Stott: Dignity of Dependence

As one of our last excerpts from Radical Disciple by John Stott, we examine another neglected facet of discipleship: dependence. He gives an anecdote from his own life to show his weakness and then exposits the Lord’s Prayer to summarize our two-fold essential calling as disciples.

A Moment of Weakness

“A recent experience of mine demonstrated my own weakness and dependence. It was Sunday morning, August 20, 2006, and I was due to preach in All Souls Church, Langham Place, London. I was putting away some clean laundry when I tripped over the protruding feet of a swivel chair and fell between my bed and bookcase. I knew at once that I had broke or dislocated my hip, for I could not move, let alone get up. I was able, however, to push the panic button I was wearing, and kind friends immediately came to my rescue. Hugh Palmer, rector of All Souls, found my sermon notes and somehow managed to preach my sermon. Only later did I note its appropriateness, for I had prepared an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer.

Dependent on Mercy

The Lord’s Prayer consists of six petitions: three expressing our passion for the glory of God (his name, his kingdom, and will), followed by three expressing our dependence on his grace (for our daily bread, forgiveness of our sins, and deliverance from evil). It had long seemed to me that the second half of the Lord’s Prayer is a summary of our discipleship—our concern for God’s glory and our dependence on his mercy. Dependence is a fundamental attitude for all of us whenever we say the Lord’s Prayer. …Jesus himself taught that dependence grows as we grow. After his resurrection he said to Peter: ‘When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go’ (John 21:8).

John tells us that Jesus’ words had a specific reference to Peter and his death, but they embody a principle of wider application to growing old. So, although independence is appropriate in some circumstances, I come back to dependence as the most characteristic attitude for the radical disciple. I turn to John Wyatt for an eloquent expression of the priority of dependence: ‘God’s design for our life is that we should be dependent.’

We come into this world totally dependent on the love, care and protection of others. We go through a phase of life when other people depend on us. And most of us will go out of this world totally dependent on the love and care of others. And this is not an evil, destructive reality. It is part of the design, part of the physical nature that God has given us.

Divine Dignity

...Christ himself takes on the dignity of dependence. He is born a baby, totally dependent on the care of his mother. He needs to be fed, he needs his bottom to be wiped, he needs to be propped up when he rolls over. And yet he never loses his divine dignity. And at the end, on the cross, he again becomes totally dependent, limbs pierced and stretched, unable to move. So in the person of Christ we learn that dependence does not, cannot, deprive a person of their dignity, of their supreme worth. And if dependence was appropriate for the God of the universe, it is certainly appropriate for us.”

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