Today I had to debrief the research project I have been working on throughout March. There was a lot of data to analyse and I felt relatively unprepared to say what it all meant. These words of Jesus were a timely reminder -to start with a position of humility - and not from a position of confidence. And the meeting (thank God!) went well.

Philippians 2
He Took on the Status of a Slave
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor:
Agree with each other,
love each other,
be deep-spirited friends.
Don’t push your way to the front;
don’t sweet-talk your way to the top.
Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.
Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage.
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Uzzah was of David’s royal family, probably a “nice young man”, an obvious choice to drive the cart carrying the most Holy Ark of the Covenant. (2 Samuel 6).  No doubt meaning well, as the oxen stumbled, he put out his hand to steady the Ark.
God struck him dead.
God cannot bear approach by the slightest spot or taint of sin.
We had better pray, like the publican: “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”(v 13), and praise God that “..while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5: 8-9)

Humility, coming from the Latin “low”, “from the ground” reminds me powerfully of “dust to dust”, Adam and Eve, our humanity. It is indeed a grace from God, because it is so very easy to be a Uriah Heep: if I try to be humble, I am not! It is different from both gentleness and meekness and is maybe something about being truly human as a child of God -devoid of the need for pride but rooted, earthed, knowing we are “of dust” and our deep need of our Father. In a lifetime, we cannot know true humility; but we can gaze at a broken man on a cross….

This is one of the shortest verses given to us during this Challenge yet it is making me think harder than ever before. To be humble, we must be prepared to admit and acknowledge our vulnerability and therefore allow ourselves to be open to God. Pride is a barrier between us and God.

At a funeral before Christmas the deceased was praised for their meekness, which involved in part not doing good deeds in a self advertising way but quietly living out Christian values. Similarly, I find in one particular area of my voluntary work there are those happy to volunteer if it attracts the VIP’s attention but less so when it is down what I refer to as “mopping up sick”. Lord God, guide and help me act out of love for you and out of self aggrandizement.

So who moved the goal post?  Dictionary definition HUMBLE. having or showing a modest estitmate of one’s own importance. HUMILITY. humble condition or attitude of mind.  I would suggest that real humility is one of God’s Graces, something that cannot be bought but an attitude of behaviour that comes through serving God after the example of J.C. So is today’s verse about humility or learning how to be humble?

We can learn so much from others, wherever they are. Give us the courage to be there for them in their need.

Selfish pride is a root cause of much sin and misery.  As Christians we should acknowledge that everything comes from God, so let us rejoice in God’s Glory. To Him be glory honor and power.

This is a difficult passage - i like the first bit - those who promote themselves will be humbled. In the second bit i think Jesus is predicting his own ascension. If we choose to humble knowing we will be exalted, are we really being humble. Taking this passage into our own churches, I think we need to: 1. Constantly try to be humble to each other and putting God’s will first, not our own 2. Recognise those who are humble amongst us - celebrate humbleness? - this includes those humble by choice as well as situation.

With verses like today’s you can see why Jesus wasn’t such good news to the authorities of his day. The expectation is for important people to want to feel important. This is not about disrespecting authority but recognising humility. It is about recognising the poor and marginalized in society - the people who are oiften disregarded because they are at the bottom of the pile - and valuing them as individuals loved and valued by God. And it is about acting this out in our lives. Valuing the needs and value of others before our own beacuse that is what Christ did for us this Holy Week.