22nd Sunday: Humility rules!

Pride means turning yourself into God by assuming the prerogatives of God. Pride refuses to serve reality or honor duties and commitments for the sake of others, starting with God. Medieval theologians thought that human being’s motives were so complex that it was hard to describe them fully. On the other hand, they loved exploring the stories in scripture because they thought that the pure evil described there offered useful examples to explore the fundamental nature of good and evil. 
 
According to medieval theologians, Lucifer sinned because he refused to serve God. Adam and Eve sinned because they wanted to decide good and evil for themselves, a sin that participated in Lucifer’s sin. St. Michael the Archangel mocked Lucifer’s pretensions. Michael’s name in Hebrew means, “who is like God?” The prideful cannot tolerate mockery and Michael’s name is the mockery of Lucifer’s name [i], the ‘light bringer.’ The answer to Adam’s sin was Christ’s obedience unto death. The answer to Eve’s refusal to God was Mary’s yes to God when she bore His Son. God decides what is good.
 
Sirach and the Wisdom of Humility
The Book of Sirach is a wisdom book included in the Old Testament library. Today’s reading reflects on the necessity of humility:

“My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not. The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs, and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise. Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins.” Sirach 3:17-29

Study wisdom and listen to the advice of those who are wise. Give to the poor to undermine the consuming fire of ego.
 
Luke’s Story about Humility at the Banquet
Luke Gospel tells the story about when Jesus went to dine at the house of a local dignitary who was a Pharisee. As recommended in Sirach, Pharisees were rabbis’ who studied wisdom and by studying Torah. Jesus is a country rabbi with fishermen and tax collectors as disciples, who has joined the upper crust for a Sabbath meal. So the scripture says,

“people there were observing him carefully.” 

What would he do? Jesus decides to teach the scholars about humility. Imagine the scene, everybody deciding where they were going to sit for dinner. Everyone was trying to sit near the host, a prominent local leader. This story is about the people in the room. Jesus said,

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, 'Give your place to this man,' and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place” Luke 14:1-14

Honor and shame are deeply ingrained in first century Mediterranean culture and ours. Honor decides your place in community and shame describes your separation from the good opinion of others. Public shaming on Twitter and other public formats is still the way cultural elites try to control others. So is Jesus publicly shaming the other guest? Clearly, he is teaching them to think of themselves in a different way.

“For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Jesus is teaching both how we ought to live in the present age and in the age to come. Let others decide your place at table and let them invite you to the upper place. Then you will enjoy the esteem of others because it has been conferred on you by your host. God knows where we belong.  Then Jesus turns to his host and began to teach him.

"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.”

Humble love is doing something for the good of others. You don’t want to be engaged in actions where repayment is the sole calculation. This is consistent with Jesus’ preaching throughout his ministry. He advises us to store our treasures in heaven. (19 ^th Sunday)

“Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

 Humility is learning to love what God loves and detest what God detests. By the way, God loves bugs. He made a lot of them.
 

Humility: Try not squashing  a bug! Let yourself be interrupted!
Jesus is describing what later Christians would call ‘humility.'  [ii] Humility is the truth about myself and the deeper reality God to which God invites me.

• Theological dimension:  Pride means attempting to turn our self into God by assuming the prerogatives of God. That is the great sin of Lucifer who doubted God’s generous love. According to our tradition, Lucifer said, “I shall not serve,” I will become the criterion of Good and Evil, not God. According to our Tradition, the war of the angels was not a fight with sword and shield, but a fight in the mind. St. Michael’s name[iii] is a mockery of evil. The deadly poison in human culture is the notion that we can determine reality by thinking it into existence.
• Psychological dimension: Pride is about irrational self-regard. For the prideful, life centers around them.  The psychological dimension of pride and humility is illustrated:
  • Pride: Have you ever been part of a conversation where you were overly concerned about how others saw you? You were watching yourself to see how you fit in. It is like Jesus’ story about guests at the party jockeying for position at the table. Here is an exercise in humility. Next time that you are interrupted in conversation, let yourself be interrupted and don’t finish what you were trying to say unless asked.[iv]
  • Humility: Have you ever seen a little kid engrossed in watching bugs. My nephews Mike and Paul were the great ‘bugologists[v]’ in our family. They didn’t smash them, but collected them in a clear plastic cup. All that they wanted to do was look at them. For a while they had a real zoo and then their interests moved on. To be absorbed in the beauty of God’s world is humility. Humility is getting caught up and entertained by the conversation of others.  Here is an exercise in humility: next time you see a bug on the sidewalk, don’t squish it[vi].

For a day-by-day meditation on growing in humility, click on Humility Rules by Augustine Wetta, O.S.B.    I am still working on it!

Humility and Pride: The Angelic Battle
Dante Alighieri wrote the Commedia at the turn of the Thirteenth Century. Dante, survived a lot of frustration, danger and failure in his life. Dante’s premise was that in order to enter Heaven you have to pass through Hell. In the deepest, frozen pit of Hell is Lucifer in a lake of ice. His wings are still flapping, which in turn, keeps the lake frozen. He is weeping and chewing on Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius [vii].  The position of Lucifer’s body is that of a flight from Purgatory and Heaven. The angel who would not serve, ironically, serves God as the lynchpin of Hell. To exit Hell, Dante and his guide, the Roman poet Virgil, must climb down Lucifer’s hairy leg and reverse direction to head up to the mountain of Purgatory. Their they enter the first terrace or storey of Purgatory where the proud are being rehabilitated. Those on the bottom rung of Purgatory must carry heavy boulders. Dante’s notion of the contrapasso is that God changes our hearts by offering correction that is opposite to our vices.  ( Contrapasso  is derived from the Latin contra and patior, which mean "suffer the opposite".)  Those weighed down and made flightless by their own pride may not advance to the mountain of Purgatory until they lay their burden down.
 
At the heart of the battle of humility and pride is the source of our hopes for ourselves and others. Dante’s entrance to Hell posts this warning:

THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,
THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,
THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST.
JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;
MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,
THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE.
BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS
WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE