Hometown Zero

Growing in the virtue of humility

08/04/2017

Matthew 13:54-58 Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

           Few things are as edifying as someone who is self-effacing. What does that mean? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines self-effacing as “not trying to get attention or praise for oneself or one’s abilities.” Or, to put it in one word, “humble.” And the best place to grow in being self-effacing and humble is at home. No one can humble us better or faster than those who know us best: our older brother or sister, our parents or our children, our neighbors. The rest of the world may see us as a “knight in shining armor,” but at home we’re the “arrant knave” as Hamlet said (Hamlet, I, v). Sometimes we’re not the hometown hero; rather we’re the hometown zero.

           Today’s feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests (like me), is a perfect case in point. He struggled in the seminary and barely learned enough Latin to say Mass. Four times he ran away from his parish to become a monk but came back because his people needed him – hmmmm. In 1818, he was appointed pastor of a small town in France called “Ars,” consisting of 230 people. Jealous priests of his diocese circulated a petition saying John Vianney was not fit to be a priest. John Vianney asked to see the petition and signed it himself because he completed agreed he was not fit to be a priest. Next to the definition of “self-effacing” in the dictionary should be a picture of St. John Vianney. In the minds of his brother priests, John Vianney was not a hometown hero but a hometown zero. But such heroic humility was precisely why St. John Vianney is venerated today, and why he’s the model for parish priests. People are attracted to humble priests like moths to a flame.

In the gospel today, Jesus also receives a cool reception when he returns to his hometown. We read: “They took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own town.” In other words, Jesus was not a hometown hero welcomed in the streets of Nazareth with a ticker-tape parade; he was ridiculed as a hometown zero. Do you remember another time Jesus was humbled at home? When the boy Messiah was 12 years old, he stayed behind in the Jerusalem Temple teaching the priests and Pharisees. But his mother and foster-father scolded him for it, and he returned home and was obedient to them. Not exactly the knight in shining armor; more like the arrant knave. But when he humbled himself, what happened? Luke records after that incident: “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52). Jesus, like St. John Vianney, learned humility at home, and that was the heart of his holiness.

           My friends, we know it’s “hard to be humble” because Mac Davis popularized that notion in song. “Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be humble...” We want people to praise us and tell us how wonderful we are. Mark Twain once said, “I can live for three months on a good compliment.” We only want to be humble if people will pat us on the back for our humility, which of course, is not humility at all.

Instead, may I suggest you try to be more self-effacing? That is, try not to talk about yourself and your accomplishments, but focus rather on others and what they do well, and compliment them. Find the good in others and praise them first. A few years ago while in another parish, we were searching for someone to promote the school. One candidate’s cover letter used the word “I” 25 times. He would be very good in promotion, but only in promoting himself. We didn’t hire him. Paradoxically, it is when we think least of ourselves that others will think the most of us.

            If a petition were being circulated saying that you are doing a poor job and should be fired, would you sign it? Probably not, and that’s precisely why we haven’t found the heart of holiness, which is humility. It’s only when we think of ourselves as a hometown zero, that we will finally become the hometown hero.

Praised be Jesus Christ!