First Reading: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 3As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
25“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 30Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”
Psalm 25:1-9
1To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me. 2Let none who look to you be put to shame; let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes. 3Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. 4Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long. 5Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting. 6Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord. 7Gracious and upright is the Lord; therefore he teaches sinners in his way. 8He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly. 9All the paths of the Lord are love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-18
1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32
23When {Jesus} entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 28What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”
Humility
Martin Luther said this concerning humility: “God created the world out of nothing. As long as you are not yet nothing, God cannot make something out of you.” Humility is hard to attain – the moment we think it’s ours – it’s gone. Did you hear about the student who was awarded a gold pin for being the most humble man in his college class – but it was taken away from him the next day because he wore it?
I believe the virtue of humility is one of the most difficult and most misunderstood qualities of our time. At best I believe that most will exercise false humility. Consider humility’s synonyms, modesty, meekness, lack of pride, lack of vanity, unassertiveness, unpretentiousness, timidity, submissiveness, subjection, and reserve. Nothing about this list jives with the message of the world today. All one has to do is listen to any self-improvement guru, any social influencer, or any career advancement counselor and they will tell you that to get anywhere in this world, you need to exercise the opposite; self-importance, pride, arrogance, self-satisfaction, vanity, pretension, impertinence, narcissism, presumptuousness, and even disdain for others. The world might quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount saying, the meek may inherit the earth, but the proud will make all the money, have all attention, and have all the power. Even King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live understood the pitfall of pride.
In Proverbs 16:18, Solomon wrote, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” And Jesus in our gospel lesson for today warned the Religious Leaders who challenged Him, “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you” (vs. 31). Now I do want to be fair here, for the average person, I don’t think outright pride or even narcissism is the problem. However, I do believe that we suffer from an unhealthy sense of self-importance and a lack of trust in God’s provision. In other words, we suffer from a case of me over others; if I don’t look out for number 1, who will? Another problem we struggle with is the reality that we don’t become humble on our own – the virtue is God-given. This, of course, is a result of our own sinfulness.
Too often we fail to see God as omnipotent, holy, pure, and good; and then see ourselves in contrast. It’s also a failure on our part to recognize that all that is good about us really comes from God. Every virtue we see in ourselves should make us humble and grateful, not proud. We fail to recognize that egotism and pride go hand in hand. Pride is the villain in almost all the parables Jesus told. Pride is the sin of so-called “good” people and strikes where we smugly assume we’re strongest. Pride was the satan’s real problem. Lucifer didn’t “run-around,” didn’t “overindulge.” His sin was in wanting God’s seat.
Remember the Pharisee in the story Jesus told? In His illustration about the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14), the Pharisee told God all about how good he was compared to the tax collector. In two short verses the Pharisee used the pronoun “I” five times. He had a proud eye on himself, a judgmental eye on the Publican, and no eye on God at all! Listen to what he said, “God, I thank you that I am not as other men … I fast twice a week, I give tithes on all that I possess.” The I in many of us goes on and on, ad nauseum. Our only hope is to be like the poor publican, praying over in a corner. He knows his sin, he knows how much he needs help, and he prays a prayer we would do well to imitate every day: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!”
Contrast that proud prayer with the modesty and humility of the great Albert Einstein, who having hit on his Theory of Relativity equation; E=mc2 – came downstairs in his sweatshirt and bedroom slippers one morning and said: “Mamma, I have a little new idea.” Paul reminds us, in our epistle text, “Think just as Jesus thought” – and how He humbled himself.
There’s a telling story concerning the singing of the “Hallelujah Chorus” in Albert Hall, London. Early in her reign, the young Victoria, Queen of England, sat in her royal box, listening to Handel’s inspired music, the Messiah. One of her attendants came to her, advising her that when the great chorus was sung, the audience would rise, but since she was a queen, it would be proper etiquette for her majesty to remain seated. However, as the choir reached that glorious climax with the words; “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,” the young queen suddenly stood with her head bowed, indicating to all present that she knew the real sovereign of England, the true ruler of the world!
