“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”
Oddly enough, I think the human condition is to be found in that verse from Mark describing Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness. We’re somewhere between beasts and angels and are tested (which is another way to render the Greek word translated here as ‘tempted’). Existentialist philosophers will tell us that the essence of our human condition is our search for meaning. This search is echoed in something Richard Holloway, the head of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, said in his interesting book Looking Into the Distance: “We find ourselves as conscious beings in an apparently unconscious universe and wonder what it means. We know quite a lot about how we came about, but there is no satisfactory answer as to why we came about.” [p. 5] So, the human condition is searching, whether for our proper place in the order of things, for meaning, for whatever. It seems that human beings are always looking.
I think that it goes back to the reality of our creation in the image (eikon) and likeness (omoiosis) of God. As a result we humans received by creation a way of existing resembling that of the persons (hypostases) of the Holy Trinity. Saint Augustine would remind us that we’re walking proof of the Trinity, since we’re tripartite beings made in the image and likeness of the Triune God, so we’re body, mind and spirit. So, made in this way, we’re also searching for relationship. Because our basic nature desires community, socialization, call it what you will. We search because we need each other. We may have individuality, but that individuality is precisely what also allows us to live in community. The very goal of existence – at least the reason that God created us – is for communion, for relationship. I believe that’s why our human condition is searching and why we’re constantly testing ourselves and others – even God – along the way.
Lent is the season of the Church’s year that calls us to a time of self-examination and realistic assessment. These original forty days of purpose – as I like to call them – allow us to see where we are in our spiritual journeys and to see where we are in our relationships. Once we’ve taken stock, once we’ve centered ourselves, then we can do something about it.
Now, if we’re really honest with ourselves we’ll realize that deep-down inside us we really want to seek our own way. We often build up a belief system that allows us to follow what we want and not worry so much about what God or other people want, which is one of the reasons why it seems so hard to live out the Christian faith. We saw an example this week in the 18th school shooting in this new year down in Florida – someone searching for his own way, his own satisfaction, and with no concern for others.
The contemporary spiritual writer Beatrice Bruteau summarizes some of the beliefs we develop in her article, “Following Jesus into Faith.” She writes, identifying these beliefs: “’Health and beauty, money and power are necessary for happiness.’ ‘I am identified by my body, personality, and possessions.’ ‘My welfare is more important than yours.’ ‘No one willingly gives up power.’ ‘The world is here for us to exploit.’ ‘No one can be trusted.’ ‘There have to be winners and losers.’ ‘They hurt me, so I must get even.’ ‘I can’t feel good about myself unless I’m better than somebody.’ ‘Some people are supposed to dominate other people.’ ‘If everyone were good, life would be boring.’” [The Journal of Christian Healing 1988, p. 24]
The tragedy of these systems we build is that they are so often unconscious ones. We’re not aware that we’re acting out of those beliefs – and there are others, to be sure – which keep us from living the life God made us to live. That’s why Lent is such an important time, because we’re a bit more mindful, more conscious or aware of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of our behaviors. Classical Christian spirituality involved examining the conscience daily. Stepping back each day and looking at what we’ve done, how we’ve behaved and what our motives were. If we’re careful to do this, very often we can trace back our actions to one of these unconscious beliefs, or motivators. Once we become aware of them, hold them up to the light of the Way that God made us to walk and wants us to walk, we can get back on course. Sort of like that little voice when I use the navigator function on my cell phone, “you are now off-course.” The informed Christian conscience is supposed to serve that function for us.
God built this conscience, this way of staying on-course into us. As Teilhard de Chardin the controversial Roman Catholic twentieth century paleontologist/theologian said, “We’re not human beings having a spiritual experience. We’re spiritual beings having a human experience.” God demonstrated God’s willingness to renew the earth and humanity in dealing with Noah. What God extends to Noah is unconditional love and the human conscience is to be formed by and informed by that same kind of love.
The true goal of human life, the remedy for our human condition of seeking is found in that promise and in keeping it. God’s promise – early on – is “I am with you.” The remedy for the human condition is found in that promise of relationship, communion, with God – the Other – and with others. We’re to keep the promise by the way we live toward God and toward one another.
It’s that simple and that complex. It’s been right there in front of us all along, but we go looking, because that’s our condition. There’s a wonderful Hasidic Jewish story that speaks to this.
“There was a poor rabbi who lived in the city of Krakow. He lived on the street of the Lost Angel, in the last hovel on that street, with his wife and his four children. Since he was extremely poor, he dreamed every night of riches. But one night the dream was exceptionally vivid. He dreamt that underneath a bridge in the city of Warsaw there was a treasure. When he awoke in the morning, he excitedly told his wife and his children about his dream. He then packed food and clothes, and set off for the long journey to find that bridge, unearth the treasure, and be rich. He traveled many long days and long nights and finally arrived at Warsaw. It was just as the dream had pictured it, except for one thing. There was a guard on the bridge, a sentinel who paced back and forth. And so the poor rabbi, tired from his journey, fell asleep in the bushes. When he awoke, he rattled the bushes with his arm, and the guard spun on him: ‘You there, come here!’ He was a simple man so he did not run. He sheepishly came forward. The guard said, ‘What are you doing here?’ Being a simple man who would not run, he was a simple man who would not lie. He said, ‘I have dreamed that underneath this bridge there is a treasure, and I have traveled many long miles to find that treasure and be rich.’ The guard said, ‘That is strange! Just last night I, too, have had a dream. I have dreamt that in the city of Krakow, on the street of the Lost Angel, in the last hovel on that street, where lives a rabbi and his wife and their four children there is buried behind the fireplace a treasure. And I leave tonight to find it and be rich.’”
Look close to home to find the remedy to the human condition. Look to your relationship with God and with those around you. We need to remember that God is always close to us, we’re the ones who are far away. God, in Christ, left us the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist as means of grace, constant reminders of our communion with God. Every time we come to this table, every time we receive these simple elements of bread and cup we’re reincorporated – re-embodied – into communion with the living God through the living Christ. In the sacrament of the table the Lord says to us again and again what Jesus heard, that we are God’s children – God’s son, God’s daughter – and that God is well pleased with us.
We don’t need to search, the answer is there -- the answer is here – in us, as individuals and as community. What Jesus preached on that long-ago day Mark records still holds true: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” How then, dear ones, shall we live?