The Attitude of Humility
A Sermon preached on October 4, 2009
by the Rev. Dr. S. Randall Toms
St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
And they could not answer him again to these things. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 14:6-11)
Many Christians around the world will be celebrating today as the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis has to be one of the most popular of Christian saints, honored and revered even by many Christians outside the Roman Catholic Church. When people think of St. Francis, they often think of him as the patron saint of animals, since he had such a tremendous love for all of nature, referring all things in creation as brother and sister–brother sun, sister moon, brother world, brother wind, etc. Even at the Episcopal school that my grandchildren attend, they will have a blessing of animals this week, as will many churches, in honor of St. Francis and his love for animals. How many homes do you pass, even in Baton Rouge, that have a bird-feeder, statue, or a fountain, depicting St. Francis. For some, Francis is the great worker of miracles and the person who received the stigmata. There are so many legends that have cropped up around the life of St. Francis, it is very difficult to distinguish fact from fiction, though, I would have to say, in the case of Francis, even the legends and fictions often serve as useful parables.
The one thing that does seem to be certain about the life of Francis of Assisi is that he did become a living embodiment of the principle set forth by our Lord in our Gospel reading for today: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” This statement comes at the conclusion of a parable told which describes a rather comical situation. Suppose a person goes to a feast, convinced of his own importance, and thinks that he deserves the most prestigious seat. Back in these days, as is often the case now, seating arrangements at banquets are very important. In the days of our Lord Jesus, the closer you sat to the most important person there, the more you were looked upon as an important person yourself. But let’s suppose you were to walk into a banquet, thinking you are certainly one of the most important people there, and you seat yourself right next to the most honored guest. How embarrassing it would be then for someone to walk up to you and say, “I’m sorry, but someone much more important than you has come in. Would you please go find another place?” What a humiliating experience that would be! What Jesus is teaching us is that we should never think more highly of ourselves than we should. No matter what we may accomplish in this world, there are always going to be people who are greater than we are. Instead, always take the place of humility. In the end, it will be the humble who will be exalted.
Francis of Assisi is one of those people who decided to put that principle into action. Born to wealthy parents, Francis was a person who loved to dress in fine clothes and enjoy fun and games with the sons of other noblemen. He was someone who wanted drink his fill of pleasure and have great honors bestowed upon him. But through a series of events, Francis came to see that the pleasures and honors of the world were vanity. He experienced a dramatic conversion from his life of pleasure and glory-seeking, and became concerned for the poor, the sick, even lepers. He gave away all his belongings and embraced poverty, always seeking to be the least of all.
Down through the centuries since his death in 1226, the life of Francis has been an inspiration to others to forsake everything for the cause of Christ. I like to watch movies about the life of Francis. I will admit that Franco Zefferelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon is laughable in some parts. In that film we see Francis as a kind of hippie saint, complete with music of Donovan. Nevertheless, the film does show how Francis wanted to associate with the poor, those that not many people, not even in the church, wanted to love and help. But I prefer the 1961 film, Francis of Assisi with Bradform Dillman in the title role. One of the interesting things about that film is that the part of Clare is played by a young actress named Dolores Hart. Dolores Hart had starred in movies such as Loving You (1957) with Elvis Presley. She also appeared in such movies as Where the Boys Are (1961) and Come Fly with Me (1963). She was so pretty that many people hailed her as the next Grace Kelly. But in 1963, breaking off an engagement with a very wealthy man, she gave it all up and entered a convent, and has been a nun ever since. Like Francis, she no longer saw a need to exalt herself in the eyes of the world. She was willing to become small, even forgotten.
Not every Christian is called upon to embrace abject poverty the way that Francis of Assisi did. Not every Christian is called upon to enter a convent live and live away from the world. As a matter of fact, a Christian might become very famous in politics, the arts, business or any other vocation. But no matter how many honors the world bestows upon the Christian, he always has this humble opinion that he is a sinner saved by the grace of God. I suppose that the Apostle Paul was the most famous of all the apostles, even during his own lifetime, but he always thought of himself as the chief of sinners, the least of the apostles, and less than the least of all the saints. The Scriptures always command us to maintain this posture of humility. As St. Paul tells us in Phil. 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” This is the attitude that the Christian must have of himself. No matter how wealthy, no matter how famous, no matter how powerful, he must always think of himself as the least of all, always considering others better than himself. It is this humble of opinion of himself that enables the Christian to take on the role of the servant, never considering himself to be too good to minister to those who are in need.
You remember the time when disciples are arguing about who was the greatest. Jesus told them, “And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:24-27). All this is taking place as our Lord is instituting the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Here is the Son of God, explaining to them how he is about to die on the cross, and they are arguing about who is the greatest. Jesus tells them that they are missing the point. In his kingdom, the person who serves is the greatest, because even HE is among them as one who serves. He came into this world, not to be served, but to serve, serve in the greatest way a person can serve, by giving his life a ransom for many. St. Paul put it like this:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:5-11)
Our Lord, though he was the eternal son of God, made himself of no reputation. He was willing to be treated as a common criminal and allowed himself to be executed as a blasphemer. He was despised and rejected of men and ridiculed by those in high places. This was his service for us. He did all of this so that you and I could be forgiven of our sins and have fellowship with him forever.
In our youth Bible studies on Sunday evenings, we have been studying that catechism question that states that when we were baptized, we vowed, through our sponsors to renounce “the pomps and vanity of this wicked world.” We have tried to understand the meaning of “pomps”, a word that our young people don’t use anymore, not even in terms of “pomp and circumstance.” We have seen that “pomp” is ostentatious display, putting ourselves on display in such a way as to suggest that we are better than other people. Whenever we see someone behaving in this manner, we say that they are “pompous,” that is, having an exaggerated sense of their own self-importance. The parable before us this morning is a warning against being pompous. Instead, the Christian must always be willing to take on the form of a servant, even as his master did. We are told that just before Francis of Assisi died, he said, “A man is what he is in the sight of God and no more.” No matter what other people might think of you, no matter what honors they may feel you to be worthy of, what really counts is what you are in the sight of God. In God’s sight, the greatest are those who humble themselves.
Amen.
