Humble?

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. … My focus is on Matthew 18:4 and Romans 13:6. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

O Lord it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way … I can't wait to look in the mirror cause I get better looking each day … To know me is to love me. I must be a heck of a man … O Lord it's hard to be humble but I'm doing the best that I can.

“It's Hard to Be Humble,” the title track of Mac Davis’s 1980 album is one of the funniest songs ever written. Every pastor over age 50 has quoted it in a sermon that addresses humility. Today, I will talk about two humble phrases – Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” from Matthew, and the authorities are ministers of God from Romans.

The word humble comes from the Latin word humilis meaning “lowly.” It literally means “on the ground or earth.” Because you are “of low birth or rank” you are not to assert yourself, or as Golda Meir said, “Don't be so humble; you're not that great.”

In Matthew 18, Jesus extended his corrective teaching. The question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” revealed the disciples were far from grasping the significance of Jesus’ passion prediction and its implications for them as sons of God.[1] They were concerned about status based on sinful human thinking – being greater or lesser, more or less important. In chapter 20, they will ask about seating arrangements.

Jesus corrected their understanding of “the greatest” in the kingdom of heaven. In today’s language, Jesus’ description of greatness is lowly, childlike neediness as He invites His disciples to a radically different way of thinking and living in community. The image of a child or little one redefines their understanding of greatness in terms of dependence or neediness. This would have shocked and offended a first-century Jew.

The disciples were shocked and offended because although Israel loved and cherished her children, they did not serve as role models for adults. Children did not possess the positive qualities adults strive to emulate. Our Western World is not the classical world of the Ancient East where people held reason in high esteem. In that culture, people regarded children as inferior because they were not rational thinkers. And as one who has grandchildren who have not yet reached the age of reason, you know that they are not rational. In the Ancient Near East, children were physically weak, subject to the will of adults, and susceptible to sickness. If they were praised, it was because they possessed potential for becoming something in the future, not as a paradigm for adults.

True, the psalmist wrote, “children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate” (127:3-5). However, elsewhere we read children are ignorant of God and unfit to rule. They cannot count and are unable to choose between good and evil. They are easily deceived and cannot defend themselves.[2]

Why did Jesus hold them up as an example for his disciples to emulate? It was because children, like Israel, were dependent upon God for everything. Everything – from identity to food to protection from one’s enemies – came from God. Unless his disciples turned and became like little children dependent on God for everything, not only would they not be considered great in God’s Kingdom, they would not even enter it. What a shocker!

 Jesus redefined the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven not as the independent, capable person who serves others, but one who, like a child, is the weakest, most dependent and most vulnerable. Jesus called his disciples to regard such needy ones as the most important people, worthy of virtually unlimited care and forgiveness.[3] His disciples were to serve these little ones – Jesus’ brothers and sisters – because in God’s eyes, they were the most valuable. They were the greatest in His Kingdom.

Now that we have an understanding of what Jesus said, we turn to Romans. Last week, I said Paul’s advice to the Christians in Rome was not to withdraw from the world into seclusion as an individual or Christian enclave. Instead, he encouraged them to live among others, but with a different set of values. Paul exhorted them to reconcile and win over their enemies through kindness, compassion and brotherly love. Today, Paul addresses how Roman citizens and subjects should regard authority. After all, Christ’s death won them freedom from the law. Does that not include civil law?

Paul makes two points.[4] First, Christians may not frivolously disregard civil authority. Read the first two verses of Genesis, and see that by overcoming primeval chaos God established order. So, Paul lays down that God established order, and that chaos and disorder are His enemies. To oppose order is to oppose God by supporting those forces that are at enmity with God. Freedom from the law does not mean freedom from civil law. Obey traffic laws. Pay your taxes. Respect the office.

That said, a government, whether or not it is aware that it is an agent of God for order and good, punishing evil and disorder, cannot claim for itself absolute devotion from God’s creatures. Devotion is due to God alone. Once a government makes that claim, it becomes an idolatrous opponent of God. These verses not only describe what a government authority is but also prescribe what it is to be. Limits of power. Keep order for the common good. Obedience to God.

All well and good, but how do the readings relate to our lives today? Monday is Patriot Day, originally designated in memory of the 2,977 killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the day also encourages community engagement. In light of that, how do we apply the passages to our lives as Christians in America?

How do we – humble disciples of the Lord Jesus and authorities charged by God to keep order – serve those who are most valuable in God’s eyes because they are the most vulnerable in our society? First, who are the most vulnerable?

At some point, it is any of us, who, like these little ones, recognize that everything we are and have our origin in God. From the color of my eyes to the language I speak. My height, gender, race, sense of humor, siblings and parents. I chose none of these. They all come from God. Without God, I am nothing.

To expand on the question requires only a day in the life of America. In addition to church work, my work experiences include schools, hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and prisons. In each of those settings, I found these little ones – society’s most dependent, vulnerable beings. I found children with profound learning disabilities and adults hanging on to the fringes of life. I visited frail elderly women forgotten by family and found housing for homeless women estranged from their families. I served meals to men suffering from schizophrenia and counseled mothers incarcerated for possession and parole violations. I could make the case that any of these are valuable in God’s eyes, and they are.

