OH LORD, IT’S HARD TO BE HUMBLE
A sermon based on Luke 14:1, 7-14
by Rev. Rick Thompson

     Perhaps you’ve heard the chorus of this Mac Davis song:

                        Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble

                        When you’re perfect in every way

                        I can’t wait to look in the mirror

            Cause I get better lookin’ each day.

            To know me is to love me

            I must be a heckuva man.

            Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble,

            But I’m doin’ the best that I can!
 

     It may be a silly song, but I think Mac was onto something.  It is hard to be humble.

     Little Billy also knew how hard it was to be humble!  He came home, all excited, after the first day of school.  “What are you so excited about, Billy!” his Mom asked.  “I’m excited because I’m the most handsome boy in my class!” Billy replied.  “How do you know that?” asked Mom.  “I looked at all the other boys!”

     You know, it can be hard to be humble!
 

     Little Susie shows us something about that, too.  She was outside, on her swingset, when her Mom heard her shout.  “Mommy, Mommy, come look at me!”  Mom went outside, and Susie exclaimed, “Mommy, look how high I can go!”

     Doesn’t that cut right to the heart of our existence, our quest for meaning and significance in life?  “See how high I can go!” 
 

     Look at the fancy house I live in.  Notice the luxury car I drive.  Watch me flash my money around.  Look at the expensive vacation home I have.  Check out the lavish vacations I take.  See the beautiful people flock to me, wanting to be seen with me.  See how young I look for my age.  Notice how fit I am.  Check out my abdominal and pectoral muscles.  Can you believe what a specimen of humanity I am!
 

     Doesn’t that describe us well: “See how high we can go!”  When we’re there, we flaunt it.  And when we’re not there, we scrape and scramble to get there, envious of those who have it made.  Yes, we really do want to go high, don’t we!  And sometimes we don’t even care whose toes we step on to get there.

    Mac Davis got it right, didn’t he: “Oh Lord, it is hard—so hard--to be humble.”

    That issue comes to the forefront in our gospel story. Jesus is at dinner at the home of a Pharisee.  It’s the Sabbath day.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Jesus in that setting.  And, as scholar Luke Timothy Johnson notes, “If Jesus eats a meal with a Pharisee on the Sabbath, there surely will be conflict!”
 

     That proves to be the case again, this time.  We read that the Pharisees are watching Jesus closely—there’s obviously tension in the relationship!  We didn’t read the next part of the story; we probably didn’t read it because it is so much like the story we read last week.  Luke tells us that a man with an illness shows up and, just as Jesus had healed the bent-over woman, Jesus heals this man, and then uses the event to start a debate with his host.  Yes, when Jesus eats a meal with a Pharisee on the Sabbath, there’s bound to be conflict!

     And then, as if to add insult to injury, Jesus strikes another blow.  William Willimon notes, “Jesus is not always a pleasant guest.”
 

     That’s certainly true in this situation.  You see, Jesus, too, has been watching.  He’s been watching the behavior of the guests and the host at the meal.  (Do you suppose he’s watching us, too?)  Jesus has been watching, and what he sees provokes him to deliver a lecture on table manners.  And I’m guessing he’s not just teaching mealtime etiquette.  I have a strong hunch he’s really teaching about what life is like in the kingdom of God.  After all, we remember, he’s on his way to Jerusalem, where he will suffer, and die, and rise again to establish that kingdom!
 

     What Jesus noticing is that his host and the other guests both struggle with the same issue we do: It’s so hard to be humble!  It’s much easier to be proud and arrogant, like the Pharisee hosting the dinner. It’s much easier to cut in line, trying to get to the front ahead of others.  And it’s much easier to display a false humility—like some of the dinner guests—which is really just another way to get noticed by others and rewarded.  Jesus sees that, and he criticizes the false humility of the guests.  Jesus sees that, and he criticizes the self-serving false generosity of the host who, after all, has invited to the dinner those whom he expects to invite him in return. 
 

