Poverty of Mind, Body, and Spirit

It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him (Gen. 2)

 

We are born helpless.  As soon as we are fully conscious (and physically somewhat independent), we discover that we are lonely.  We need other people physically, emotionally, intellectually.  In some ways, we cannot even know what we know without other people -- and we cannot even know ourselves except who we are in relationship to others.

 

The great temptation of Satan in the Garden of Paradise was "ye shall be as gods" -- that is, wise and independent enough to decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil -- to choose for ourselves what is good for us.  "You don't need God," he proposed to mankind; "you only need yourself, if you are smart enough, wise enough."

 

The great gift given to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was His basic assumption that we needed Him, that we were not "sufficient unto ourselves."  "Be strong, be independent, be wise," our world advises us:  "Stand on your own two feet."  And yet, Jesus proclaimed that we would approach God most nearly when we were least like God, when we most needed Him --- Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy-burdened, He said, and I will give you rest.  In the Old Testament, He said, Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

 

Mankind's highest, healthiest, most realistic spiritual condition is one of poverty, of need, of total dependence on God.  To know that we are not sufficient unto ourselves is true wisdom: God hears the cry of the poor! 

 

The Scriptures tell us that "Christ became poor for our sake;" He became "poor" in His absolute need for and reliance upon His Father and upon other people.  We see in Him Divine Life operating under human conditions -- He was hungry, and dependent upon other people for His food.  Hence, the "temptation in the wilderness" to turn stones into bread, so that He would not have to be dependent on the Providence of God to feed Him, nor upon the sensitivity, generosity, and good will of other people.

 

He was exhausted by daily life, by the harsh roads, by the crowds and their clamorous and insistent demands; He would fall asleep and stay asleep in the midst of a life-threatening storm until awakened by His disciples.  He had no privacy, no peace; He was constantly interrupted; He had to get up early, before dawn, to find time for prayer.  For our sake, He gave up His independence and became totally dependent upon God and upon other people -- even for a place to "lay His head."  Perhaps that is one reason He so loved to be at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  My guess is that they provided for Him a few moments of respite, of peace, of good food, and of the joys of human comfort.

 

It is so good to finally lay down our own sense of independence and know ourselves to be "needy," to be dependent and grateful for our need -- of God and of other people.  Then we can relax, no longer having to put up a strong front.  We can be free to laugh at our own foibles and inadequacies; we do not have to be "perfect," "wise," or "strong."  We can know ourselves weak and helpless and insufficient for most of life's tasks. 

"Blessed are the Poor in Spirit," Jesus said, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  The kingdom is given to those who know their need for God and for others.  Those who have no need for God and for other people cannot enter; they are sufficient unto themselves -- and indeed, this is 'hell,' to be imprisoned in our own sufficiency, and to need no one else.