Sermons

Humility
The Rev. Kurt Wiesner
September 2, 2007
Proverbs 25:6-7, Luke 14:1, 7-14

"For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Humility has traditionally been lifted up as the greatest of all virtues. Scriptures abound praising the virtue of humility...scriptures from our tradition and from numerous others.

It is no wonder that humility is something that is extremely difficult to obtain or practice.

But it never occurred to me that even just talking about humility is rare.

My sermon routine involves going through my pop culture list: The Simpsons, Buffy, U2, Green Day and so on, but only Harry Potter seemed to offer anything on humility, and truth be told, does so in a complex way where I would need more time than this morning's sermon. (I also should mention I forgot about the musical Wicked until this morning...too late!)

So I tried another road. I pulled out Kathleen Norris' book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith...it's a book that often gets me going towards a sermon idea.

But "humility" was missing from the entries.

Hmm...I said, I'll check out source 1A...Caren Goldman's Healing Words.

Nope, no entry on "humility."

So I started to comb the indexes of the books of various authors that have so enriched my life spiritually: Marcus Borg, Mislof Volf, Paul Tillich, John Shelby Spong. Ok, I had little hope for humility in Spong, but I checked anyway...and still I could not find any references to "humility."

With some frustration, I realized that I knew one of my authors well enough to ask "what gives?" I sent off a quick email to Caren Goldman--she led our Advent retreat last year.

I wrote to Caren:

"'Humility' is the theme rattling in my brain for this week's sermon. (LK 14:1, 7-14)

"I've got Healing Words in front of me, and was wondering...why isn't humility one of the words?

"It's a curiosity, not a criticism, because 'humility' is a word that I'm having trouble finding...

(I then listed all the places I had looked, and not found humility.)

"Why do you think this is? Is humility not something that we talk about, because talking about it is not being humble?"

As I finished the last line, I thought "Hmm...perhaps that's part of it?" I pressed send.

Now, I couldn't wait for an answer...for all I knew, I wouldn't get one until after today, so I checked Webster's thesaurus online. Perhaps I needed a synonym?

The example for humility was a good one:

"Humility: the absence of any feelings of being better than others displaying genuine humility, the peace activist accepted the Nobel Prize on behalf of all who have worked to end the violence"

But the synonyms were lacking:
Demureness, humbleness, lowliness, meekness, modesty.

The so-called "related words" were worse:
compliance, deference, resignedness, submissiveness; naivete, simpleness; bashfulness, shyness, timidity, timidness.

It seems like humility is closely related to qualities our culture does not value much...strange for a virtue that we say that we value.

Frustrated, I returned to the shortest lectionary reading on record.

Proverbs 25:6-7
"Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, 'Come up here,' than to be put lower in the presence of a noble."

The Proverb is advice on how to keep from being humbled or put down in the public presence--something that we should avoid.

Being humbled in this way is humiliating, embarrassing, shameful, and often anger- producing.

But being "humbled" by someone (or something) in this way rarely teaches us anything about humility.

I moved on to the Gospel, where Jesus is dining with the Pharisees and he witnesses the political power games being played around the table. Everyone is angling for the best seats—the position of honor.

Think first-class on an airplane, box seats at the theater, the picture window of a restaurant. Anywhere but the front few rows of church.

So Jesus' sharp mind thinks of the proverb, and twists it a bit to fit the occasion. I imagined that Jesus had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek when he said this:

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher;' then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you."

I can just see the comedy of the Pharisees fighting over the lower places at the table, fueled by the secret desire to be put in the place of honor in front of everyone.

But seriously, how often does this happen? Someone with say and authority comes around and says "Oh, this place won't do for you! It's not enough! Come up here to the place of honor. Take notice everyone!!! By the way, you deserve a raise."

Following Jesus' advice is not a path by which you get noticed by the boss--be it God or otherwise.

But is there more to Jesus' words than irony? Could it still be that his words pointed to a path of humility?

It was then that Caren Goldman emailed me back. She wrote:

"Can one wake up and say 'I think I'll be humble today' and really be someone who is 'humble?' Or is true humility something that is a result of being, instead of consciously doing? In other words, is the best we can do is what Jesus ultimately asks in this and other stories: what happens when we move beyond ego?"

I think Caren is right in suggesting that Jesus understands that the ego drives us to make choices that may not be in our best interest, spiritually or otherwise.

