with Jesus.

      We are on holy ground here. (I recall being in that grove of olive trees, all gnarled with age!) But we all must come, sooner or later, all alone, all by ourselves to the place where WE pray that prayer! We must come to the decision that if no one else goes with God, WE are still going to go all the way!

   5. Finally— in the history of Christ's recorded times of being alone— come the anguished words from the cross: "My God, My God, WHY hast Thou forsaken Me?" Jesus was alone on the cross of Calvary. Thank God! There really is no parallel here for OUR lives, at least in the most central and holy sense. The horror, the hell of what Jesus knew in THAT alone-ness there was at the heart of His sacrifice for our redemption. Because He cried in utter darkness we do not need to ever know and experience that final, utter separation and loneliness!

[But how does the alone-ness of Jesus speak to your condition today, and mine? Think with me about how my alone-ness can be transformed by uniting with Jesus.]

II. HOW MY ALONE-NESS CAN BE TRANSFORMED BY UNITING WITH JESUS

[There will be many times when we will want to seek to be alone in good and wholesome solitude. But we are not called upon to seek to be lonely!]

1. Still, we can be certain that loneliness— the "dark side of apart-ness" or "alone-ness" will come unsought— unbidden— unwanted. We will know, as Jesus knew, the pain of misunderstanding, the isolation of superficial, partial friendships. We may well know what it means to be alone because we are trying to follow our conscience and seek justice and holiness. But in those times we may be sure that we ARE understood— that we are completely and thoroughly KNOWN!
2. And yes, there will be many times in seeking to follow Jesus when we will need to seek a holy solitude. We will need to be alone with God on a regular basis. We must stay in harmony with Him, and stay so sensitive to His leadings that when the times call for it we can appear to be out of step with everyone else if need be because we know we are in step with King Jesus.

   God help us that we can live so conscious of God that when purity or justice call for taking a stand we will have the courage to appear to walk alone, if necessary.

3. May God help us to be like Jesus in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to be able to say: "Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done!" These are holy, lonely times we must face, and we MAY face them with God's blessing and strength.
4. But when the "bad alone-ness" comes to us, and to those around us— and it will!— how can Jesus help us then?
   1. We must believe that in our loneliness Jesus can reach into our isolation and transform it. If it is an isolation of injustice and insensitivity or bereavement or loss it will be hard or even impossible to understand. But by God's grace we must not allow Satan to use alone-ness to destroy our faith, or even more important, the LOVE that faith demands! Bitterness and hatred and division and pettiness are the end result of what is probably Satan's favorite weapon.
   2. Do you understand that ISOLATION IS PROBABLY SATAN'S FAVORITE WEAPON? For isolation is the sheer essence of hell. All real fellowship and loyalty in the name of sin and selfishness are just illusion. And believe me, Jesus is seeking ways to break through YOUR isolation and loneliness right now!
   3. Remember this, too. If YOU have experienced isolation and loneliness, if you ARE EVEN NOW experiencing it— there are many others around you— many here right now— who are experiencing it, too. And if we would seek to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and let His life flow into our own— then the 'Jesus in you' and the 'Jesus in me' is always seeking ways to break through that isolation in those we know are hurting in order to bring love and healing.

      That is what Jesus did when He was here on earth.

Conclusion: I see a man short in stature, and perhaps somehow small in his own self-esteem— but a man who had abundantly compensated by making a great deal of money in a despised kind of business. I see him absolutely alone in the midst of a throng of people.

Oh, Zacchaeus was not physically alone— but in that crowd there was not one friend, not one person who knew how much he really wanted to love God, and how much he wanted to love his fellows and be loved by them— how much he wanted to do the right, to live right. Not ONE! Except for Jesus!

I want the keen kind of sight that Jesus had! I want to see Zacchaeus off to the side, peering through the leaves of his sycamore tree! I want the love of Christ that can help penetrate the alone-ness of others.

But remember that in that crowd there were at least TWO people who felt isolated and alone. But Jesus, misunderstood, and in many ways apart, reached out of His alone-ness into the desolation and isolation of Zacchaeus and said: "I see you! I want to be with you!" And something wonderful began in the heart of that lonely man!

And out of the loneliest hour in all creation Jesus has reached in love into your isolation and mine. He has asked us to take HIM home with us. And He wants to transform our alone-ness into life-sharing love!

(Exalt Him #27 GENTLE SHEPHERD)