This Easter will be unique. Unable to attend the usual congregational gatherings we are invited to attentively see and identify with the human Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, as he was forced into ultimate isolation. If we pay dedicated attention we might see in the person of Jesus all the isolated creatures living in this earth. We might even recognise our own face. We might also hear the question the Israelites asked at Rephidim: “Is the Lord among us, or not?”, welling up in our own hearts and echoing in the collective human heart. We might recognise that we have become the most isolated species ever to walk this earth.
Hopefully we will not only recognise in Jesus the face of all humanity but also the face of the other creatures sharing life with us on earth. Hopefully we will also recognise the face of God in Jesus and then realise that isolation is not Gods making but the fruit of our own self chosen and misguided separation.
Let us not flee from our few weeks forced isolation, it might become the place where we will be liberated from all isolation and where we will find peace.
David P Botha