“Only Human After All”

 

There is a popular song by Rag’nBone Man that goes in chorus, “I am only human after all! I made mistakes, I am not a messiah, I am only human after all.” The song has a powerful almost gospel sound to it and is reminder that we are only human. There is a temptation from our Family of Origin, and even in Church to be expected to be Sin Eaters, Saviors and even Perfecti who are pure and holy. Then when we fail it is far more painful because the expectation on us was Atlas level, with a planet on our shoulders. 

I think an apt comparison for us as Christians comes from a scene in Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker believes he can learn a god like power to save his wife from vision of death in childbirth. He turns to the dark lord of the Sith for help and ends up turning on everything he loved. But the focal point here is that the Jedi and Sith wield these incredible powers to levitate things, caste lightning, do flips, call weapons to their hands, but at the end of the day they are only human; Anakin ends up limbless and laying burnt on the shoals of Mustafar, Palpatine deformed by his bolts redirected at Him by Mace Windu, and Padme perishing in Childbirth. Because in the end they were “only human after all.” In many ways we expect of ourselves so much like Jedi as Christians, and trying to measure up in our spiritual powers in the Holy Spirit, but at the end of the day, “we are only human after all.” Our Lord Jesus is the only God Human, the fully God and fully Man to ever and always exist. And while He lives inside us (2 Corinthians 13:5), we do not possess his infinite power, our bodies tax and are frail. I remember being at major spiritual events how everyone who moved in powers of the Holy Spirit that their bodies felt drained and tired, and lest we forget Jesus even in His Body slept during a storm (Matthew 8:23-27). Granted He now has His tireless Glorified Body post-Resurrection, but the point I am trying to make is that we saints are “only human after all.” We have limits, we are frail, and fail, and expecting us to be as the angels or our Lord God in terms of stamina, and even holiness is not fair to us as human beings. 

Part of this we see when a very visual leader in the Church is caught in act of Sin, we raise up the cross to crucify them because they broke the image of perfection, but they are human after all.. lack of sleep, lack of food, denied desires in an acceptable framework, and so much more can lead a person to collapse. I am not saying that gives a license to sin, but we ought to remember our Lord Jesus sad, “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?,” (Matthew 7:1-3). We humans are frail, and It is precisely this frailness that Jesus came to save, and we are ever dependent on Him because we will stumble, fall, and show our human weakness over and over, but remember what God said to the Apostle, “Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me,”(2 Corinthians 12:9). I am not saying do not strive to live a sanctified life, no, I am saying we need to afford mercy, compassion, and understanding with people for we all are, “only human after all.” Amen.