Instead, I propose that our most vulnerable, dependent beings are those legally discarded across our nation, unborn infants. Since 1973, taxpayers have legally funded abortions in hundreds of clinics across America. Planned Parenthood, with assets of $2.3 billion, and $1.9 billion in income, receives $674 million in government funding. That’s your money, my money. Planned Parenthood affiliates around the country performed 374,155 abortions in the 2020-2021 fiscal year.[5] Abortions made up 97.2% of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy resolution services, while prenatal services, miscarriage care, and adoption referrals accounted for only 2.8% combined. And if anyone tells you that Planned Parenthood is helping teens, do not believe them. Only 3% of their clients are under the age of 18. In the last 50 years, the governing bodies in the United States of America turned its eyes away from 63,459,781 murdered citizens.[6]

Friends, are unborn infants our nation’s most vulnerable, dependent beings? Are they the greatest in the Kingdom of God? Like each of us, do they bear the image of God? How can we serve them?

Today’s verses from Romans point to the fact that there is no dimension of life that is beyond God’s concern or outside of His power or control. Those who govern are answerable to God, because there is no area of reality which can exempt itself from His sovereign power.[7] And Christians who are governed need not resort to anarchy while engaging in civil disobedience on matters that are sinful or conscientiously objectionable, such as abortion.

Our Lord’s call to humble oneself like a little child and Paul’s admonition to be subject to the governing authorities does not mean that we acquiesce to sinful activity that is permitted or promoted by any government. Humility does not ultimately depend on personal effort but on openness to God’s power. Humility invites us to make a radical choice ‘to give over all of one’s life to be with Jesus no matter what the consequence.’

Imagine following Christ in being insulted and humiliated without anyone sinning and without there being dishonor to God. Imagine real situations of Christ and his followers being confronted by evil. Left to our own choice, would we respond the way Christ did or display a justifiable reaction of outrage? In our current climate, do we cherish the degradation Christ faced, not because we perversely link religion with destruction, but because we fully embrace the full extent of Christian hope in His promises?[8]

Christians of 1^st century Rome believed Jesus Christ died for their sins and rose from the dead. They believed that they, once rebellious enemies of God, were reconciled through Christ’s death and resurrection. When the Paschal Mystery is embedded in your heart, mind and soul, you do what God asks or commands. You even deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ by loving your enemies with brotherly affection.

To answer my previous questions (see above), I thought of the encounter that happened at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2019. If you have ever been on the Annual March for Life in Washington, DC, you know that everyone there is protesting peacefully. Christians of all denominations, Orthodox Jews and even atheists join together to stand up for the unborn. It was a few years ago, but I am sure you have seen at least one video of a young man standing there smiling and another man beating his drum. That young man, Nicholas Sandmann, said that he smiled because he wanted the man beating his drum to know that he was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation. You’re also aware of the media response, investigations, lawsuits and, as Paul Harvey always said, the rest of the story.

Here’s my point. Many people said that Nicholas Sandmann did not deserve what he got; others disagreed. When we are on the receiving end of harsh criticism and hate speech, we say that we don’t deserve it. You are right. We don’t deserve to be on the receiving end of harsh criticism or hate speech. We deserve worse. We justly deserve God’s present and eternal punishment. We said this in our Confession earlier. Yet, Jesus Christ did nothing to deserve his punishment, but the Good News is that he accepted his punishment in our place for the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life. Because we are sinners who do not deserve the grace of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins, like the Christians of 1^st century Rome, we humbly do what God commands, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Christ by loving our enemies – those who try to intimidate us with harsh criticism and hate speech – with brotherly affection. Like Nicholas Sandmann, our disposition must communicate that we are not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation.

To do so, we must recognize like a little child that we are all equally needy and dependent on God. If you are going to pick up your cross and carry it behind Jesus, you will experience times and situations when you will be beaten down by sin and evil and Satan and find yourself in dire need. You will be like a dependent, needy child. … and when you see someone in that situation, as a disciple, you must respond to his need.

When you see people who have wandered from the fold, have you considered that you have the opportunity to bring them back with forgiveness, love and understanding? When you know someone who is experiencing a situation where he is beaten down by sin, evil and Satan, do you support him with a compassionate word and a courageous act? When you are aware of someone in dire need, do you offer to help her carry her cross? Are the least in our current culture as valuable and dear to me as they are to God?

My friends, like the disciples, are there moments you are seeking greatness even as you bear your cross and follow Christ? In short, when is the last time you prayed to be humble – humble enough to love even your enemies? If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher or coach, when did you last encourage children to seek humility? This week, I ask you to pray for humility and to love with courage, like to child embraced by our Lord, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 11:2 – 20:34. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2010), 888ff.

[2] Gibbs, 892.

[3] Ibid., 895.

[4] Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Louisville: John Knox Press (1985), 203ff.

[5] https://lozierinstitute.org/fact-sheet-planned-parenthoods-2021-22-annual-report/

[6] https://nrlc.org/uploads/factsheets/FS01AbortionintheUS.pdf

[7] Achtemeier, 206.

[8] See Katherine Dyckman, Mary Garvin and Elizabeth Liebert, The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed: Uncovering Liberating Possibilities for Women (New York: Paulist, 2001), 202–204.