STATION 10: IT IS OK TO BE ALONEJesus is hanging upon the Cross and He sees His mother, Mary, and He sees His beloved disciple, John. And He says, "Mother, behold thy son, son behold thy mother." This was a legal ceremony of immense importance. Why, we will see in a moment. Jesus died utterly and completely alone. The Hebrew people, of whom He was a part, had rejected Him. The multitudes, to whom He had preached and fed, had turned on Him. His inner most circle, His 12 apostles, ran and hid in fear. His closest friend, Simon Peter, betrayed Him and denounced that he ever even knew Him. One of His closest friends, Judas, turned Him over to the authorities to be arrested. And, here upon the Cross in this legal ceremony, He officially states that Mary is not His mother. "Mother, behold thy son, son, behold thy mother," is a statement wherein a dying man can renounce all of His claim as a son to all rights of inheritance, name and privilege, even in the event of His miraculous survival. And at the same time, the disciple, John, takes upon himself the responsibilities of caring for His new mother. But it did not end there. No, Jesus as He hangs upon the Cross, utters the final statement of aloneness, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" So here the Prophet, Priest and King, the Healer, the Lover of All the Human Race, hangs dying absolutely alone. He has no people, for they have rejected Him. He has no country, for they have renounced Him, removed all of His rights of citizenship, and are executing Him for crimes against the state. He has no followers, He has no disciples, He has no friends, He has no robe, He has no money, He does not have a mother, and He does not even have a God. Now, I don't know about you, but I often think about that, because Oh, so many times in my life, I feel completely alone. There are things about me which people find very difficult to accept. One group of people might understand one part of me, another group may be comfortable with a second part of me. I find that in my life I have to live almost separate identities, and that no one, often and including my closest relatives and family, absolutely no one, is comfortable with the totality of who and what I am. When I close my eyes at night, I am alone. Ultimately no one is responsible for my life but me. No one can make my decisions for me, and I sometimes feel so utterly and completely alone. I believe, based upon conversations I have had with people, that this is a very familiar feeling. Many people think and feel this way. Even a mother, or a father, or a spouse with whom we live for 50 years, cannot possibly understand us in our innermost depths. We have had thoughts and feelings and desires and experiences a thousand times beyond those which even our closet confidant could ever know. The hidden thoughts, the secret dreams, the fantasies, the day dreaming, all of these combine to create a inner world, far more vast than the sum total of all of our external achievements and words. Therefore, truly there is no one on this earth who is even remotely capable of understanding us. We are utterly alone. But the Gospel of Christ, the death and resurrection of Jesus says to us that is okay. Jesus, the Son of God, was alone, too. He died completely alone, symbolically and literally, because when He finally gave up the ghost, there was no soul inside of His body but His own. But this aloneness, you see, is not the end of the story. It is all right to be alone because Jesus on the Cross hung there and died alone. The purpose of His story is to tell us that there is resurrection. Jesus did not spend eternity alone. After His resurrection, He appeared to Mary and the disciples and many people. He ascended to the Father. He sits at the right hand of the throne of glory. He receives the worship and adoration and love of uncountable millions of people, and He will never be alone again. There are dark of valleys in the journey of our life, and
sometimes we do travel literally through the valley of the shadow
of death. That's okay when you feel alone, feel that no one
understands you, or feel that no one cares about you. You are in
good company. Jesus understands. Jesus knows, and you will be
okay. There will be resurrection. There will be a new community.
There are people on this earth who do genuinely care. Do not be
afraid to be alone. Do not be afraid of your innermost thoughts
and secrets. Do not be afraid because He is with you always, even
unto the ends of the age. |
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