A Wasted Life

A Wasted Life

John 3:16-17

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name,

Nobody came

Father Mckenzie, wiping his hands as he walked from the grave,

No one was saved.

            If you’re old enough to remember the 1960’s you may remember this song by the Beatles.  The refrain was, All the lonely people, where do they all come from?  All the lonely people, where do they all belong?  The theme is loneliness.  The song is about people whose lives seem to be wasted because they had no obvious value to anyone. 

            Did the song raise the level of consciousness about such people?  Did it contribute, even a little to the debate about providing for people who seem to have no one to love them, no one to mourn for them when they die?  Did the level of care at even one nursing home become less institutional and more loving because the Beatles wrote and performed Eleanor Rigby?  Perhaps, perhaps not—but the song remains:  the written and recorded effort of four young men to express the lonely lives of so many.

            We don’t think of Jesus as lonely.  He was always surrounded by people:  the chosen twelve; the many other disciples who, while not part of the inner circle still accompanied him throughout his ministry; the multitudes who followed from place to place or sprang up in the cities and towns he visited.  We know he sometimes sought solitude from the press of the crowds so he could be alone with his heavenly Father.  Did he ever feel loneliness because of his separation from God?  We know he prayed fervently on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Was this the only time he felt abandoned?

            Of course we cannot know the answer.  The gospels do not reveal much of Jesus’ inner life.  I doubt he ever confided even in those closest to him.  As Mary kept all the events surrounding Jesus’ birth and pondered them in her heart, so Jesus seems to have kept his own counsel about his feelings.

            The Beatles tell us that both main characters in their song led lives of insignificance.  Eleanor Rigby was active in church, but that’s all we know about her.  We see her at church and at home—alone in both places.  We find her cleaning up the church after a wedding—not her own—but see no evidence of interaction with other people.  Father McKenzie writes sermons and darn socks—all without the benefit of human contact.

            Do we feel the same way about Jesus’ life?  Was it insignificant?  We seem to spend more time talking about his death than about his life.  Certainly his death—and resurrection—were significant.  The theologian Jurgen Moltmann and others believe this to be the most significant event in all of history.  But we can’t forget Jesus’ life.  His time on earth was not merely a preparation for his death but equally as significant, because his life shows us how we should live. 

            How are we to live?  We are to love God and demonstrate that love by loving all our neighbors—all creation. We are to give of ourselves to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the poor and downtrodden.  We are to live our lives in such a way that everyone we meet will see God reflected in us.

            If we live as Jesus lived, in service to others, our lives will not be wasted, and we will never be lonely.