Alone?
Loneliness is a terrible thing! It can attack anyone…even in a crowded place. Jesus understands the feelings and the fear that come from loneliness.
Today we are going to look at the most lonely time in Jesus’ life. It took place on the cross. Matthew’s gospel paints the portrait of a lonely man, who has just been denounced by the very ones He came to save, despised by those He loved, and condemned to death by a heathen judge:
Matthew 27:26-46
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.
28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.
30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads
40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.
42 "He saved others," they said, "but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ’I am the Son of God.’"
44 In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(NIV)
No one can adequately explain what took place in the Trinity the day Jesus on the cross.
All we have is the cry of a child who felt ALONE.
Never before had Jesus been apart from the presence of God. During all the days of His life on earth, Jesus bathed in the presence of His Father. But now God’s smile is withdrawn.
Habakkuk 1:13
13 {Thine} eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness {with favor.} (NAS)
God has turned His face away from His own Son and darkness that can be felt has covered the land. For the first time in Jesus’ life, he is completely ALONE! The sting of loneliness expressed by Jesus in His cry to God is a direct quote from Psalm 22:
Psalm 22:1-2
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.
(NIV)
Psalm 22:1-2
God, God... my God!
Why did you dump me miles from nowhere?
Doubled up with pain, I call to God all the day long.
No answer. Nothing.
I keep at it all night, tossing and turning.
(The Message)
Jesus knew what it was like to be forsaken by the people he came to redeem.
Jesus was forsaken by the WORLD.
John 1:11
11 He came to that which was his own,
but his own did not receive him.
(NIV)
Not only had He been forsaken by those He came to save,
Jesus was forsaken by the DISCIPLES.
Matthew 26:56
56 … Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
(NIV)
Can you imagine what it feels like to have someone you trust leave you? You depended upon them and they ran away. When that happens you become angry, and sad, and disappointed, and discouraged…all at the same time!
And if all that wasn’t enough, forsaken by His enemies and His friends, in the time He needed God most,…
Jesus was forsaken by the FATHER.
Matthew 27:46
46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(NIV)
The nails, the shame of the cross, the cruelty of men, the insults hurled at Him did not cause grief comparable to that of losing the sense of His Father’s presence! Can you hear the broken heart of Jesus, the lonely heart of Jesus, as He cries, “Forsaken!”?
Most of us do not remember how we felt when sin first entered our hearts. The thrill, the fear, the loneliness that grips the heart when rebellion against God sets up rule and reign over our lives, but on the cross Jesus felt sin for the first time. Not that He sinned in rebellion against God, but God made Jesus to become sin for us even though he had never known sin. And there at the cross, all of creation mourned the sacrifice of the Creator with darkness from noon until three p.m., the time of day the sun usually shines brightest!
When the full, crushing weight of our sin rested on the Son of God, He roars out with a loud voice with cry of loneliness, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?” Why have you abandoned me? Why have you deserted me and left me helpless and destitute?
That’s exactly what sin does to us! Sin leaves us deserted, helpless, destitute, abandoned, without hope and without God! When Jesus carried our sins on the cross, a fellowship was broken that had always existed. The darkness of the earth surrounding Him was in keeping with His feeling of God-forsakenness!
Jesus endured “forsakenness”
so that we might know
FORGIVENESS!
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(NIV)
Jesus was forsaken that we might
NEVER BE forsaken!
Hebrews 13:5
5 …God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
(NIV)
Jesus came, died, and rose again
in order that you might never be
ALONE!
That’s what Easter is all about! Jesus died so that he might pay the price for our sin. Jesus rose from the dead that He might come and set up housekeeping in our lives. Jesus endured separation from God so that we, who have separated ourselves from God so many times, might never be separated from Him again!
The writer of Hebrews is so emphatic concerning Jesus’ desire to live in our hearts, that he repeats himself. While we may not understand the meaning from the NIV, the Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, captures it when he translates the verse from the original language:
Hebrews 13:5
For he Himself has said, and the statement I on record,
“I will not, I will not cease to sustain and uphold you,
I will not, I will not, I will not let you down!”
(Wuest Translation)
Jesus wants to live in you. If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, He really wants to come into your life. He wants to sustain you, uphold you, never let you down. But he cannot until you invite Him in.
For almost as long as Ronda and I have been married, we’ve had six chairs around our dining table. It’s a good thing because God gave us four daughters so that all he chairs would be occupied. Since Jonda got married, now we have an empty chair at the table. Meal times can still be lively with just the five of us, but some of the family is missing from the table when we sit down to eat. When I think about the empty chair, I pray for Jonda and her husband, Josh, and the finest grandson who ever walked the face of the earth!
I know God has plenty of children – plenty of artists, plenty of singers, and carpenters, and candlestick makers, and preachers, plenty of everybody…except you. All of tem together can never take your place. There will always be an empty spot in His heart -- and a vacant chair at His table until you come home.
So if today seems He’s crowding you a bit – please let Him into your heart. This may be one of those times when He misses you so much He can hard
