Humbling ourselves
Matthew 23:6-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The
scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. They
love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in
marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your
father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have
but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be
exalted.”
“Would
you like to be a bishop?” was a question that someone once asked me. I replied, “Heck no!” I explained, “It’s a lot easier to be a
shepherd to the sheep than a shepherd to the shepherds!” I remember once asking my little nephew that
same question once, and he gave the same answer, but for a different
reason. He said, “I don’t want to be a
bishop. I want to be the pope!” I have a priest friend who has a different
perspective. He happily says, “I would
love to be a bishop, but I want to be an “auxiliary bishop.” Those guys get all the titles and perks, but
don’t have any of the problems and headaches!”
Last year, you might remember that Pope Francis had a little advice for
ambitious priests. He said: “And in the
Church there are ‘climbers,’ people driven by ambition. But if you like climbing, go to the mountains
and climb them; it is a lot healthier.”
That is, the Church has no room for ambitious priests.
One of my favorite
Shakespearean soliloquies was delivered by Henry V, where the king disguises
himself as a common solider, and speaks to his men to cheer them up before a
big battle. The king laments to himself:
“What infinite hearts-ease must kings neglect, that private men enjoy! And what have kings that privates have not
too, save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idle ceremony?”
In other words, all kings really enjoy is a bunch of pomp and
circumstance, which is not worth much compared to the heartaches and
headaches. Sounds like Henry V would
have liked to be an auxiliary bishop!
In the
gospel today, Jesus is telling his disciples that same thing: don’t pursue the
pomp and circumstance if you want to be my follower. He tells them to avoid the titles like
“rabbi,” and “father” and “master,” and “auxiliary bishop”! Instead, he urges: “The greatest among you
must be your servant. Whoever exalts
himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Isn’t that what Henry did in laying aside his
royal robes and serving his men by cheering them up? Henry humbled himself, and therefore he was
exalted as the ideal king.
Did you know there is both “bad
ambition” as well as “good ambition”? So
far, we’ve been talking about bad ambition, but St. Paul talks about good
ambition in his first letter to the Corinthians, where he says, “Be ambitious
for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I
shall show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). Do you know what comes next? One of the greatest soliloquies in the whole
Scriptures: St. Paul’s famous ode to love, where he writes, “Love is patient,
love is kind, etc.” In other words, we
should have a healthy drive, ambition and enthusiasm, but that must all be
directed properly: not to being auxiliary bishop or pope or to seek the flimsy
fame of pomp and circumstance, but rather to humble service and heart-felt
love. You see, it’s because Pope Francis
would rather NOT be pope or bishop that he’s just the right man for the job. It’s because King Henry would rather remove
his royal robes and cheer up his people that he was the ideal king. He who humbles himself will be exalted. And that is good ambition.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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