by Pastor Sharon Ortiz, Pastor of Education
I will never get over the fact that Jesus came to this earth as a baby. He could have come as a prominent political or religious leader. He could have come as an other-worldly being, not unlike the Marvel superheroes we love to ogle at. He could have come as anything that demanded attention, and put to rest all doubt that He was who He said He was, the Messiah and Savior of the world. Yet, He chose to come in the most unassuming form, as a baby: meek, fragile, absolutely helpless.
Dependency is not a quality that we value, especially in our society. On the contrary, our culture values independence, self-sufficiency, autonomy. We pride ourselves on being able to do it all on our own. We strive to climb up the corporate ladder and stand alone at the top. When people don’t serve us to our advantage, we are quick to weed them out, stop picking up their calls, quiet quit on them.
While the world despises dependence, however, when we remember that we are the body of Christ, we must remember that we are designed for it. No one part of the body functions in disregard to another. Every cell in the body is intrinsically connected and reliant on the rest. Mother Teresa famously prayed to “see Jesus in every human being.” With that lens, she was enabled to serve everyone she came across, doing even the most begrudging duties with joy, because she loved Jesus; and there is no question that those who received service from Mother Teresa experienced the love and touch of God on earth. One got to serve Jesus himself; the other got to be served by him. There was a beautiful, holy exchange of the Living God that was experienced through the channel of human dependence.
There is something sacred about depending on one another, both for the requester and the grantor. When we admit our need, we acknowledge our lack, trust God to fill it, and allow Him to do so in His way, on His time. He loves to bless us, if we only ask (Matt. 7:7). Jesus himself came as a baby, completely dependent on those around him in every single way. In His mission to save the world, He threw himself wholly at the mercy of it. Yet, at the end of His life on earth, He held nothing back, and gave Himself entirely, utterly, exhaustively for the sake of bringing us Good News, and the world was forever changed. In both asking and giving, there is opportunity to be like Christ. Don’t deny yourself either.
If Christ chose to live His life on earth in need of others, why do we so often try to do it alone? My prayer for ALCF is that we reveal Christ to each other and serve the Jesus in each other. In doing so, may we experience a deeper joy, greater rest, sweeter love. May our dependence on one another be our greatest strength. May it be the channels through which God’s abundant life flows into our hearts and into this world. And may the world continue to change with reverberations of His Good News.