Get ready, because this is going to be the most incredible sermon you have ever heard on the topic of humility. Do you see what I did there? Most incredible sermon on humility?
When the preacher starts bragging about a sermon on humility, that’s when you know that it’s not going to be a very good sermon. So let me just go ahead and offer my usual description of my sermons.
Friends, it’s going to at least be an above average sermon. Let’s hope and pray. But that’s OK, because it’s on humility. It’s just going to be a solid, halfway decent sermon if I do say so myself.
I say all of this because humility is such a difficult concept, isn’t it? How do you know when you are being a humble person? Certainly not when you start bragging to your friends that you are humble, right?
This is what makes our final wilderness challenge maybe the most challenging of them all. Just when you think you arrived at humility perfection, that is probably an indication that there’s a lot more work to be done!
This reminds me of the best advice I have ever received. "Don’t try to be witty, charming, creative or intellectual. Just be yourself."
What a great piece advice! Just be yourself.
And of course, just being yourself is remembering that we have been created in the image of God. This is related to the first wilderness challenge back on the first Sunday in Lent, our identity and who God has called us to be.
Like Jesus, we reminded ourselves that God loves us and calls us his beloved. We belong to God. We have been claimed and redeemed by God.
Then on the second week, we focused on the wilderness challenge of our trust. Like Jesus, we are called to trust that God’s covenant will be fulfilled through us. God has called us and invites us to respond to that calling by trusting God.
During the third week in Lent, the wilderness challenge was related to our passion. Jesus had a passion for offering his redeeming love for the world. We too are called to be passionate in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world. Having that kind of mission and purpose in life is what gives us energy and motivation in living out our faith.
Then for the fourth week in Lent, we looked at the wilderness challenge of our healing. Sometimes, we don’t realize how broken we are in mind, body, and spirit. By keeping our focus on the cross where Jesus offered his life for our sake, we too can receive the abundant life that God intends for each one of us. God can make us whole again.
Last week, we faced the wilderness challenge of our focus. In a culture where we are constantly interrupted with breaking news and text messages and the busyness of life, the challenge of finding time to spend with Jesus can be difficult. We talked about the importance of being more intentional in scheduling time with Jesus.
Our wilderness challenge for today and this week is a very appropriate one because humility is not something that is valued in a world that espouses power, prestige, and privilege. What can we learn about this challenge of humility on this Palm Sunday and the events of Holy Week?
Notice how Jesus uses the symbol of a lowly donkey to show what kind of King he is. Instead of riding into Jerusalem on a horse which is what you would expect of a king, he rides on a donkey instead. What kind of king does that?
I am surprised that the crowd of people was still willing to wave their palm branches and proclaim him as king as he rode by them. Maybe they were initially taken in by this act of humility on Jesus’ part. They were used to displays of brute force and power, but this was a very different way to triumphantly enter a city.
I have to wonder if the crowd thought that this just might be Jesus’ way of creating some expectancy among the crowd by entering the way he did. Maybe they saw Jesus’ action as a showing self-confidence that he only needs a donkey to take on the mighty Romans. Once he gets into the city, he’ll get down to business and then we’ll see him unleash the war tactics that successful kings use.
Who knows exactly what the crowd was thinking when Jesus entered Jerusalem by riding on a donkey, but they sure didn’t think that he would stay on that donkey. That’s not how you win any battles.
We know this because it was only five days later that this same crowd that was shouting “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday, would now be shouting, “Crucify him!” when Jesus was standing before Pontus Pilate.
This king who entered into the city on a lowly donkey was now embarrassing them by being mocked by the Romans soldiers. We can say that the crowd was fickle because that’s what crowds do when they don’t understand the wilderness challenge of humility.
But before we criticize the crowd too much, here’s the thing. We are all somewhere in that crowd. We might be waving our palm branches and welcoming Jesus as King today, but where will be on Good Friday when it becomes clear that Jesus is not meeting our expectations of who a king should be?
The events of Holy Week still have a shock value. What King would ride on a donkey for his grand entrance? What King would become a servant and wash the feet of his disciples? What king would tell one of his disciples to put away their sword when they were being threatened? And what King would be mocked and hung on a cross to die?
We, who know the end of the story might forget what it was like to be part of that crowd. We are all somewhere in that crowd facing the wilderness challenge of our humility.
Jared Byas who has a weekly podcast about the Bible, tells the story of how difficult this challenge can be. He says how he grew up with the assumption that there is only one correct way of interpreting the Bible and of course, he had the only correct interpretation. Any time somebody challenged him, he worked hard at proving them wrong.
He shares the story of getting into a conversation with his mother about whether we are predestined by God or if God has given us free will. Looking back on that experience, he says that he had read a couple of books on the topic, and he believed that he was now an expert, and his job was to prove that others were wrong, even if it was his own mother.
During that theological conversation which started out as a simple exchange of thoughts, at some point it became more of an argument. When his mother shared one of her thoughts on the issue at hand, Jared pointed his finger in her face and he proudly said very loudly, “Aha! See? You just contradicted yourself!”
In an instant, Jared’s mother grabbed him by his throat with one hand and his shirt with the other and slammed him into the back door. They both then looked at each other in disbelief at what had just happened. They both began to shake, and tears streamed down their faces as they sat in silence.
Finally, his mom apologized as she explained that people pointing fingers at her was an emotional trigger from when she was a little girl, and her father would name-call the children while pointing his finger at them.
That’s when Jared came to the painful realization that having the right theology isn’t all there is to the Christian faith. Living out our faith isn’t about being right at all costs at the expense of our relationships with others. When we don’t approach each other with a humble spirit where the focus is on the person rather than the argument we are trying to win, we end up doing great damage in our relationships.
We find this same problem when trying to talk politics with others even with those who are very close to us. What begins as a conversation of ideas can abruptly turn into a win at all costs full blown argument.
Yes, Jesus had strong beliefs about God and his mission and purpose, but instead of trying to win every single argument at any cost, he was more focused on being an expression of God’s self-emptying love for the sake of the world.
That’s why we find King Jesus riding on a lowly donkey on Palm Sunday. It’s why he will wash the disciples’ feet. And it will be why he suffers and dies on a cross. And it’s why our Philippians scripture reading for today offers us these words,
“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: 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 regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
I love the phrase, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Good words for us to ponder as we enter into Holy Week.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
This humble King who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey is who enables us to remember our true identity, who invites us to trust God, who gives us passion and focus in living out our faith, who offers us healing, and who invites us to be his humble servants.
