A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all. The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it. The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honour and life.
(Proverbs 22:1-4)
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Ego. Pride. Arrogance. Narcissism. Self-Centredness. And I'm not even talking about the President-elect of the United States! I'm talking about the human condition – the sinful nature, as Paul would have described it. The tendency of human beings to become so focused on ourselves and our own needs and our own wants that we become oblivious to everyone and everything around us; oblivious to how our actions impact those around us; oblivious even to God. Now, all of us have a little bit of natural ego and pride. I've studied a wee bit of Freud over the years. I understand the concept of the id. We all have one. And, to continue with Freud for a moment, we hopefully all have a super-ego as well, helping to keep that darn little id under control before it wreaks havoc. But sometimes we do wreak havoc. It's in our lives, in the lives of others – including those we love, in the world. “Cure your children's warring madness” wrote Harry Emerson Fosdick in the hymn “God Of Grace And God Of Glory.” It's the id that causes war – ego and pride and arrogance, etc. It's the id that causes a lack of peace – whether in the world or in our own lives. It's the id that sometimes causes us to go to war with God, reflecting our desire to be our own god – to do what we want when we want and to face no consequences for it. It does us no credit. It gains us no honour. It creates nothing but chaos. And we see its effects all around us. The reverse would be to live in peace – peace in the world; peace in our lives; peace with those around us. And that requires that we do battle with and ultimately take control of those things – ego, pride, arrogance, narcissism, self-centredness. Today is the Second Sunday of Advent – Peace Sunday. A life freed from the control of such qualities would be a life of peace – a humble life of contentedness with what we have rather than desperate grabbing after what we want. Proverbs says that “the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honour and life.” I admit that I'm not sure about riches and honour – material rewards seem somehow out of place, although the reference could be to spiritual riches and honour before God - but to live humbly and with a proper awe for God is true life, at peace with the world. Surely that's the goal of God for his creation. Surely that would “cure [God's] children's warring madness.” Surely that's a part of the vision of Advent.
I find myself struck by the relationship between humility and “the fear of the Lord,” and especially relating it to the season of Advent; to the appearance of Christ. Fear was a part of that event as well – once Herod discovered that the Christ child had been born, it's said that he was filled with fear or dread – and all Jerusalem with him. I've never thought of a connection between fear and humility before, but as I reflect upon it I see that it makes more and more sense. Herod and Jerusalem were filled with fear because their predictable and comfortable lives were suddenly threatened. Jesus always upsets and threatens the powerful. The powerful think of themselves as above all else; as gods unto themselves – accountable to no one, or at least as unaccountable as possible. Then Jesus appears, and demands that we make the choice to live for ourselves or for God; demands that we live in awe of God; demands that we give up the privileges of our existence and join him in that crude and bare manger, where life is often a struggle, but where God shines most brightly and we find ourselves awestruck by the divine presence. And we cannot be in awe of the Lord if we aren't humble. If we're not humble then our tendency is to become more and more self-centred. It all comes down to us. That's arrogance, and eventually it impacts our view of God. We no longer encounter God as God chooses to be encountered, and instead we restrict God to only those areas of our lives where we want God. A lack of humility is what creates the problem of creating God in our own image. If we're not humble then our assumption is that God must be basically like us; our assumption is that we know everything there is to know about God. A lot of people are like that.
I wonder sometimes what it actually looks like to be humble? Sometimes – just given the nature of our society – some of these qualities that are held up as ideals for Christians are looked down upon by society as weaknesses; as qualities not to be desired or developed. But humility – to me – means to have the ability to be in real and productive relationships with others. It means to recognize that we’re no better than those around us. In reference to God it means to learn to accept the fact that God is not like us. That’s always been a problem for people of faith. We constantly want to create God in our own image. I suppose that makes God comfortable to us, but it’s not humble. To be humble is to accept that God is not like us; that God cannot be judged by human standards; that God is not subject to human limitations. It is to accept that there are things about God that I do not know and that I will never know. Once I acknowledge that, only then am I able to truly “fear the Lord” in the way the phrase is meant in the Bible – to be in awe (awestruck) by God. You can't really be in awe of a God who is just like you after all. It's being humble enough to admit that God is far greater than I am and that I will always have a lot more to learn about God that causes me to be in awe of God. Jesus sets the example for us.
Think about what we’re doing at this time of year; think about who we’re worshiping. The omnipotent God becoming the helpless child. Mary's Saviour becomes dependent on Mary for survival. What does this tell us about God? It tells us that God does not abuse divine power. It tells us that God does not seek to coerce those he has created. It tells us that God chooses the way of humility; that God chooses not to come in power and majesty to overwhelm the creation, but rather than God comes in weakness rather than power; in the ordinary form of a baby rather than in the majesty of a king – not to overwhelm us but to be one of us. This is God. This is Jesus. This is the example that’s been set for us to try to live up to. Even in life, this was the example of Jesus. Jesus – who “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” This is our example of how to live a life of faithfulness; a life of true witness to Jesus.
It’s the only way to peace – whether we’re talking peace on a grand scale at the level of nations, or whether we’re talking peace in our relationships with those around us, or whether we’re simply talking about inner peace. To be humble is to be content. It is to let go of the grasping and selfish nature that so many people are conquered by and it is to be content with the provisions God has made for us, and it is to use those blessings to reach out ourselves to those who have need. Because this is what Christ did.
The table tells us. The table witnesses to us. The bread and wine cry aloud to us. This is a memorial feast to honour Jesus and all he did and continues to do for us. This is a reminder to us of the very nature of God, who through Jesus sought nothing and gave everything.
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