Nothing on My Own

Jesus said, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment 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 depend on all sorts of folks to help us through each day. We count on the bus or subway driver to get us where we need to go, or the other drivers on the road to be safe. We count on our teachers to care for our children as well as doctors and nurses to tend to our loved ones. We can do nothing on our own, no matter how independent and strong we might be. I have learned, over these past few months, how dependent I truly am on others. At first, it frustrated me but finally I have learned to be grateful, since throughout my life, others have seen me through the hardest of times. And our Creator, the Alpha and the Omega, has been with us and our ancestors throughout all time.

Loving Creator, our Alpha and Omega

we imagine ourselves to be autonomous

yet we are thoroughly dependent on you

and we are dependent on one another.

We are often not grateful for our parents

for the people who taught us how to live

and we are often ignorant of your love

which has brought us this far on the way.

Help us to be grateful for each other

for the hidden people who help us thrive

for the ones who pray us through the day

and for your love which sees us through the night. Amen.