Nothing On My Own

 ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

 ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

 ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’ John 5:30-47

We get the notion from an early age that to be good is to independent, strong and totally self-reliant. We are taught that being needy means being soft, being a loser. Yet, even those people who are herculean in strength have coaches, families and support systems. They can do nothing on their own, really. Every athlete, every star, every person who seems amazing has a cadre of people who believe in them, support them, feed them and get them to where they are going. I struggle when I need to ask for help, and wish I was better realizing that we all need each other.

Jesus teaches the leaders that their independence is not theirs alone but they are standing on the shoulders of generations of others and are surrounded by the witnesses to God's love. They want to keep God in a box, on the page and under control, but that is not how Creation works, nor how the Creator, the author of love, functions. Our need is that place where all the gifts of creation can be opened up. We are invited to be honest in our need and we are promised that love will find us.

Today, I ask God to help me be honest in my need and be a support, a pillar to those who need love. May we be both really needy and really strong for one another so love can grow and ignite around us.