Our propensity to overestimate our own importance and failure to trust in God’s provision reminded me of something that happened not long ago. If I remember correctly, it happened during Covid, there was a temporary gas shortage. Many of the stations ran out and because of this, long lines formed at the stations that did have fuel. This of course created several problems; panic, blocked roads, people running out of gas, short tempers and people that refused to abide by the words of Paul, in our epistle reading for today.
To make matters worse there were some who would not only fill up their tanks but also pulled out gas cans and filled them as well. There were stories of people using unapproved containers, creating very dangerous conditions. These were the folks with a misplaced sense of self-importance. These were the people who failed to place their trust in the One who provides. These were the people who, at the expense of others, wanted to ensure they had the gas they needed, despite the consequences and what it might mean for others. In some places, it got so bad that police officers were dispatched to ensure that traffic moved safely and that the frustrations being experienced didn’t end up in altercations. In some ways the whole scene was a demonstration of what it means to be self-centered, assertive, and demonstrated a lack of concern for the interests of others. In reflecting on this experience, I couldn’t help but think about our Confession that we begin our service with each week.
“We have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ have mercy on us, forgive us, renew us and lead us so that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Holy Name.” This prayer takes the focus us away from ourselves and centers us on God. Each time we pray this prayer, we’re asking God to help us look to Christ as our example and to be like minded with Christ so that our lives, our motivations and our actions will bring glory and praise God. Being likeminded with Christ is about the right heart and actions; it’s about saying the right thing and doing the right thing out of an attitude of love and service to others. Paul tells us how we can be like minded with Christ.
Paul tells us to; “Do nothing from self-ambition or conceit, but in humility, regard others as better than ourselves. Let each of you look not to your own self-interests, but to the interests of others”. This is of course a completely different message than the world and satan wants us to hear. The world wants us to get all we can, to “go for the gusto,” without regard for the needs of others. We’re encouraged to get all the gas we need and then fill up extra cans even if it means someone else will run out or won’t have enough gas to get to work or school the next day.
The world tells us to climb the corporate ladder at any cost, step on whomever we have to and do whatever it takes to focus the attention and praise onto ourselves and our accomplishments. With advertisement slogans like “Have it your way” and “Be all you can be”, to customizable athletic shoes that promise to get you noticed, the world paints a picture where self-centeredness and competition to win at all costs, is the norm. While healthy competition can be a good thing, unhealthy competition can foster an attitude of self-interest and pit people against each other in very destructive ways. The CDC some years back learned a hard lesson when they pitted people against each other.
In an attempt to find a cure for AIDS, the managers at the CDC decided to pit the in-house research teams against each other, in a well-intentioned effort to find a cure. They thought that some friendly competition would be a great way to keep the researches focused and motivated. The people on the teams consisted of highly educated scientists and physicians. The assumption was that because these people were highly trained professionals, they understood and would abide by a code of ethics; unfortunately,
this wasn’t the case. Self-interest became the top motivation.
In their zeal to win, some teams sabotaged the work of others–research was destroyed and experiments were contaminated. Turnover soared to more than 75 percent, and worse, the loss of valuable research was unmeasurable. The problem was that the teams became so focused on their own success, they lost sight of what they were doing for others. They saw winning and self-glorification as the only goal. But this isn’t what Paul is telling us, is it?
Paul’s message to us is completely different. “Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, consider others as better than yourselves. Let the same mind be in you, that was in Christ Jesus.” Under the guise of competition, the professionals at the CDC were working from motives of self-interest and wanted to tear down, rather than to build up. The religious leaders and elders had a similar problem in our Matthew reading for this morning.
The leaders and elders in some cases had a misdirected focus when it came to helping the people who came to the temple to worship God. In what started out as a way to help others, to help those who came to worship by providing a convenient way to purchase the things needed for a sacrifice, self-interest became their focus. Their desire to help others turned into a desire to help oneself. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus had entered Jerusalem on a donkey, to the praise and adoration of many. Next Jesus goes to the temple.
