It is not a failure to be in need.
Homily for the First Sunday of Lent
Hello friends,
Below is the homily I preached yesterday. It is focused on the Lukan passage recounting the temptations of Jesus and draws on themes from my previous newsletter.
I hope it is helpful to you.
Humbly,
Joshua
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
Romans 10:8-13
Luke 4:1-13
In our Gospel passage today, the First Sunday of Lent, we read of Jesus' Lenten journey. He is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days. During that time, he is tempted by the Devil.
There are three ways in which Christ is tempted in this passage. Each of which a false way of being human.
The first temptation is independence, the second is idolatry, and the third is cynicism.
The setup of this passage makes it clear that Jesus is human as we are human. He gets hungry just as we do. He hungers, he thirsts, he is dependent.
In the context of this dependence, he is offered three ways to deal with it. First, in the encouragement to turn the stone into bread, the Devil is tempting him to go it alone—to deny dependence and satisfy his needs through his own power. In the second, he is tempted to subvert his dependence, acquiring power through means counter to the will of God. And in third, he is tempted to test God's care, to approach God with cynicism, unwilling to trust that He truly provides what we need.
We, obviously, see these temptations so often in our own lives. I want to focus here on the first, though—denial.
Denying our dependence is something we are often prone to do. We assume we can make it on our own, through our own power. The problem is that even if we can acquire the bread ourselves, we cannot live on bread alone. We need, at the very least, the companionship of God and others.
In addition, when we deny our dependence, we have a tendency to deny the dependence of others. Put differently, when we assume that we can accomplish our goals or meet our needs ourselves, we have a tendency to assume that everyone else should too. This is epitomized in the "self-made" wealthy—those who assume their wealth and power were through their own effort, ignoring the many ways they were set up by context, circumstance, the beneficence of others, or simple luck. And when that happens, it's easy to look down on others and assume their misfortune is their own fault. We see from the Gospel passage that this temptation, this perspective, is straight from the devil—it is, quite literally, demonic.
The reality is we all need help. It is simply part of being human. To need the help of others is not a deficiency, it is in fact the way we were designed. The only way forward is to acknowledge this in ourselves and in others.
I want you to hear this: When you need help, it is not because you are a failure. You are not a burden, a dead weight, a drain on the people around you. You are simply human. Beautifully and purposefully human. It is not a failure to be in need.
It is not a failure to be in need.
And the same goes for others when they need help. In America especially, we have a tendency to look at those in need as a burden on our society. Those needing assistance through various social programs, for instance, are seen as leeches, undeservedly gaining from the hard work of others. But again, it is not a failure to be in need. To be human is to be dependent.
I would encourage you, this Lent, to dwell on this truth. Lent is meant to remind us of our mortality, our dependence—ultimately, our humanity. I pray that it would not only remind us of our humanity, but also the humanity of those around us, urging us on to care for them as we are cared for.