I think it's also clear that our ego makes it really difficult to walk a path of humility.

Jesus suggests that you can't simply choose to be humble, because the pursuit is ego driven. Your motivations make it near impossible. Even if you're successful for a moment, you likely to find yourself saying inwardly, "Wow ...I'm being humble. I wonder if anyone noticed."...or even "Hey, I'm good at being humble. In fact, I'm MUCH more humble than Jean, or for that matter George. Maybe I should teach a class on humility." (Sarah Dylan Brauer; "Proper 17, Year C;" Sarah Laughed, August 23, 2004)

These examples are humorous, but potentially dangerous, ways of falling into pride while attempting to be humble. But there is an equally dangerous path: attempting to be humble by always self-sacrificing. These are the workaholics and those burdened by guilt. "I can't let anyone know that I'm not sure of myself. I can't really talk with anyone, and I can't pray--I'm so bad that God can't forgive me." That line of thinking sets you and whatever crime you think you've committed as being more powerful than God--a dangerous and terrible ego-driven state of living. (adapted from Sarah Dylan Brauer; "Proper 17, Year C;" Sarah Laughed, August 23, 2004)

Who are the people that we think are examples of ones who lived with great humility? Pam McKee suggested Mary. Tracey suggested Mother Teresa. I first thought of Jimmy Carter.

Now, I know that Mother Teresa and Jimmy Carter worked daily at being gentle, loving people, and certainly struggled at times. And Mary had to endure a great deal and struggled in her own way. But I also believe that these people are special in their humility.

Witnessing their true humility calls me to new consciousness and accountability for my own actions, but I can't simply choose to be humble like them. My best attempts would still be ego driven.

So perhaps Jesus really knew what he was doing with his words this morning. Instead of saying "be humble," he suggests a sincere in a path where one can experience humility.

Let's imagine one of the people sitting at the table heard Jesus' story and took it seriously. Imagine one guy—I'll call him Roger—who had been fighting to get somewhere for quite sometime. Roger had been trying to make something of himself for numerous reasons: success, money, self-worth, and to move up in his circles. But he was weary of fighting and was feeling empty, underappreciated, forgotten and alone. Roger hears Jesus' parable and decides to give it a try. At meetings, he takes the open seat nobody really wants. In the lunchroom, he sits down at a table without any "high- powered people" at it. He becomes more generous with his thoughts and observations and doesn't worry and get angry when someone else uses them or even tries to take credit for them.

He doesn't suddenly get promoted, and he doesn't get called out and honored in front of others. And yet Roger starts to change: his inner stress is somehow lessened and his tendency to get suddenly angry with others over little stuff mostly vanishes. Roger discovers new joys in the everyday, whereas all he used to do was worry about being good enough and never truly feeling like he was.

One day, it happens. Roger's going about his day, and someone, out of the blue, says to him: "Roger, I'm so glad you're here. Not only do you get your work done, but you seem to enjoy what you're doing. Your joy is wonderfully contagious. Thanks for making my day better."

The swell in Roger's heart is a strange mixture—a touch of pride, a heap of gratitude and an overall sense that he doesn't really deserve that much kindness, or at least not anymore than the next person. And, lo and behold, Roger has experienced humility.

What practices might ultimately put you in a place where you can experience and be transformed by true humility? Kinder, gentler driving habits? Resisting the urge of using biting sarcasm? Listening more closely to someone even if you think you already know what they're talking about?

There might be lots of little things that each one of us can do to place ourselves better in situations where humility shines, in others and in ourselves.

But I want to draw your attention to one last thing:

The most powerful example I can think of concerning humility is Mary saying yes to God.

Don't assume that opportunities to move towards humility are limited to stepping back or moving aside. It takes an incredible amount of humility to allow yourself to be open to change.

The greatest leaders say yes to God by taking a chance in walking a new path. They open themselves up to criticism, allowing themselves to be scrutinized and picked apart. And despite all of the attention that is focused on them, they remained awed to be part of something bigger than themselves, and grateful just to be so blessed.

For Christians, saying yes to God means that it is your ego that steps aside, and doing so allows Jesus to sweep you into the whirlwind that is God's Spirit. And it's from within this Sprit where we truly experience humility.

What is God calling you to say yes to?

"For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Amen.