The Power of Humility
Luke 18:10-14
(Homily delivered at St. Stephen on 2/5/2012 with some editing)
Today we focus on the power of humility, the power of humility. It occurred to me as I was thinking about all this, that we don’t generally associate humility with power, do we? We usually think of humility in terms of weakness and meekness and timidity and not necessarily power, but in the spiritual realm it is quite the opposite. There is tremendous power in humility, tremendous power in exercising humility.
Actually, the passage we are given, Luke 18:10-14, is the parable itself. However, in verse 9, which is the verse immediately preceding this reading, St. Luke wrote, Also Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. So, Jesus addressed this parable to people who trusted in themselves and not relying on God. Trusting in themselves that they were righteous as we see the Pharisee did in the parable. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Jesus said, were going up to the temple to pray, both of them. As they got to the Temple there was quite a contrast that Jesus strikes between the behavior and obviously the inner feelings of those two.
The Pharisee was a very respected man in the community, he was a member of a group of people who were known to be very strong in adherence to the Law. He felt very strongly about keeping the law of Moses and was so honored for that within the community.
When the Pharisee stood to pray before God, Saint Luke writes, “he prayed with himself, God, I thank you that I’m not like other men”; in essence I’m better than other people. He said, “I do all these things, I fast and I give tithes” and he basically was telling God how good he was. He was thankful that he was better than the other people around him.
I remember a few years ago that I came across a survey which someone had taken in which, the question was asked: “Where do you feel you are amongst those around you in terms of how good you are?” Something like 87% of the people responded that they felt like they were better folks than those around them. Some 75% in that survey said, over all they were at least better than average in terms of being good. Now, they may have just found some good people, but it does indicate that, whether it’s outwardly or whether it’s deep down inside, we think more of ourselves than we do other folks.
Jesus recognized that and he recognized that this can be a real problem in our lives. We know better, we know we shouldn’t be prideful, we know that we shouldn’t be arrogant or haughty or boastful, we know we shouldn’t think less of others and more of ourselves but, let’s face it, we do. Deep down inside we are afflicted with the most basic disease, the spiritual disease that the Church Fathers warn us about and that is self love. That we really love ourselves and that can come even at the expense of loving God or certainly loving others. So, Jesus is addressing this, not just to those who outwardly but also inwardly in our souls, are affected with this problem of self love, of thinking more highly of ourselves then we ought to think.
Jesus reminded us of this as the Pharisee stood very haughtily before God but noted that the Publican, or the Tax Collector, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but to simply said, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. We know that’s the way we ought to be, we understand that don’t we? But the struggle goes on, the battle goes on with in us and Jesus capsuled it or summarized it as He came to the end of the parable making the point that everyone who exalts or lifts himself up will be humbled, will be brought down. Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.
I would like to focus on one aspect of this, drawing primarily from St. Theophan the Recluse, the Great Russian saint of a century or so ago. He talks about this in terms of trusting in oneself or he also calls it self-reliance. Now, we must make something really clear at the outset. We are given, by the grace of God, the capacity to believe in ourselves. The capacity to have a certain level of self-confidence, of a willingness to risk, to try, to work, and to succeed. That’s a good thing; that’s not what we’re talking about here. What is being talked about here is that attitude that I can do whatever I want, and I really don’t need God until it gets just beyond help. But, even then, I can handle it, I can do it. And when that takes over us, that self- reliance, then spiritually we find ourselves ignoring God, ignoring the church, ignoring times of prayer, ignoring our scripture reading. As one of the Fathers said, “One of the reasons we pray so poorly or engage in spiritual things so poorly is because we think were getting along just fine without God”.
St. Hesychius said, “Nothing distinguishes more clearly the disciplines of Christ then a humble spirit and a simple way of life”.
St. Anthony the Great said, “The first and foremost of all the virtues is humility”.
St. John Climacus added, “Humility is the door into the kingdom”, and he later said, “No one will get to the kingdom of God without the virtue of humility”. He also reminded us that of all the virtues, humility is the one virtue that the demons can not imitate. The devil cannot even counterfeit humility that is so out of his nature.
So, humility is powerful, humility is necessary in our lives. Humility is the gift of God which has great power for us.
The writer of the Proverbs also expressed this truth, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). That is do not trust yourself to be able to handle and manage your spiritual life without God. The Pharisee really did trust in himself.
St. Theophan also said, “Trust in yourself is the first product of self love and it is the source of all sinful passions as well as all spiritual failures and all sinful deeds. That disease of self love and trusting in ourselves is a manifestation of that self love which can invade us, and which can so damage our souls”.
