Christian Humility - The Rev. Don Hamer
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Trinity Episcopal Church, Hartford, CT
Pentecost 15, Proper 17, Year C
Labor Day Weekend, September 1, 2013
Luke 14: 1, 7-14
The scene from this morning’s Gospel passage presents us with some interesting ethical and theological issues around humility, justice, and hospitality that also go to the heart of our baptismal covenant. So as we celebrate this morning the baptism of the newest member of the Body of Christ here at Trinity, Levi Everett White, I’d like to take a few moments to take a closer look at a couple of them.
The first thing we see is Jesus sizing up the way the guests at a banquet go about positioning themselves as they enter the room, and he notices that some head immediately for the choicest seats. I’m sure you’ve had that experience yourself, when you go to some types of social gatherings – there is always that initial angst as you enter the room, “Who is going to be there? Where do I sit?” If it’s a business-oriented function, we may be wondering, “Who do I need to connect with tonight to make this a successful evening?” That’s why there is a part of me that is always grateful when there is assigned seating – even if I would rather be at a different table – it takes some of the drama out of the situation.
Now every culture has its own traditions around hospitality and honoring certain guests according to their status – whether that is their position in the family if it is a family gathering or their position in the community if it is a larger social gathering. During my years as a pastor it has been a particular privilege to be invited to celebrate special celebrations with many in my congregations, and it is always a learning experience for me as I see how customs around showing respect and honor to various members of the community play out at these functions.
But how these customs get played out in our everyday lives can be problematic. They can pose serious issues to us depending upon our life experiences, our station in life, or our standing in the particular community in which we are gathered. For some, the seating drama going on in the Gospel story stands for the proposition that God does in fact choose for some people to be winners and some people to be losers, and too bad for you if you wind up at the bottom of the pyramid. That must be where God has planned for you to go. It was that same sort of interpretation of scripture that provided a foundation for Christians to justify the institution of slavery for so long – there is slavery in the Bible, so the argument went, so God must have intended that some be slaves and some be free. It’s God’s will. Of course, this interpretation was embraced only by those people who either owned slaves themselves or who benefitted financially or socially from the cultural climate that allowed slavery to begin with.
Others look at the Gospel story – again, depending upon their life experiences, station in life or standing in the community, and assume they must be among those who are meant to sit at the lower places. For these folks, they reason, “Jesus says it is better to go to the lower place, right? That’s where I belong anyway. I’m not worthy to be counted among the higher echelon. I’m not good enough, educated enough, rich enough, smart enough, handsome enough, important enough – you name it, the list can go on and on – and so we convince ourselves that we don’t really belong there in the first place or, at best, we belong in the lowest level of seating at the table.
For some of us, Christian lessons about humility lead us across the border of humility into the land of shame. The Land of Shame is not a healthy place, and it most definitely is not a place for Christians. Now don’t confuse shame with guilt. Shame is different than guilt, although we often hear the terms “guilt” and “shame” used together. “Guilt” relates to a feeling we get due to something we have DONE. I cut down the cherry tree so I feel guilty. I swore when I stubbed my toe. I was inconsiderate to a friend. I cheated on the test. All of these are examples of something about which we might feel guilt. And the feeling is appropriate until we do something to fix that which we have done wrong.
Shame, on the other hand, relates to a feeling we have about WHO WE ARE. Shame is a condition that some of us develop over the course of a lifetime, sometimes beginning in our family of origin, sometimes learned at school, in some cases learned over a lifetime of real or perceived slights, insults or failures. We begin to think of ourselves as losers, as unworthy of love and respect. And don’t be fooled – this condition of feeling shame is not limited to those in the world who are on the margins. Many who sit in corporate boardrooms and who serve as leaders in government throughout the world fall victim to the insidious condition of feeling that somehow, no matter what we do, we will just never measure up.
When Jesus is talking about exercising humility in this morning’s Gospel, he is not talking about shame nor is he suggesting that people in the world should think poorly of themselves. The Anglican author C.S. Lewis once wrote that “humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” And that is where Jesus points us this morning. The ethical point of Jesus parable is for us to learn humility – true humility. Now there is such a thing as false humility: We can put ourselves in the lower place because we think we will impress others with our humility. We can put ourselves in the lower place, or act in an excessively humble way, in the hope that we will draw others to heap praise upon us and tell us how wonderful we are.
True humility, on the other hand, is grounded in a healthy understanding of who we are as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. True humility is rooted in the theological statement that Jesus is making in his story, and that statement is grounded in what we read in the second chapter of Philippians, verses 6-8:
He humbled himself who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
True Christian humility is not rooted in shame in who we are or guilt over what we have done. True Christian humility is rooted in the knowledge and certainty that we are made by the same God who chose to take on our own nature, to become one of us, and who modeled a way of life by his own life. True Christian humility reflects the life of the One who calls us “friend” and welcomes us to his own banquet table, without distinctions of wealth, race, education, social standing, gender, or ability. I envision this table as round, where everyone seated has equal standing and importance.
What are modern-day parallels to Jesus’ suggestion to take the lower place? They occur any time we defer to another in a situation when we could claim the upper hand. And so as we connect with the rest of creation in our everyday lives, think of Jesus as sitting on your shoulder whenever we have an opportunity to take advantage of someone else; whenever we have the chance to sneak into that parking spot ahead of the other person who was waiting for it; to leapfrog into the newly opened checkout line at the store ahead of someone who has been waiting in front of you; give the person who is driving a little too slowly in front of you a break. These are some of mine; I’m sure you can think of your own.
And so today, as we welcome young Levi Everett into our community of faith, we will reaffirm in our baptismal covenant those principles of true Christian humility: that we proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Jesus Christ; that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves; and that we will strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.
Let us pray: Eternal God, whose son Jesus was in the fullness of his power most gentle, and in his greatness most humble; bestow his mind and spirit upon us, who have no cause for pride; that clothed in true humility we may discern the way of true greatness. Hear our prayer through the same Jesus who is now Lord and Christ. AMEN.