failure

a verse or two

“ ⁵ Christ did not glorify himself…⁸ he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹ and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all…” Hebrews 5: 5, 8–9.

Spiritual Walk and Musings: Lenten thoughts — its OK to fail.

I have been thinking about the issue of failure. During last Sunday’s theme on ‘the temptation of Christ’, I mentioned that from the world’s perspective Jesus Christ failed. He died when if he had stayed alive he could have healed more, preached more, travelled more……..but he died.

I also mentioned how the Grand Inquisitor of Dostoevsky’s novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov” accused Jesus of failure saying “Jesus should have followed Satan's advice and performed the miracles on demand in order to increase his fame among the people. He should have welcomed the offer of authority and power.” 

Yet the Christ we follow, he chose not to be pushy. Not to coerce, not to bully. He was happy to be held up when going somewhere, he had that ability to be late and not worry about it. Success was not a priority.

On the issue of failure and success, it was thoughtfully mentioned to me after the service last week how in the U.S., the issue of success is massive. It’s as if being ‘successful’ is the most important thing one can do. So much so that if a person decides to be a failure in life ( for example becoming a hippie), they have to succeed at it, they have to be successful at being a hippie. They have to be successful at failing! That’s weird!

A question: what does the ’been made perfect’ in the Bible verse above mean?

To Pray and Ponder: Its OK to fail

So my prayer and blessing for us all is this: 

‘May you be able to fail at being a failure. 
May you fail at being successful.
May you be able to rest with that knowledge, 
being at peace, knowing our worth is in Him 
who died for us that we may live’.

God Bless to you all

Jon
St David's Church, Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand