Bulletin Column: The Humility of Jesus

We want what is rightfully ours; it’s only natural. So it is difficult to blame somebody if they seek what is due to them. We wouldn’t, for example, think of someone as greedy if they desire their paycheck from work. Moreover, if someone has wronged us, what is wrong with seeking (just) retribution? As Christians, are we not called to care about justice?

All of the above is true…so far as it goes. Yet let’s imagine that Jesus lived by the above principles. What would be the result? The result is that He never would have come to us in human form, wouldn’t have instituted a Church for us to carry out His ministry through time, and we would still be left in our sins. If Jesus sought merely what was due to Him in justice, we would need to find ourselves another Savior (not that such a thing would be possible).

In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he gives them an exhortation to live humbly, just as Christ did. How was Christ humble? He, Who is the eternal Word of the Father and Who deserves all of our worship and love, decided to come down from Heaven and become a man. It doesn’t take much imagination to see what a significant downgrade this is. Even though He was still God in addition to being human, he also now had to suffer everything humans do. Fatigue, sickness, pain, sorrow, and much more all awaited Christ upon His Incarnation. He didn’t have to do this, yet He did.

Yet that wasn’t enough. In becoming a man, He lived a life such that he was subject to the persecution of King Herod. During His ministry, He was constantly being rejected, challenged, and otherwise attacked. Then, as St. Paul tells us, He became “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The eternal and immortal One entered time and suffered death. He didn’t have to do this either.

If we push it even further, He left us the Church and the sacraments. Perhaps most poignantly, He left us the Eucharist, His very self. This same Eucharist is ignored, doubted, and profaned in countless ways. Yet He was humble enough to come to us even in this way. Time and again we see that Jesus did not seek what was due to Him, but instead He humbled Himself. We humans, who ought to be humble, are often bad at it. God, Who has no need at all to be humble, completely exceeds our own puny humility.

This Holy Week, may we ask for the grace to be humble like Jesus. Yes, it means suffering and mistreatment and all kinds of injustices done against us without recompence. Yet it also means a deep, almost unutterable kind of love. If we have that love, we have all we need.

The column appeared in the Sunday, March 24, edition of the St. Michael Catholic Church bulletin.