Have you ever been lonely? To be lonely is to be misunderstood, to have experienced something that you long to share with others only to be shunned. One can feel lonely despite being surrounded by the crowds. Did you know that Jesus felt lonely too?
Jesus had just finished feeding 5000 people, excluding woman and children. He had the crowds following Him, but He knew they were following Him for the wrong reason. In John 6:26-27, Jesus displays the true intent of the people. They followed him for the loaves and the fish, the physical food for their mortal bodies. Jesus, by feeding the 5000, was not just trying to teach them a lesson about faith but also about the truth of Him being the Bread of Heaven. He longed for them to hunger and thirst for righteousness, for He promised that He would fill that desire yet none seemed to understand His message. (Matt 5:6)
Jesus described Himself as the Bread of Heaven, saying that whoever ate of His body and drank of His blood would taste everlasting life and share in His eternal Kingdom. The people misunderstood His message and, thinking He spoke of cannibalism, some walked with Him no more.
In exasperation, He looked at the twelve men before Him. Even among them, He knew that there was a traitor. In a feeling of utter loneliness, He uttered these words in verse 67: “Will ye also go away?”
Jesus knew that a lonely road lay ahead of Him. God who created the Universe, who owned all the silver and the gold and the cattle on the thousand hills and who doesn’t need anything from man, felt lonely. So the Bible tells us that He emptied Heaven so He could fill it. He gave His only begotten Son to the world to walk the lonely way of the Cross. He gave one Son in order to bring many sons to glory. (Heb 2:10)
Scripture refs: Read John 6, Heb 4:15-16, Matt 5:6, Heb 2:10, Heb 6:4-6
"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"- John 6:66-67
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."-Matt 5:6
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."- Heb 4:15-16
"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation [Jesus] perfect through sufferings."-Heb 2:10
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."-Heb 6:4-6
