LeRoy had huge blisters on each ear. When asked about it he explained. “My wife left the hot iron right next to the phone. When it rang I instinctively grabbed a handle and picked up the iron instead of the phone. Ouch! The worst part, it was a wrong number.” “Okay, that explains the blister on one ear what about the other.” LeRoy shook his head. “The fool called back!”
Being a human being is a curious thing. We are such a combination of the sublime and the ridiculous. We can fly to the moon and yet we tolerate hunger in the richest nation on earth. We have a Mother Teresa and an Adolf Hitler. The absolutely astounding assertion Christians make, that God is one of us, has to be viewed against the backdrop of humanity as we know it. Our claim that Jesus is one of us both in our sublimity and in our ridiculousness is what the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews is all about. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who was tempted in every way that we are.” Jesus was as weak as we are; went through all that we go through, “yet never sinned,” never let anything cut him off from His Heavenly Father. The epistle invites us to courageously face what we are, even things we don’t like about ourselves, and present ourselves to the throne of grace. God will understand, for God knows what we are going through. Anything which makes us doubt how blessed we are just as we are is a temptation. What are some of the temptations that we have in common with Jesus?
Jesus was tempted as we are with feelings of inadequacy. He probably didn’t like any more than we do the experience of weakness, the inability to do stuff. James and John yielded to their inadequacy temptations by trying to find their worth, their value in being number one, in sitting at the grown-ups table. We can relate. Feelings of inadequacy are a constant plague. For students, the professors are grading the worth of your work. Do you measure up? At the job they have the dreaded annual review. The system seems geared to make one insecure. Even parents wonder if they measure up to the awesome responsibility they have. And like James and John we tend to cope with these inadequacy feelings by finding our worth in our accomplishments, having others think well of us. When we don’t come out on top how crushed we can be, how worthless we feel. That is a temptation which Jesus faced; he can help us with ours. For our worth, our adequacy doesn’t come from anything anyone says about us but from who we are. We are, just as human beings, of infinite worth. We are worth God leaving heaven and sharing life with. Once we discover the great dignity of humanity as capable of producing Jesus, as able to bear divinity, then we see where our true worth lies.
Jesus was also tempted as we are with feelings of fear. He felt afraid of failure; he felt afraid facing an unknown future; he felt afraid at the prospect of suffering. James and John yielded to their fear-filled temptations by attempting to get some security. Instead of living in the present they tried to get a safe, comfortable corner office all lined up for themselves. We can relate. Fear leads us to find consolation in things, to cover up our terror in a narcotized haze, to do, do, do all the time so we won’t look at what is behind us. Jesus had to face the temptation of fear; he helps us with our fears. We can have confidence in approaching God. We can trust that God only wants what is best for us, that God desires to give us all that we need, that even when we fall we are safe since we fall into divine arms. When we focus on God we become able to shed our fears.
Jesus was tempted as well with a sense of aloneness. He was misunderstood; his family and friends never seemed to connect with who he was; the apostles didn’t get it; at the critical moments of his life there was no one there. James and John run from being alone by agreeing to do anything which will prevent it. “Drink from the cup, bath of pain; sure, no problem. Just stay next to us.” We can relate. When we feel alone we enter into relationships which are not healthy; we do things we never thought good people like us would do; we sometimes just quake in anxiety because the only sound we hear are empty hallways. Jesus had to live with a sense of aloneness; he can help us with ours. We know we will “find help in time of need.” We know that God will never reject us, will never abandon us, will always love us because of Jesus. When we are willing to be alone with God, we find we don’t have to supply our own needs. God will be there for us.
God sympathizes with our weakness. God knows our temptation to insecurity, to fear, to loneliness. We can resist those temptations because God is with us in Jesus. We are valuable just because we can call Jesus brother; we are being cared for at every moment; we have a companion who is always with us. But if we find ourselves still tempted by self-doubt, Our Lord in the gospel gives us a sure way to resist those temptations: service. Jesus says: if you want to discover how valuable you are serve the needs of those around you. You will find in others how precious each individual really is. If you want to dismiss all fear, give your life for the many. When you are looking into others’ eyes you find yourself reassured. If you want to avoid loneliness open yourself to those crushed by infirmity. You’ll find yourself longing for some alone time! When we serve others not in our strength but in our weakness, then God can move into our hearts.
In your prayer this week rejoice in being a human being; give thanks that just as you are, in your weakness, you can approach the throne of grace and receive favor — for you bear a family resemblance to Jesus. Here is the way W.H. Auden puts it:
What reverence is rightly paid
To a Divinity so odd
He lets the Adam that he made
Perform the acts of God?
