Humility’s Greatness

Seeing humility as the heartbeat of heaven

05/22/2018

Mark 9:30-37 Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men  and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. For they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."

Sometimes I hesitate to tell people that I love country music; I say it sort of sheepishly, half-embarrassed. I am afraid people might look down on me or think I’m slow or simple or from the backwoods or a hillbilly. But I love it because the lyrics often touch themes of the everyday experiences of everyday people – people like you and me – and not just the rock-stars and the super-famous or the super-rich. But country music does more than that, I believe it even echoes some of the holiness of heaven, especially the virtue of humility. I really think humility is the heartbeat of heaven, and you can hear that beat in country music songs. Country music singers may not always be humble themselves, but they do sing songs that extol humility, and they probably secretly wish they were a little more humble, too.

One song that hit a homerun on humility was Tim McGraw’s recent hit, “Humble and Kind.” The refrain goes: “Hold the door say please say thank you / Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie / I know you got mountains to climb but / Always stay humble and kind. / When the dreams you’re dreamin come to you / When the work you put in is realized / Let your self feel the pride but / Always stay humble and kind.” Anyone who hears that song immediately gets it: no matter how great you are, the humble person is somehow even greater, in an unrecognized sort of way. The humble person’s greatness will be recognized not on earth, but only in heaven, kind of like the humble people who listen to country music.

In the gospel of Mark 9, the apostles are arguing over who’s the greatest. They obviously listened to a lot of rock and roll, where people brag about how great they are. But Jesus must have listened to country music because he tells them: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” It’s as if Jesus were repeating Tim McGraw’s lyrics: “I know you got mountains to climb but always stay humble and kind.” Jesus didn’t want his apostles to be preoccupied with merely earthly success but much more so with heavenly greatness, and only the humble are great in heaven.  Jesus wanted the apostles’ hearts to beat with humility, which is the heartbeat of heaven.

Today we award diplomas to sixty-six ninth graders who’ve successfully completed Trinity Junior High School. On Sunday evening we enjoyed Awards Night where we congratulated our graduates on their achievements and accolades. This is undoubtedly a talented bunch of students! But this evening we want to stress the character and the heart of these students; what kind of persons they are becoming which rarely gets a medal or a certificate or a trophy. What I am most proud of about them is how humble they are growing; their hearts beat with humility. Humility doesn’t usually grab the headlines, therefore, I would like to say a word about how humble these graduates are.

Here are some examples their teachers shared with me. Kathryn Kaelin wrote a computer program to calculate the day of the week for a given day number. When the user of the program types in an error, Kathryn has enabled the program to carry on a 3-minute conversation with the user with phrases like “Come on! Work with me here!” That’ll help you feel more humble. Diego Zarate and Jaime Barroso wanted to learn how to fix computers and ended up fixing several Chromebooks for their classmates, who probably never knew it. That’s humble. Madelyn Eveld went on a field trip with the Earth Club to the Fort Smith Sanitary Landfill, and took pictures of the Trinity students in a giant dumpster. Madelyn is an excellent photographer and can see beauty everywhere! That takes a special kind of humility.

Lydia Reith has been carrying around a novel called “The Book Thief” all year. Every week Mrs. Hurst asks her what she thinks about it and if she’s finished yet. By the way, Lydia, you have to return the book or you don’t get a diploma. Lauren Redding is not afraid to ask for anything, like “Can we have an extra Tag Day?” or “Can we wear jeans during Spirit Week?” Or, she’ll go straight to Dr. Hollenbeck to ask. Clearly, Lauren needs to listen to more country music. Tommy Caldarera has never left Mrs. Hurst’s class for three years without saying, “Have a nice day, Mrs. Hurst.” Addy Plunkett is constantly performing her cheer moves, never disruptive, but you can see her mentally walking through the moves. She’s probably doing that right now!

The cheer and dance team helped with the Survivor’s Challenge Celebration Walk. They arrived early around 7 a.m. and excitedly supported the runners cheering them on the entire way. As they finished, the Trinity girls formed a tunnel and helped created a festive finish for the Survivors as they crossed the finish line. At cheer camp the 9th grade girls always remembered to come together and lead the team in prayer before meals and before each performance, asking Jesus to be with them and help them to do their best. The dance team helped to choreograph and perform a special dance in honor of the late Tara McCutchen, who had coached the dance team in previous years. It’s been inspiring to see how the graduates have surrounded Ben and Emily Forsgren and Josue Sanchez with love and support when they lost their mothers this past year. And I’m holding a cross made by Addison Sterling. The ninth graders gave hand-made crosses and beautifully designed cards by Madelyn Eveld, An Pham, and Mary Alex Cole to all the Trinity teachers at the last all-school Mass. All the ninth graders were living examples of being “givers” rather than “takers”, and that was a very humble thing to do.  Humility is beating in the heart of every Trinity graduate tonight.

Here at Trinity we are fond of saying that Trinity prepares you not only for Harvard but also for Heaven. The Awards Night Sunday showed that these graduates are well-prepared for Harvard. And receiving these diplomas tonight at the end of three years at Trinity says you’re well-prepared for heaven, because hopefully you have learned a little humility. We know you got mountains to climb, but always stay humble and kind.

Praised be Jesus Christ!