Loneliness -  Matthew 8: 1-3

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

The leper was the loneliest person in the village.  No-one had touched him for years.  His family climbed the hill from Capernaum to leave him food on the hillside, but dared not come near enough to talk.  From his cave, he could watch the busy harbour and bustling market, but he must have felt desperately isolated up there alone.  Then one day crowds streamed up the hill and, from his hiding place, he could hear someone preaching.  Was it the love behind the radical words of the Beatitudes that gave him courage to approach Jesus?  I wish I’d been there the day he arrived home in Capernaum, cured.

We are now in the 8^th week of ‘lockdown’ due to the coronavirus, loneliness and isolation are part of our life at the moment and probably will be for a long time yet, and this can haunt people of all ages.  Not only have we lost people we love and who once shared our life, but health problems can sometimes cut us off from our friends and the activities that we used to enjoy.  Nevertheless, in these difficult and challenging times we must be determined to remember that Jesus calls us his friends and he values our companionship far more than we can ever hope.

‘I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.’ John 15:15 

Prayer:

Lord, I find it so easy to focus on all that I’ve lost rather than allowing my loving relationship with you to become my highest priority.