Unlearning Independence

Learning the Value of Neediness Part 2

This is part two of chapter five, “Unlearning Independence; Learning the Value of Neediness.” You can read part one here (HERE).

Blinded by Abundance

In the first century, Laodicea viewed itself as a proud and independent city. Laodicea was so wealthy and so proud about being so rich that when a horrific earthquake in 60 A.D. rocked the Lycus valley, the city distinguished itself from nearby peers Collosae and Hieropolis by refusing Rome’s imperial help to rebuild.  Laodicea’s geographical location at the junction of prime trade routes, its renowned wool, and its medical specialty in treating eye diseases (it was the home of a particular “Phrygian eye powder” and medical school) set it apart from its neighbors.

Laodicea was to Hellenistic cities what Texas is to the other forty-nine states: proud and independent. Don’t Mess With Texas…

Unlike their city, Laodicea’s faith, at least in the opinion of Jesus, was not to be celebrated. Laodicea’s faith made our Lord so sick that he said he was prepared to vomit them out of his mouth. They may have been impressive to the world, but their spiritual state was pathetic to the Savior. They model to us how we can think we are already living the abundant life when in fact we are pathetically poor.

Laodicea teaches us how distorted we are about our true state when we value an independent life. Learn the power of being dependent on God. If you resist this, you resist the Christ who said, “By myself I can do nothing…”[1]

The Revelation address to Laodicea begins with Jesus being called “the faithful and true witness.”[i] The word “true” is significant here, as Jesus is about to tell them that they are living under an illusion, as most of us are. We value the wrong things; we live in the pursuit of things that don’t really matter, don’t fulfill, and don’t even satisfy. It’s an illusory life. The abundant life is a real life, a substantive life.  It begins by listening to Jesus, accepting his words as true and faithful.

The Laodiceans thought of themselves as wealthy (because they had a lot of money), fashionable (their black wool was coveted by the well-to-do), healthy (with a medical school and eminent physicians), and relatively independent (they didn’t need Rome’s help to rebuild after the earthquake).

Their problem, according to Jesus, is that they were actually “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”[2] They weren’t rich—they were impoverished! They weren’t well-dressed; they were naked! They weren’t wise—they were blind. They weren’t to be envied; they were to be pitied.