Advent-ure 2021 December 23: Riding on a Donkey (Look at the Lonely)

Jesus has been described as a man of sorrows and one of our Scripture passages from this Advent season pictures Him as the "suffering servant." Jesus was not untouched by pain, and He is able to not only identify with our pain, but to provide encouragement and healing. 1st Peter 5 states:
5b ...Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Jesus showed His love toward each of us by coming to earth as a man, born as a baby, humbling Himself so that He could redeem us. He suffered to the point of death because no human could pay the penalty for his or her sin.  This wonderful Savior, whose birth we celebrate, is near to those who are brokenhearted, lowly in spirit and who are lonely - He is our companion and comforter, and when we humble ourselves before Him and seek His face, we can know His incredible presence and love.

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We have now reached Day 23 of our Faith Radio Advent Guide: "25: A Christmas Advent-ure," traveling on "The Timeline to Transformation."  Today marks the final commentary related to entries in the guide, and previews a scene that plays out at Passover just before the death of Jesus.  You know the 
story - Jesus riding into Jerusalem on what we now celebrate as Palm Sunday. That scene actually fulfilled Bible prophecy and helps us to see the contrast between the expectation for the Messiah to be a conquering ruler and the exemplification of the Messiah as a humble servant by Jesus. Zechariah chapter 9 says:
9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.'

Jesus humbled Himself by coming to earth in the form of a man, born as a little child in humble surroundings.  He taught His disciples in Mark 10 that He came to serve, not to be served. We also know that He identified with the "lowly," a word that is found in Zechariah 9:9.

We can be "lowly" in many ways.  In a sense, because of our residency in a sinful world, a fallen world, we are lowly.  Because of our propensity to sin if we insist on living in the flesh, or the old nature, we are lowly.  We are members of a frail human race, we struggle...

And, this time of year, many struggle with feelings of loneliness.  A new Barna Research Group study examines that topic. A Christian Post article says:

The study found that three in 10 U.S. adults experience loneliness at least once daily, and such a feeling usually comes with pain.

For U.S. adults who experienced loneliness at least once within the past week, more than 40% of that group said the feelings of loneliness ranged from intense to unbearable.

Susan Mettes, described as a "behavioral scientist," was a partner in the study. She relates, “These numbers give us a snapshot of loneliness. What they don’t reveal is for whom loneliness is a long-term, chronic condition. The chronic version of loneliness is more damaging,” adding, “Those whose loneliness is constant and chronic have likely experienced how loneliness can chip away at health and quality of life.”

According to Barna, “Looking at committed faith practice, practicing Christians — those who identify as Christian, agree strongly that faith is very important in their lives and have attended church within the past month — do show a slight decrease in how often they feel lonely, when compared to churched adults and the general population,” but added, “However, a notable one in five (20%) still feels lonely at least once each day, with 10 percent being lonely all the time.”

The Christian Post article also notes:

When it comes to painful feelings associated with loneliness, 48% of churchgoers who experienced loneliness at least once in the past week said they had more severe feelings of loneliness compared to 39% of non-churchgoing adults who said the same. Some 35% of practicing Christians had similar feelings.

The piece also relates the findings of a Harvard study, "conducted by researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education project Making Caring Common found that 36% of about 950 respondents in the national poll conducted in late October 2020 reported feeling lonely 'frequently' or 'almost all the time or all the time' in the prior four weeks."

Can the Church help?  Absolutely. Jesus has provided for us a relationship with Himself and reminds us that He is always with us. So, when we are lonely, we can think about the one who came to earth, who humbled Himself, and identifies with our struggles and temptations.  Not only that, but He has placed us in community with other believers, who can provide the encouragement and companionship that we need.  Through interaction with Christ and human interaction, combined with our own willingness to be open and humble, we can find meaningful ways to overcome the loneliness and the accompanying pain that this survey indicates is present. 

At Christmas, we read about and sing songs of Emmanuel, which means "God with us."  Jesus, as our Messiah and our King, is certainly exalted in position, but He is by no means unapproachable. He invites us to bring our struggles before Him, to no longer allow our sins to be a barrier, and to accept His gift of forgiveness.  He came to earth as a demonstration of His great love and died so that we may have that relationship. He desires for us to experience His presence, which can sustain and heal us.