Our deepest need

DAILY BYTE

You were asked yesterday to think about your deepest needs – food, money, clothing, friends - there’s no doubt that all of those things and more are great needs, indeed. Through these needs, we remember we are human – vulnerable and in need of God’s provision and in need of one another.

But what if our deepest need undergirding all of those other needs is not to have certain kinds of things but to be a certain kind of people – people like – Jesus.

I think that’s what the scripture this week is all about. At the beginning of Luke 11, we find Jesus praying in a certain place. The Son of God was spending time in prayer, and the disciples see him, and they say to him – hey Jesus – whatcha doing...? Teach us to be like you – teach us to do the things you do – because that’s what we want – that’s what we need!

I grew up in the church – I don’t have a lightning bolt, dramatic conversion story - my story is one that is maybe like yours – a story of being taught and nurtured consistently to come to worship, to pray the prayers, to be saturated with the music, to be with people who could show me what Jesus was like.

Unfortunately, many people have experiences within the church that are not positive but are, in fact, deeply wounding. I experienced this later in my life, as well, in addition to the fact that I’m sure I’ve even caused some of this pain through my life and work in the church. And I think it’s important that we acknowledge this pain because it seems it most often occurs when we’re not allowing our lives to look like Jesus’ life.

And we’re not alone in our ability to wound those that we should love. We hear about the disciples in Luke not long at all after they were sent out by Jesus to go be with people and heal them and proclaim the kingdom of God. This was their calling - their new way of life – and if ever there was a time to act like Jesus – that was it! There was only one of Jesus, but there were twelve and then 70 disciples. Out of their love and awe of Jesus, I bet their deepest desire as they went out in his name was to be like him.

But it seems, as human beings do – they sometimes failed. They doubted God’s provision in the feeding of the five thousand. They couldn’t cast out a demon in a boy with epilepsy. They argued about which one of them was the most awesome disciple... They even asked Jesus if they were allowed to rain fire down on a whole village and burn it up.

They sometimes missed the mark on who Jesus is, and I’m sure there were times when their behavior was deeply wounding to people around them. They certainly weren’t embodying the best versions of themselves...

But, they sat at Jesus’ feet, as he told stories like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which reminds disciples then and now to love “your neighbour as yourself.”

And as you heard last week, they saw Mary being still and soaking up Jesus’ presence.

As they spent time with Jesus, it seems something within them was craving the need to become less like their often stumbling selves and more like him!

They would have known that the scriptures say all of us are made in the image of God, so maybe they were discovering that the way to come the best version of our unique selves is to allow ourselves to be filled with the way Jesus is – to develop our own special characteristics and callings but to be less wounding and more loving – less selfish and more generous. Less needy of things and more full of Jesus.

Do you want to become the best version of yourself? To create less hurt and carry out unique and beautiful purposes in the world? How might that require you to allow Jesus into your life? Is that really your deepest need?

FOCUS READING

Luke 11:1 (NRSV)

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”