Loneliness can happen in a crowded room. In a marriage. In a church. You can be surrounded by people and still feel like nobody really sees you. Many of us feel it more than we admit.
Jesus felt it too, on the hardest night of his life.
The garden
It was the night before he died. After dinner, Jesus walked with his followers to a garden of olive trees called Gethsemane, on a hill outside Jerusalem.
He took three of his closest friends a little farther in: Peter, a fisherman, and two brothers named James and John, who had fished with Peter. Jesus started to feel deeply troubled.
Stay with me
The Gospel of Mark, one of the four accounts of Jesus's life, tells us what Jesus said to his three friends.
And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
Mark 14:34 · King James VersionThe original Greek
καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανάτου· μείνατε ὧδε καὶ γρηγορεῖτε.
Found in Codex Vaticanus (about AD 325), Codex Sinaiticus (about AD 350).
He told them he was so sad it felt like it could kill him. And he asked for one thing. Stay here. Stay awake with me.
Then he went a little way off and prayed. When he came back, they were asleep. He woke them and asked Peter, "Couldest not thou watch one hour?" He went back and prayed again. They fell asleep again. It happened three times.
The friends were not cruel. They were exhausted and did not understand. But Jesus faced that night mostly alone.
What it means for you
When you feel lonely, Jesus does not look at you from far away. He has been there. He has asked for company and woken up to find everyone asleep.
That also means you can be honest with him about it. "I feel alone" is something he understands completely.
And it is a reason for us to stay awake for each other. Someone near you might be having a night like that. A phone call or a visit could be the one hour they needed. If you are the lonely one, you are not too much to ask for. You could reach out to one person today. And know that Jesus already sees you.