Using a whip of cords, He drives out those who were buying and selling, turning over the tables of the money changers and chairs of those who sold doves. Instead of forbidding the blind and lame who were considered unclean from entering the temple, He welcomed them and healed them. This of course angered the religious leaders. They believed they were the only ones with the authority to instill change. Now Jesus comes into the temple and cleans house and challenges the authority of the leaders and elders. The problem wasn’t that they made it convenient for those who came to worship; the problem was their reason for providing this service had changed. They understood and practiced the requirements of the law, but their motives were in question. Now they gather and demand to know by whose authority, Jesus did these things. Over the years one thing I have noticed, whether it was in the military, the police department, or in the church, change upsets people.
People for the most part don’t like change, and anytime change occurs, the ability to affect the change has to come from someone in a position of authority. As a police officer, my authority was derived from the law and by the governor of the state. Yet as an ordinary citizen, I simply couldn’t serve a search warrant or make an arrest without the authorization from a higher authority. According to rabbinical ideas, the authority to teach and make binding decisions was conferred by the semikkah or laying on of hands, by which a man was ordained a rabbi.
Jesus had now gone into the temple and instituted a change without their authority. His motivation and theirs were completely different. His motive was to return the true reason for the temple, prayer and the worship of God. Now the Religious Leaders come to Him incensed, demanding to know by whose authority He did these things. But instead of simply answering their question, Jesus responds unexpectedly with; a question, a parable, and then another question.
Jesus’ first question unsettles them, because depending on how they answered His question, they would in essence answer their own question. Jesus traps the religious leaders in a dilemma, if they admit that John derived his authority from God, then as the forerunner and announcer of Christ, they would have to concede that Jesus’ authority was also from God. To deny that John was a prophet, set them against the people who believed John was in fact sent from God. So, they do the politically correct thing and give a noncommittal type of answer.
To this Jesus further confronts them with an illustration and then asks them, the second question. Within this parable we see two types of people. First are the people they condemn and despise, the tax collectors and the prostitutes; they are the first son. They are the ones who initially failed to do the will of the Father, but had a change of heart and in turn obeyed as they had been commanded. Second is the type of people that the leaders and elders don’t want to hear about. The son that gives the politically correct answer, yes, I’ll do your bidding, but fails to do their Father’s will; they are the second son.
These people say the right things and might even appear to do the right things, but their motives are self-centered. They’re not actually doing the will of the Father. It was the first son who humbled himself and did what was commanded of him. Those illustrated by the first son are the ones who will receive God’s promise ahead of those who say or do the right things yet do them for the wrong reasons. The hearts and motivations of the religious leaders and elders were self-serving rather than having a heart committed to God’s service. What is the First Commandment, “you shall have no other gods before Me?”
These are the people Jesus warned against; these were the people who put themselves first, who wanted to be recognized in public, who refused to take care of their parents and would pray or fast not to honor God, but to draw attention for themselves. Their humility was false humility, humility for show, it was a pretense at humility to cover up their real motivations. Jesus, on the other hand, set for us an example of humility and servant hood, not only in what He said and did, but even in how He prayed. Anytime we read a prayer that Jesus prayed, it was done in a manner that God is the focus; God is the One who is glorified. Look at our prayers for today.
In the Prayer of the Day, we admit to our frailties and failings, and we asked God to help us overcome them. We prayed that God would help us conquer our tendency to focus on ourselves and instead, focus on others, as well as the One who gave Himself for us. In the Lord’s Prayer we will recognize that God is Holy and that the power and the glory belong to God, not to us. Christ is our role model of humility. Jesus came to us humbly, riding on a donkey, to serve and minister to anyone who would listen and believe. He came in obedience to God’s will, even to death on the cross. His motive wasn’t one of self-ambition or self-interest; it was to put our need for salvation ahead of His own glory. His desire was out of love for us, and of obedience to the Father. Jesus came to bridge the gap our sin and brokenness created.
Humility and servanthood are loaded words and are often misused today. Being humble and serving others doesn’t mean being a debasement and letting people walk all over us nor does it mean being depressed or spiritless. Because Christ was willing to empty Himself and came humbly and obedient even unto death, we now are the children of God. And as a child of God, we can afford to be humble. We can even afford to be servants.
Amen