Jesus was a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). He knows the pain of rejection and desires to meet us in our loneliness.
Jon Bloom, co-founder and frequent writer at Desiring God, reflects on what we can learn from Jesus’ personal and real experience with utter loneliness.
“There was a historical moment when Jesus was literally all alone, and that would’ve been the moment on the cross. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21,
‘God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’”
“On the cross He took our sin. When He did that, He was taking the wrath of His father against sin, which means He was alienated from His father in a way that He had never been alienated from Him before. Jesus was alone; He was rejected by men and had the wrath of God on Him. The reason He did that was in order for us to end our loneliness.”
Jesus understands our human condition; He is empathetic to the temptations and brokenness brought on by sin because He experienced them Himself. Jesus also paid the ultimate price so that loneliness could be destroyed. Jon points us back to the glory of the Cross.
“He understands the depths of our loneliness, alienation and rejection. He knows that by experience and He did that so that we would no longer be estranged from God.”
“He died on our behalf so we wouldn’t be strangers and aliens, but become fellow a fellow citizen with the Saints and a member of God’s family. He not only understands our loneliness, but He came to ultimately destroy it; it’s is being destroyed. Every form of suffering that we endure is passing away for everyone who loves Him.”
Pam Bloom, Jon’s wife, reminds us that Jesus meets us in our loneliness through His presence in our daily lives.
“If we have the Holy Spirit within us, this is our answer to loneliness. We were impure, we’re made pure, and we house God (1 Corinthians 6:19). What an awesome truth that in our loneliness, which we all experience, we are not truly alone.”
Jon Bloom serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, , , and . He and his wife Pam live in the Twin Cities with their five children.
Deep Thinker Thursday: Restoring the wonder
