Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get caught up in our own pride?
We can do so many things right – work hard, earn a bunch of money, become a person of great power and wisdom. But in the blink of an eye, it can all be taken away.
We see it happen almost every day. The rich man loses his money and is suddenly broke; the powerful leader is exposed as a crook and thrown in jail; the wise one who had all the answers, turns out to be a fraud.
Sadly, these stories make big headlines and many people – probably both you and I at times – get a certain sense of satisfaction that someone who was “too big for his britches” was knocked down a peg or two.
God has a way of knocking us down … often times just when we need it. Oh sure, when we are humbled, we often feel like it’s the worst thing ever. But then, after many hours of reflection (sometimes years) we realize that it was probably for the best.
It seems that once we get so full of ourselves, God takes a little pin and deflates our ego. Thankfully!
Today’s readings address this head-on.
In the first reading from James, we are reminded about the pitfalls of thinking too much about how wise we are … “if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. Wisdom of this kind does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
The Gospel reading from Mark tells the story of how Jesus healed a boy that was possessed by a demon. It includes a little back-and-forth between the father of the boy, who is chastised a bit for not having enough faith in our Lord to cast the demon out of his son.
But I think the most interesting part of this passage is the very end, where it is revealed that the disciples of Jesus – who had been given the power over unclean spirits and had already successfully cured many – were unable to do anything against this boy’s demon.
Why, they asked Jesus, could they not rid the demon when the boy’s father came to them?
Jesus replies, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”
As readers, we are left to ponder what Jesus meant by that answer. Had our Lord not detected anyone actually praying for the boy? Was this boy’s demon a particularly nasty little bugger that needed “the BIG GUY” to do the healing?
Or could it be that the disciples had let their successful healings go to their head. Inflated with a sense of pride, perhaps they felt it was truly “they” who were doing the healing works of God, rather than God Himself working through them.
Perhaps, too, the disciples may have let their prayer lives lag a little. Maybe they felt their mission was so important – that THEY were so important – that they no longer needed to pray. Maybe that’s why the initial attempt to exorcise this boy’s demons failed.
This may also be the key to why there are times that the little demons in our lives are able to mess us up, despite our best attempts to use our own knowledge, skills and power to rid them.
Maybe instead of relying on our own skills to heal ourselves or others, we should have the humility to recognize that we need Jesus to help us. While it might appear that our Lord has armed us sufficiently to take on the day, we must never lose our desire to meet Him in prayer and lean on Him for all that we need.
Sometimes it’s just not enough to be all you can be. Sometimes, you need to be the one knocking on God’s door, seeking His wisdom, rather than relying on your own.
