Sermon # 12 - The Way Of The Cross Part 1 - Dealing With Loneliness Series

We read in Mark 14:50, “And they all left Him and fled.”

These messages for the next two or three weeks will focus on the way of the cross that Jesus had to undergo. As the time drew near for Jesus to be crucified, He faced some of the loneliest moments, when all of His disciples deserted Him, and fled for their lives. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day, were envious of Him, and therefore had him arrested, and handed over to the Roman authorities to be crucified. It was at this crucial juncture that the disciples of Jesus fled, leaving Him all by Himself. The ones who Jesus loved dearly did not stand by Him in those moments of intense pain and loneliness.

Many of us have faced these lonely seasons at different times in our lives. I have heard some people say that they have no one to stand by them, and none to understand all that they are going through. We will through this message try to understand how we can tackle this loneliness in our lives and overcome them.

Let us look at the lives of some in the bible who encountered these moments of loneliness. We will also understand the reasons why they had to face this isolation, and how the Lord intervened to change these situations.

Selfishness led to abandonment

These were the words of Peter, one of the disciples of Jesus, when Jesus predicted to His disciples that all of them would fall away on account of Him, and that no one would stand with Him as He would be handed over to be crucified.

We read in Matthew 26:33, Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!" (GNB)

Interestingly, though Peter spoke with vehemence, and assured Jesus that He would stand by Him, in that moment of crisis, not only did Peter flee from the scene, he also denied that he knew Jesus.

There are many who will convince us that they will be loyal to us, but in our time of crisis they will be nowhere to be found.

One of the main reasons the disciples of Jesus fled from Him that day was that they were more concerned about their own well-being, and were not willing to jeopardize their lives for the sake of Jesus. They wanted to be safe and away from harm’s way.

The Psalmist David said it beautifully in Psalm 23, that the Lord is his Shepherd and that he will never be in want. However, at the end of the Psalm David describes a critical situation where one has to go through the valley of the shadow of death, and the confidence that David had was that God would be with him even in those death-like situations where one could feel most lonesome.

Thrown into seclusion because of envy

We read in Genesis 37:24, “Then they took him and threw him into the well, which was dry.” (GNB)

Joseph was a young man who realized that God had a supreme plan for his life, above that of all his brothers. Joseph feared God, but his brothers hated him. At one time when Joseph’s father Jacob sent him on an errand to give food, and enquire after his elder brothers who were tending sheep in a remote place, his brothers dealt with him harshly. They stripped him of the coat that was gifted to him by his father and threw him into a well that was dry.

In Genesis 37:11, we read, “Joseph's brothers were jealous of him..” (GNB)

The reason for this treatment to Joseph was that his brothers were totally envious of him. Joseph’s brothers were so filled with envy that they heartlessly threw their own brother who came to enquire after them into a pit, and later sold him into slavery.

Many do not take the problem of envy seriously, but if we do not deal with it at its root, this can make one hard and prompt them to do harsh things. In an office situation, when the boss trusts an employee, he may give that person more responsibilities. Often, this would be misunderstood by others who will do everything they can to bring that person down. This could be applicable in a family situation too where one member is favored over the other. Envy is that jealous feeling that creeps in our hearts when someone, even a good friend gets a promotion of any sort. If one does not handle envy the right way, it will instigate us to do things that are harsh and unimaginable.

Isolated for speaking up against wrong-doing

We read in Matthew 14:3, For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. (GNB)