(over the last two thousand years the Spirit has guided faithful men and women to respond to the new challenges of changing times)
Part 3: ‘Humility in times of triumph’ (Andrew Lake)
Luke 14: 1-14 (Jesus teaches about humility)
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say.
When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
Philippians 2: 1-18 (Jesus models humility)
Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
How humble are you? If it’s a matter of comparison I can safely say that all of us here are more humble than the current world leader who said back in 1999 “To be blunt, people would vote for me. They just would. Why? Maybe because I’m so good looking.” (any guesses?)
Paul defined humility as “having the same mindset as Christ”, specifically “valuing others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but to the interests of the others.” Jesus articulated his mindset as, “All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Jesus practised his mindset by deliberate choices. He chose not to accumulate wealth. He chose to have no home relying on the hospitality of others or sleeping rough. He chose for his disciples, people from ordinary backgrounds. He chose not to curry favour with influencers or powerbrokers. Jesus chose not to use force to achieve his aims. Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem not on a warhorse but on a small donkey. Jesus chose to surrender himself to his enemies and knew the consequence would be dying by crucifixion, the most shameful of deaths.
So, leaving aside some well-known people who would score zero, out of 10 how would you score yourself for humility? There’s a problem there, because as soon as we start thinking about how humble we are we stop being humble! Leaving that in the too hard basket- let’s look at a time in the story of Christianity when humility was in short supply.
So far, we’ve looked at how Christians in different eras responded to the tough times of persecution and heresy in the Roman Empire and the chaos following the collapse of the Empire under invasions from all sides. But gradually things improved and by about 1000 years after Jesus’s death and resurrection all of Europe was nominally Christian. Europe during this era of triumphant Christianity was known as Christendom. The Popes in Rome had risen to having unrivalled spiritual and political authority and were quick to use the power of excommunication to keep the kings and queens of Europe in line. But power corrupts and makes the victor arrogant and intoxicated with power and privilege. The Popes came from powerful families and used their power to promote the Crusades. Under the name of Christ and under the sign of the cross kings and their soldiers from across Europe fought various Crusades not only against the Muslims occupying the Holy Land and Spain, but against heretics in the south of France and pagans in the Baltic. The monasteries had also grown wealthy and corrupt. The Church seemed to have forgotten the example of Jesus its humble founder who chose poverty and renounced the use of force.
However, as in every era God raised up unlikely people to face the challenges threatening to derail the Church. In a small mountain town in Central Italy two young people from wealthy, privileged families became disenchanted with a culture defined by feuding between neighbouring towns, obsession with luxury and showing off wealth. Their dissatisfaction was resolved when they each had a personal encounter with Christ causing them to renounce family, status and wealth in their pursuit of living a Christ-like life. The older one was Giovanni Bernardone whose family gave him the nickname Francesco, the little Frenchman because his mother was French. We know him as Francis of Assisi. When he was 24, he gave up his playboy lifestyle and sought to follow Jesus in every area of his life. He was a natural leader and soon the attracted a community of like-minded people. He wrote a rule for his order which eventually got approval from the Pope. Francis’ s group went by the name of the Lesser Brothers. They practiced a new form of community. Unlike the monastic communities following Benedict’s Rule they were mendicant meaning they didn’t run farms or own property but relied on donations of food. This freed them up to be itinerant. They did not accept gifts of money. However, they were not lazy. Being mobile they could get among the ordinary people who the church leaders in their pomp and power had neglected. The Franciscans would travel around the towns and villages preaching and encouraging people to follow Jesus. They would roll up their sleeves and work in the fields but would only accept a meal never money. They had a special care for outcasts like people with leprosy and prisoners.
Also from Assisi was Chiara Offreduccio, better known as Clare. Inspired by Francis, at the age of 18 she forsook the privileged lifestyle of an aristocrat, escaped to a convent where she cut off all her golden curls as a sign of renunciation of the world and determined to follow the alternative lifestyle of her mento Francis. Like-minded women including her sister and mother gathered to her. In that era, it would have been dangerous and inappropriate for women to roam around freely so Clare’s sisters in Christ lived together in a sheltered community dedicated to prayer under the guidance and protection of Francis himself. In turn Clare and the community cared for Francis in his final years blind and physically broken by the demands of ministry: the thousands of kilometres he walked in bare feet, the irregular meals and the exposure to the elements, but joyful in his devotion to his crucified Lord.
For Clare choosing to embrace Jesus led to other choices. She chose celibacy. She chose poverty. She chose to live in a community following strict rules where meals, prayer, possessions, chores were shared. Clare had to struggle for years to get the Pope to approve of total poverty in her Rule which meant going barefoot, a vegetarian diet, sleeping on the floor and having no property or possessions. Clare’s gift to us is the four short letters she wrote to a Czech Princess, Agnes of Prague, who renounced the prospects of marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick and gathered a community modelled on Clare’s. In one letter she sang the praises of voluntary poverty:
“O blessed poverty, who bestows eternal riches on those who love and embrace her!
O holy poverty, to those who possess and desire you God promises the kingdom of heaven and offers, indeed, eternal glory and blessed life!
O God-centred poverty, whom the Lord Jesus Christ who ruled and now rules heaven and earth, who spoke and things were made, condescended to embrace before all else!”
In another letter she encouraged Agnes to keep following Jesus:
“with swift pace, light step, and unswerving feet, so that even your steps stir up no dust, go forward securely, joyfully and swiftly, on the path of prudent happiness, believing nothing, agreeing with nothing which would dissuade you from this resolution”
Both Francis’s order for men and Clare’s order for women spread quickly throughout Europe as a countercultural movement seeking to return to the humility of Jesus and the first Christians. Franciscan missions spanned the globe. Eight hundred years later, Francis and Clare continue to challenge Christians about living simply, turning away from materialism and following Jesus wholeheartedly. When Jorge Bergoglio became Pope twelve years ago, he chose the name Francis, the first Pope to do so.
Like the Church in the Middle Ages, it is easy to be seduced away from the Spirit of Jesus and follow the worldly values of success and power. Central to the love of Jesus is humility. Here’s two tongue-biting challenges to take away and work on:
- In the words of Jesus “Don’t exalt yourselves”. A good start is not to criticise other people as if you are better than them. That means biting your tongue. (I mean figuratively, controlling your urge to pick up on the faults and annoyances of other people as if they were worse people than you)
- As Paul described the mindset of Jesus “in humility value others above yourselves”. Listen to others and make them feel valued. That means biting your tongue (figuratively speaking) when you feel like interrupting others to tell them about yourself or to stop them from sharing their thoughts and feelings.
Amen