Pride and Humility: A Meditation on Luke 18 for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted

in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

 

Two men went up into the temple to pray;

the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,

extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off,

would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,

but smote upon his breast, saying,

God be merciful to me a sinner.

 

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:

for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased;

and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

 

The tension between human pride and humility is etched across the Scriptures, and the stories of those who mark their lives with either trait are described with their consequences.  The pride of Adam and Eve to accept the devil’s lie about becoming like God through rebellion against His Law, brought sin and death into the whole human race, including their children Cain and Abel.  Pride went before the fall of King Saul, and humility before the rise of King David.  Likewise, as the nation of Israel humbled itself before God and His Word, they found themselves exalted by God into times of peace and prosperity; conversely, when they resisted God in their own pride, they often found themselves abased in God’s judgment, conquered or enslaved by their enemies.  The truth that Jesus pointed out in His parable about the Pharisee and the Publican matched this Old Testament narrative and brought it into the contemporary experience of those who heard Him teaching.  No matter how pious or righteous a person thinks himself to be, his pride is an offense against his Creator because no man is holy or justified in his own fallen condition.  Likewise, no person is so fallen and corrupt that their humility in faith and repentance will not be accepted by their compassionate God.  It is God alone who is holy and righteous and true, and those who will be accepted by Him must confess their sinfulness in faith, to receive His justifying forgiveness by grace.

 

This truth which Jesus brings forth also helps us in our own time and place, with the contextual challenges of our own contemporary culture.  The fallacy of pride is that no person is worthy on their own merit—no matter how many degrees, trophies, or accomplishments they may have on their resumes—to stand before God and demand anything.  Even if man’s heart and mind were not corrupted by our collective Fall into sin and death, a perfect man could only stand before God in the humility of his own created powers, giving praise and worship rightly to his one and only Creator, since everything he did rightly (and everything he abstained from rightly) would have been merely his duty to perform.  And of course, no man can claim to stand before God on these terms, since no man has lived a perfect life; no one has maintained a perfect mind in purity of purpose and intention; no man has maintained a perfect heart, with emotions always under proper control and a holy orientation; no man has kept his tongue from every evil and empty word, speaking instead the fulness of truth in the totality of love; no man has worked every hour of every day as thoroughly and efficiently as they should have, and abstained from wasting their physical powers on worthless pursuits.  No man is holy and justified before God, because we are a fallen race whose powers of mind and body are inclined to the evil which our God abhors… and even if we weren’t so corrupted, our status as creatures before our Creator would always require of us humility rather than pride.

 

Pride, however, is not a uniquely human failing.  It’s actually an idea our first parents learned from Lucifer, and passed along to all of us ever since.  Lucifer was, as Scripture and early Church tradition describes, one of the greatest created angels (his name actually reflects the idea of brilliant light.)  For some reason unknown to us, Lucifer desired to be like the Most High God and take worship to himself, though he was only a creature before his Creator.  Also for reasons unknown to mankind, roughly one third of the heavenly host—those once created as holy angels, with various authorities, powers, and responsibilities—chose to follow Lucifer in his prideful rebellion against their Creator.  For this crime against God, against nature, and against reason, Lucifer and his following of pride-corrupted angels were cast out of heaven and condemned to an eternity in the fiery prison of hell.  Yet this final condemnation will not fully be realized until the Final Judgment of the world, and so Lucifer and his minions continue to wreak havoc in the world through malice and temptation and the ruin of men.  Lucifer then took other names, such as Satan (in Hebrew, a name meaning adversary or accuser) and the Devil (a Greek derived name meaning accuser or slanderer) and a slew of other descriptive titles that reflected his now distorted and evil nature.  It was pride which transformed one of the most magnificent angels of light into the most wicked and horrifying personification of evil, and pride which transformed his followers from holy angels to diabolical demons.

 

It is important that we remember whose lounge in which we sit when we dabble in personal pride.  Pride is the original sin of the hell-bound horde of spiritual entities that are committed enemies of all that is holy, good, beautiful, and true.  Pride is what once turned creatures far more powerful than men into irredeemable and hopelessly twisted beings whose primary language is deception, and whose sole aim is destruction.  It is pride that the devil used to deceive and corrupt our first parents, and had it not been for the providential intercession and sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, all men would become what the demons already were:  hopeless and condemned.  When we succumb to pride, we enter the sphere of irrationality and self-destruction which is home to the accuser and adversary of our race, and we find fellowship with the dark forces who could not accept the reality of their relationship as creatures before their Creator.  Pride is not just a sin of minor inconvenience or something cute to pillory in story and cinema.  Rather, pride is the root deception which gives rise to avarice, greed, lust, hatred, murder, theft, covetousness, gluttony, sexual perversion, treasonous rebellion, and every other foul activity among men.  Pride may seem innocuous to our generation since our generation is awash in it, but the insanity of a creature presuming to rule over their Creator, to deny the very ground of existence and logical premises of rational thought, can result in no other end than the unhinging of the mind, and the corruption of both body and soul.

 

It is to heal and to forgive this sin of pride that Jesus came to us in humility before God and men, taking on our human nature, living the life we should have lived, and dying the death we had rather earned.  Jesus, though in reality God Incarnate, submitted Himself to the Father’s will, and in the community of the Holy Spirit as one indivisible and eternal God, suffered and died for the sins of all men.  The lie of pride we received from the devil was overwhelmed by the truth we received from our Savior, so that we might once again stand before God redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Such living faith cannot stand before God as the Pharisee in our parable above, haughty and self-justifying while condemning others.  But rather, living faith stands before God with eyes cast low, confessing our sins before Him, trusting in the shed Blood of Jesus for our forgiveness, and saying like the Publican, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.  Only humility before God can stand before Him in faith, and only faith in humility can bring forth repentance and life by His grace.  The God of all Creation has condescended to us, that He might lift up the fallen, forgive the guilty, and give life to the dead, swallowing up pride in the immeasurable riches of His love and grace.  Our saving God has shown us the power of humility and truth, that He might lift us up to the proper honor and distinction He has created us to be as His people in Jesus.

 

Hear the Word of God as it comes to you this day, stripping you of the fallacious pride which has deceived you, and giving you instead the humility and faith to receive the riches of His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  There before the Cross of Jesus Christ, let your eyes be caste low and your breast be beaten for the guilt of your own sins, your mouth give voice to the Publican’s prayer for mercy upon a poor, sinful being, that the Lord of your salvation might reach down to lift you up unto wonders and mercies never yet dreamed by the minds of fallen men.  For it is an eternal truth that everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, that before the Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier of the World every knee should bow and tongue confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.