So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 18:4
“So…what you’re saying Jesus is that adulthood and humility don’t naturally go together?” I’m asking this rhetorically, because we all know the answer. Children are better at humility than their older counterparts. Fact. Even Jesus acknowledges this truth. This also suggests that while pride is embedded in the human heart by sin, it is a learned behavior that solidifies in the character over time. The more one witnesses the power of pride and perceives their own inflated sense of self, the more likely that individual is to develop a healthy stash of hubris. As we mature, arrogance and desires for greatness become fixed features of human existence. It becomes social, cultural, acceptable. We enshrine it in our language and use it as motivation. The striving for significance is woven into every system that makes the world work. Thus, it is hard to detect, and even harder to expose and dispose of.
But Jesus is not impressed by (but very much in love with) apparently impressive human beings. Not in the least. While we prance around in our prideful displays, sniffing at our own importance, scoffing at anyone who would come near our high-standing pedestals, Jesus just sadly shakes His head. As if to communicate how contemptible it is for such sinful and error prone people to find it in themselves to admire themselves so much. Fawning over their own ideas, asserting their feeble dominance over others, and competing to be the best at, and to possess the largest amount of, temporal and meaningless things.
My children are pretty humble at times. But I can already see how they are learning the art of pride. Probably from their dad. I want them to be great, but not to seek greatness. I want them to understand the power of being humble enough to apologize. To be humble enough to forgive. To not think less of themselves, but rather to think of themselves less. I hope for them to avoid the hard lessons that a high minded, puffed up ego has yet to learn. I want them to follow Jesus, who is the greatest of all, and who never used His power or position to undermine or crush others. I want this for them, and even more so for myself. Because I can help or hinder their journey by what they see in me. I want them to become adults, but they need me to become more like a child.
We will shift into Matthew chapter 18 and take on one of the most common pursuits of the human race; the desire for greatness. We’ll peek into the ill-effects of this dilemma and how it destroys the fabric of human society. We will also understand the nature of Jesus and how it is possible to be great for God without exercising the sin of pride and the sin of causing human indignity to get what we want and where we want to be. Blessings on your week and hope to see you this weekend!
Pastor Dean
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