Humility

Humility

Luke 14, verses 1, 7-14

Words from a sermon preached by Martin Thornton in Truro Cathedral: “Consternation in the Crypt!  Panic in the sacristy!  It was a glorious hot day in August with lots of well-behaved, scantily clad children. And the Girl; she arrived in a sort of bright-coloured beach robe, a good ten minutes before the Eucharist was due to start; she prayed devoutly for some time…; she knew what she was doing without ostentation or embarrassment… but in the shade of the Cathedral, the thermometer rose to 90 degrees and the girl sensibly shed her beach robe while even some of the restrained removed their jackets.  Beneath the beach robe was a garment known to the trade, I believe, as a bikini, a bathing suit of quite remarkably skimpy dimensions.” The Girl!  Later in the sermon, Martin Thornton suggested that she reminds us that we can bring nothing to God; we come just as we are. In the words of the hymn writer:

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to thy cross I cling;

Naked, come to thee for dress,

Helpless, look to thee for Grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour or I die.

Humility. “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  The comment of Jesus on the guests at the wedding banquet. In the Old Testament lesson (Jeremiah 2, verses 4-13) the Lord through Jeremiah accuses the Israelites of pride, of turning away from him to false gods, of placing themselves in the centre of life to the neglect of his ways. Pride, self-centredness, contrasted with humility.

William Temple observed: “Our humility does not begin with the giving of service; it begins with the readiness to receive it.”  This is a difficult lesson. A willingness to be served as well as to serve.  Peter, impetuous and changeable and lovable Peter, was prepared to be active in the cause of his master - he provided a fishing boat, he professed lifelong loyalty, he drew his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane, in spite of his denials he did at least follow into the high priest’s courtyard.  Yes, he was prepared to be active in the cause of his master, but in the upper room when the master became the servant and approached him with the basin of water and the towel, Peter said “Never at any time will you wash my feet.”  “If I do not wash your feet”, Jesus answered, “you will no longer be my disciple.”  How difficult for us to accept the service of others gracefully and graciously!  We are happy to visit, but not to be visited; we are happy to drive our car, but not to be driven; we are happy to talk, but not to listen. An exaggeration, perhaps, but partly true, because we all want to be independent. The Acts of the Apostles reports a saying of Jesus, which (if not actually spoken by him) is certainly a reflection of his spirit: It is more blessed to give than to receive. More blessed - and easier. Yet we must learn to receive as well as to give, to be served as well as to serve. A Brian Wren hymn includes these words:

Lord God, in Christ you call our name,

And then receive us as your own,

Not through some merit, right or claim,

But by your gracious love alone;

We strain to glimpse your mercy-seat,

And find you kneeling at our feet

Then take the towel, and break the bread,

And humble us, and call us friends.

Humility.  Find you kneeling at our feet, washing us, forgiving us, healing us. Think of Jesus himself: his mother nurtured him through infancy and childhood, a lad brought five loaves and two fishes for him, Mary anointed his feet with expensive ointment, a borrowed boat carried him across the lake and a borrowed donkey brought him into the city and a borrowed room provided a place for a farewell meal with his friends, Simon of Cyrene helped to shoulder the burden of the cross, Joseph of Arimathea lent a new tomb for his burial…  Humility.  The mind, the attitude, of Christ Jesus.

A willingness to be served. Secondly, perhaps more obviously, a willingness to serve. We can all quote examples of people who have taken the lowest place at the wedding banquet. Francis of Assissi walked through the lanes and villages, preaching the gospel in poverty; Albert Schweitzer left a brilliant career and ministered among needy people in Lambarene; Mother Teresa cared for the desperate and destitute on the streets of Calcutta; ordinary men and women known to us personally, men and women who have forgotten themselves (their own comfort and security) in their practical concern for others. And the greatest example of such humility is Jesus himself, not claiming his status, but becoming a servant, obedient to death. He was born in a stable and laid in a manger, he worked with his hands, he mixed with tax collectors and prostitutes and undesirable characters, he laid hands on untouchable leprosy sufferers, he washed the dusty feet of his fickle friends in the upper room, he was nailed to a common criminal’s gibbet outside the city walls. The servant King, willing to give his life for others in obedience to his Father’s will. In Graham Kendrick’s words:

Come see his hands and his feet,

The scars that speak of sacrifice,

Hands that flung stars into space

To cruel nails surrendered.

This is our God, the Servant King,

He calls us now to follow him.

To follow him, serving as well as being served, in the path of humility. The mind, the attitude, of Christ Jesus.

Uriah Heep, in David Copperfield, described himself as “so very ‘umble; ever so ‘umble”; he was creeping and cringing, morbid and miserable, a thoroughly despicable creature; this Charles Dickens character is hardly an example of true humility. No! Rex Chapman, in a reflection on the parable of the talents, writes:

Let me not think that I have what I have not, nor that I have not what I have. Mock modesty, false humility, is actually a form of pride. 

 Let me not think that I have what I have not, nor that I have not what I have.  In other words, we have to be honest and realistic about ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses, our good points and our bad points. Like the girl in the bikini, we come just as we are. With the tax collector in the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee we pray: God be merciful to me, a sinner. All who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  Humility - the mind, the attitude, of Christ Jesus - the willingness to be served and to serve.