What should we do? How is it that we can put on this humility? I’m sure that most of us have tried it over and over and many have been successful. But, how is it that we can proceed even in this Lenten season to really and truly have a lesser trust in ourselves and a greater reliance on the Almighty God.
I will offer four possible steps, once again drawing, in part, from the writings of St. Theophan.
The first thing we must do is realize our own lack of ability. That sounds obvious but we need to really be conscious that we do not have the ability to overcome the devil and to make our way to the kingdom alone. Jesus himself reminded us that we can do nothing apart from Him (John15:5) and nothing worthy of the kingdom of God on our own.
St. Maximus the Confessor aptly says, “the foundation of virtue is the realization of human weakness”.
St. Peter of Damascus said, “nothing is better than realizing one’s weakness and nothing is worse than not to be aware of it”. We think in our society that to be weak is to be bad. We are told that weakness is something to be ashamed of but, again, that is not the case in considering our spiritual lives. Weakness and humility have great spiritual power, let me go on.
The second thing is to accustom ourselves to be wary of our demonic enemies. Many of us may not very well take into account the activities of the devil. Many of us do not think in the hustle and bustle of life and our own going reliance on ourselves that the devil has any real effect on us. On others, yes, but not on us. We rather ignore that and sometimes we even dismiss it as some sort of mythology or such. You know all that. Sometimes, I grant it may get as well when people become too focused on Satan and his power. However, we, as Christians, need to be very wary of the activities of the demons who come against us on our way to heaven. Saint Theophan says that we need to be convinced that we are always going to be attacked by the enemy, always. We must be mindful of their long experience, their cunning, their ambushes, their power to assume the appearance of angels, the traps they can spread on the path toward the life of virtues. The demons do have great cunning and power and they are very malicious, and we need to be aware of that. At least wary and aware that they are against us and will try to attack the places where we lack in our own lives. So, we need to accustom ourselves to be wary of the demons.
The third thing is to ask for God’s help with fervent and humble prayers. Of course, we need to pray. But we need to be constantly praying, humbly and fervently to know who we are. To be willing to say as the Psalmist says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139: 23,24). Sometimes we don’t want to accept, or we don’t want to acknowledge where we are weak. Sometimes we don’t even want to think about the places where we fall short because we want to be seen as better than we are. But, no, no, no, ask God to show us, ask God to exam us, ask God to give us the courage to examine ourselves and to know who we really are as we look in the mirror. God show me my real self, not my facade. We pray that God in his loving kindness will indeed reveal that, the knowledge of ourselves to ourselves.
The fourth thing is, if we do fall into sin (and we will on occasion) we must quickly turn to the realization of our weakness and be aware of it. In other words, we come back to where we were to start with. We realize that if we sinned, something has gone wrong and if we have sinned, we have strayed from the path. If we’ve sinned, we have forgotten who we are and we can’t accept that as normal. God doesn’t want us to be sinners he wants us to be saints. But Saint Theophan and all the Fathers remind us God will allow any person to fall who has begun to trust in themselves. He will allow any person to fall but it’s for the purpose of realizing our weakness and knowing what we need to do in our lives. So, we may learn to distrust ourselves. As the scripture says, “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). So, we can be very sure if we continue in trusting in ourselves, we will fall. It’s not by the punishment of God, it’s by the mercy of God. That when we fall, we will understand that we failed, or we were weak in that area and something needs to be done. So, we quickly go back, “Lord help me in my weakness and help me to repent and to change my life”.
St. Paul was extremely aware of this battle that was going on and you’re all familiar with that passage, “there’s such a battle between the flesh and the spirit going on in me” (Romans 7). This is part of the battle. But he also said to the Corinthians, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but, in God who raises the dead” (II Corinthians 1:9). He realized that as long as that trusting in himself was in him, he had a sentence of death in him. He went on to say, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions in distresses for Christ’s sake” (II Corinthians 12:10). He didn’t say he enjoyed them but, he took pleasure in those things that were coming against him which we grumble about and try to resist and avoid. But he understood that Christ was trying to change him and help him and save him. So, he said, “I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, and needs and persecutions and distresses for Christ’s sake” and then he added, “when I am weak then I’m strong”. That’s when I get strong, when I become humble enough to recognize that I’m weak and I need Christ to strengthen and sustain and bless me. That by his mercy I may come to the kingdom of God.
There is power in humility. As Jesus spoke about in the parable, when that man over in the corner seemed to be very weak, very timid, very shy, bowed his head and said, “God be merciful to me a sinner” that prayer activated the very power of God and Jesus said, you go home justified, you are OK, you’re going to heaven. What power, what power in the gift of humility!!
In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen
Fr. Andrew
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