“And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” – Philippians 2:8
Here Jesus endured the powerlessness that many feel. At any moment, Jesus could have chosen to free Himself from the cross, but He actively maintained His powerlessness for hours through the torture for our benefit. Any time we think power is the answer, we must consider this.
English author Samuel Johnson said, “The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” I recently read The Residence, a book of real stories about White House staff over the years. In a chapter on how staff often go unnoticed comes this humiliating negative example:
President [Lyndon] Johnson often undressed in front of staffers and was famous for rattling off orders while he was sitting on the toilet. Once, reporter Frank Cormier was shocked to see Air Force One Steward Sergeant and Valet Paul Glynn kneel before the president while they were in midair and wash his feet – all the more so because Johnson never once acknowledged Glynn.
“Talking all the while, Johnson paid no heed except to cross his legs in the opposite direction when it was time for Glynn to attend to the other foot,” Cormier observed.[1]
When looking for an example of a servant being humiliated, author Kate Andersen Brower chose the washing of feet. Worse than having someone undressing in front of you and worse than being bossed around from a toilet.
Jesus, looking for an example of how his disciples should serve and love each other, chose the same act, but from a different perspective and with a different attitude:
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” – John 13:3-5
Jesus does not need anything from us, we cannot provide anything He cannot provide for Himself, but He showed us how much He cares by washing His disciples’ feet. He was willing to experience humiliation for His people, and He asks us to care in the same way:
“For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” – John 13:15-16
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”
Ask Him to give us compassion for those with dirty feet, and to give us the strength to serve as He did. Because He has washed our dirty feet again and again.
[1] Brower, Kate Andersen. The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House. (2015). P. 88.
Fellow travelers,
Here is another “Quint of Quotes,” or five somewhat related sayings, from my collection. I hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking. Enjoy!
“Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best” – Henry Van Dyke
“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“It is not your business to succeed, but to do right. When you have done so the rest lies with God.” – C. S. Lewis
“All God’s giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.” – James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado
Today is part 3 of a series on the first Beatitude from Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Monday covered how the statement could make both the “proud” and the “ashamed” humble and be blessed by God. Tuesday was about the rich young man who was fully set on earning his own salvation to see that it was impossible, all while Christ was right before him, loving him and offering him salvation by grace.
Today begins with Luke 18:10-14 –
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat 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 who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Similar to Monday’s post, this passage is a rebuke to the proud, while comforting the ashamed, which is made clear at the end of these verses. This passage also plays on stereotypes of the Pharisee as one who would have been perceived as religiously superior, versus the tax collector, who was under the ban, or that time period’s rabbinic version of excommunication[1]. At the end of the first sentence, the audience would have been expecting the Pharisee to pray well – after all, they were the “experts.” But as an “expert” in the law, the Pharisee prays (and thinks) in terms of lists of good things and lists of bad things. As a result, he is able to credit himself with all good things and the tax collector with all bad things because his lists aren’t complete.
The Pharisee manages this level of pride in spiritual accomplishment by narrowing down his list of sins to “things that other people do.” He also excluded more subtle or internal manifestations of sin from his lists. For example, at other times, Jesus said Pharisees “devour widow’s houses,”[2] which may have been a form of extortion. Also, in his heart he may have been unjust and an adulterer just by making this prayer – judging the tax collector and misrepresenting God. God’s justice on the tax collector was poured out on Jesus – who was this Pharisee to say who that justice applied to? Also, in over-emphasizing the law, the Pharisee was “cheating” on God by idolizing the law as a way to salvation.
By narrowing the list of sins to “what others do,” and reducing those sins to the external evidence of them, rather than the heart level, this Pharisee blinded himself to his own need, and therefore missed the blessing of the Beatitude. The only way to feel rich in spirit before God is to lower the standard, or to humbly accept Christ’s righteousness – the riches of His spirit – in place of your own.
In Psalm 51, King David wrote of his repentance after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed in verses 16-17:
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
This broken spirit and contrite heart recall the first Beatitude’s promise of blessing and the ability to follow God’s will, which David prayed for back in verse 12 of Psalm 51:
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
We can’t constantly compare our record of our sins with our record of the sins of others if we want to receive God’s blessing. Our records are always incomplete and biased. Doing so is only likely to destroy our ability to love those who God loves and to whom He offers His grace, including ourselves. We are poor in spirit, but we only realize it when focusing on Him, and we only are blessed when we decide His standard and opinion are the ones that matter. If we are Christians, the standard is Christ and through our adoption as children of God, He sees Christ’s righteousness when He gives His opinion of us.
Humbly knowing this, we can go to our house justified, and in eternity be exalted by Him, the only one we should compare ourselves to and the only one whose judgement matters. For now, this humility enables us to love God and love others as we love ourselves.
To find joy, give up your lists of sins and replace them with Christ.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3
[1] See an earlier post, Found! A Man in Need of an Ally, for an explanation of the ban as applied to tax collectors, and for Jesus’ striking decision to forgive Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector.
[2] Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47
Today is part 2 of a series on the first Beatitude from Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Today’s post highlights that seeing our spiritual condition as a matter of degree or magnitude, rather than as absolute spiritual poverty, keeps us from seeing, accepting, and experiencing Jesus as He is.
We’ll focus on this passage from Mark 10:17-22:
“And as He was setting out on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’’ And he said to him, ‘Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.’ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Did Jesus tell this man that he only needed to do more, or to work harder, to earn eternal life? Was this man rich in spirit, nearly blessed, and just shy of the kingdom of God? The first Beatitude and yesterday’s post would suggest not, but how then does this story make sense?
A key to this is Jesus’ first response to the man, which questioned the man’s own premises, and revealed he was not “negotiating in good faith.” After Jesus’ response, instead of saying “if only God is good, why am I chasing eternal life in my own work?” this man persisted in seeking to earn his way. Jesus knew the man’s heart was set, and in a way was saying “you know the law, what do you need Me for?” The man did not see Jesus for who He is – the One who offers Himself.
The man was looking for help on the way he had predetermined for himself; he was not looking for the Way that Jesus offered. He wanted a God who helps those who help themselves, but that’s not who God is. In the same way that Jesus does not want us to literally cut off a hand or foot, or gouge out an eye, to avoid sin (Mark 9:43-47), neither does He mean that selling all his goods will save this man. He “went away sorrowful.”
Warren Wiersbe wrote: “Of all the people who ever came to the feet of Jesus, this man is the only one who went away worse than he came. And yet he had so much in his favor!” But because he did not know he was poor in spirit, he left without either the kingdom of God or the blessing of Christ.
What exactly does Christ offer? The infinite and perfect righteousness required for entering eternal life! He is the only one who ever earned the title of Christian; everyone else gets it by His merit, by His grace, through faith. 99.9% righteous does not count because infinity is the target and insisting on working for that last 0.1% only keeps us from accepting the gift. Also, if we think we are 67% righteousness, but doing better than someone we see as 66% righteousness, we misunderstand what righteousness is. Conversely, if our 67% righteousness makes us miserable compared with someone else’s 75%, we misunderstand grace. It’s not a matter of degree so much as a matter of type, “so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:9)
Any time we ask, “what must I do to inherit eternal life”, we are thinking that what we have, plus some more, is the answer. Sometimes we are not immediately rebuked but allowed to pursue our own way and eventually realize we’ve become lost. Sometimes, like this man, we are gently rebuked but refuse to listen.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3
All this man needed to do was accept the work of Christ on his behalf, but he could not admit his poverty. And it’s all we need to do.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 