Two weeks of isolation quickly evolved into more.
We hardly recognize the once endlessly free and bountiful society we once flowed through so casually.
We now stand feeling quite unsure and alone, wondering just how long this will last. And yet we arrive at Easter, hoping there might be relief and ultimately praying for a miracle.
The hope I might offer this week is that we aren’t the only ones who have faced such uncertainty and tribulation. Luke Chapter 4 Chronicles a test Jesus faced alone in the wilderness without an end date, or even Amazon Prime:
“For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry.”
I too am hungry. Through, not for food but people! For interactions, relationships, and closeness. To go out to dinner with friends and celebrate/commiserate together. Zoom is simply a stale substitute for the proximal fellowship we were engineered to require.
Importantly though, this shared suffering / understanding is not the moral of the story, but a false summit. For as Luke continues, the story grows all the more encouraging as Jesus not only endures his isolated test but at the conclusion emerges renewed and empowered.
“Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure.”
We are all experiencing effects across the spectrum of severity; the majority being well beyond our control. The fundamental question we should ask is not how long this will last, but how will we emerge from it? For we, like Jesus, can emerge empowered and encouraged or limp away broken. I challenge you this week to turn your focus from the finish line to yourself.