     “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled,” Jesus proclaims—not for the first time—“and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

     Jesus commends the virtue of humility.  He commends his followers to strive for humility by pointing out the erroneous attitudes of his dinner companions. 
 

     The other guests who are pushing themselves ahead of others are not living with humility.  But neither are those guests who falsely fade into the background, denying their God-given gifts, and hoping to be noticed in that way.  And the host, who invites only those who can return the invitation—well there’s no humility in that, either.

     Jesus teaches humility.  But Jesus doesn’t just teach humility—he lives what he teaches. 
 

     Again, we remember that he is on his way to Jerusalem.  He has put aside all the claims and trappings of his divine power in order to fulfill his mission.  He can only succeed by being a servant.  He can only succeed by submitting fully and faithfully to his Father’s will.  Jesus can only succeed in his mission by dying.  He will die in Jerusalem, and he will be raised up from death, and in doing so he will establish God’s rule of mercy and forgiveness and healing and liberation right here—right on this earth we live on!
 

     This is the one who teaches us to be humble.

     But I can’t help wondering.  Maybe you wonder, too: why would I want to follow his teaching?  In a world that encourages us to go as high as we can go, and is more than willing to leave us in the dust when we don’t, why would we want to be humble?

     Pastor Brian Stoffregen offers this comment: “Apparently Jesus would eat with anybody—perhaps even with you and me!”
 

     As hard as it was for the Pharisee and his dinner guests to be humble, Jesus came to dinner with them.  And as hard as it is for us to be humble, Jesus comes to eat with us!  In fact, quite often—every Saturday and some Sundays—Jesus comes to eat with us, to be our host, to be our food and drink, as we come, hungry and thirsty, empty-handed, to his table.
 

     Jesus has humbly put aside all the trappings of power and divine majesty, gone to his death, risen up from the tomb—and this risen, living one, honors us with his presence!

     Perhaps, in order to stay in the company of the humble Servant and majestic Lord of all, we would consider striving to be humble!  Perhaps, when Jesus comes to dwell with us, he will shape us into his image and make us humble.
 

     Yes, Mac Davis was right—it is hard to be humble.

     But Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, has accomplished MUCH MORE difficult tasks than that!

     Jesus comes to dwell with us, and clothes us in his humility, and teaches us that we don’t have to exalt ourselves—because God has already GIVEN us the most exalted gift we could imagine—LIFE WITH GOD, IN CHRIST, NOW AND FOR ALL ETERNITY!
 

     Jesus has come to eat with us—we who are the least deserving of his forgiveness and love—and even to suffer and die for us.  Jesus eats and drinks with the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind and with sinners—even with us!
 

     This is the one who clothes us in humility. 
 

     I love the description of humility offered by one of America’s first TV preachers, way back in the early days of television—Bishop Fulton Sheen.  “Humility,” Bishop Sheen said, “is like underwear: we should always wear it, but never let it show.”  What does that mean?  It means that, clothed with Christ-like humility, we forsake the urge to see how high we can go, and always seek to serve others as Christ himself has served.  But it also means that we properly value ourselves.  Others are not allowed to trample upon us because, after all, we are so immensely valuable to Christ that he has died for each one of us—given his own precious life for you and for me!
 

     So, we wear our humility, but we don’t let it show.  And how do we wear it?  We cling closely to Christ, and we live as he taught, claiming the abundant life he gives.  We cling closely to Christ and live properly as guests and as hosts:

·        As guests in Christ’s kingdom, we don’t clamor to rise above others because, after all, we’ve already been given, each of us, an equal share in the highest place there is—the kingdom of God.

·        And, as hosts in his name, we invite and welcome all—everyone—to share in our Christian community.  That’s the least we can do, after all, when Jesus has given us an invitation we can never, never repay—the invitation to live in his eternal, abundant kingdom.

     Yes, it is hard to be humble.

     But, when we live in the company of Jesus, it’s not impossible.

                                                                                                AMEN.