Father Koch: Humility is a true gift from God
August 25, 2022 at 1:51 p.m.
We all have dreams. They drive us to better ourselves, give us a sense of hope for the future, console us during difficult times, and help us to escape the drudgery of the moment. Our dreams, however, seldom reflect our reality, and many of us have a Walter Mitty Complex. At times we all like to think we are more important than we really are. This buffets us against the drudgery of life and the starkness of our own reality.
When our dream-self or our inflated sense of our own self becomes our persona. we can have a difficult time navigating the world. Jesus is certainly spot on as he addresses this very issue in the parable we hear this weekend. If you want to get a sense of the dynamic of how we feel connected to others, look at the jockeying for position that occurs in weddings, or other social situations. Some of us are always quick to point out our particular relationship or status with guests of honor, with the newly married couple or their parents.
Often secretly, and sometimes more openly, we get upset or put-off if we are seated at a table we deem less prominent than someone else. This is an interesting aspect of human nature, and one that Jesus must have seen around him on many occasions. We even get a sense of this sort of relationship jealousy among the disciples themselves. They argue over who is the greatest, they get annoyed when James and John ask to be seated on the right and left side of Jesus in the coming kingdom, and Peter seems to have a rivalry with the beloved disciple. We clearly see St. Paul engaged in some bitter personality struggles with the other apostles, some of whom he even refers to as “super-apostles.”
Jesus recognizes this human tendency and warns his disciples against privilege of honor and place. He knows that because of their relationship with him that soon enough they will obtain a sort of celebrity status. Imagine being St. John who, according to ancient Church Tradition, was the last surviving of the twelve, living until about the year 100. To be the last living person to have known Jesus would have given him exalted status within the community.
Of course, what the disciples do not know early on is that their status will also make them targets of persecution from many different sides. While St. John lives out his life to a peaceful old age, the rest of the twelve, along with many other disciples, suffer martyrdom for their connection to Jesus.
Jesus seeks to bestow upon his disciples the virtue of humility. We see his own expression of humility manifest so clearly in the Incarnation and expressed so succinctly by St. Paul in the Letter to the Philippians. Jesus chose to live his life in the fullness of humility, never seeking for himself honors, attention or exaltation.
Even today, humility is not a virtue that has a high place of value in our society. While we often dislike the false pretense of superiority and hubris found in the celebrity class of actors, athletes and politicians, we tend to give them a “pass” because they are influencers and we secretly wish we were able to be like them. Yet, we know that they are false heroes and all too often fall under their own hubris. Jesus calls us to humility, but in a way that causes us to understand our place within the world relative not only to others, but particularly to the Lord. The failure to recognize who we are leads us to entertaining a false sense of oneself.
The author of the Book of Sirach, one of the often overlooked Wisdom Books of the Hebrew Bible, does emphasize this sense of self-knowledge as a key to living a happy life and, more importantly, in accord with God’s plan for us and our lives.
God gives to us the gift of self-reflection and the capacity to understand who we are in relationship with others and ultimately, with himself. What we discover about ourselves: our strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices, or goodness and our sinfulness, should lead us to experience humility and a deep desire to growth; to overcome the aforementioned dark sides of our personalities and nature.
It is through an experience of and exercise of this humility that we are able to grow in holiness and faith, and come to a deeper relationship with God.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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We all have dreams. They drive us to better ourselves, give us a sense of hope for the future, console us during difficult times, and help us to escape the drudgery of the moment. Our dreams, however, seldom reflect our reality, and many of us have a Walter Mitty Complex. At times we all like to think we are more important than we really are. This buffets us against the drudgery of life and the starkness of our own reality.
When our dream-self or our inflated sense of our own self becomes our persona. we can have a difficult time navigating the world. Jesus is certainly spot on as he addresses this very issue in the parable we hear this weekend. If you want to get a sense of the dynamic of how we feel connected to others, look at the jockeying for position that occurs in weddings, or other social situations. Some of us are always quick to point out our particular relationship or status with guests of honor, with the newly married couple or their parents.
Often secretly, and sometimes more openly, we get upset or put-off if we are seated at a table we deem less prominent than someone else. This is an interesting aspect of human nature, and one that Jesus must have seen around him on many occasions. We even get a sense of this sort of relationship jealousy among the disciples themselves. They argue over who is the greatest, they get annoyed when James and John ask to be seated on the right and left side of Jesus in the coming kingdom, and Peter seems to have a rivalry with the beloved disciple. We clearly see St. Paul engaged in some bitter personality struggles with the other apostles, some of whom he even refers to as “super-apostles.”
Jesus recognizes this human tendency and warns his disciples against privilege of honor and place. He knows that because of their relationship with him that soon enough they will obtain a sort of celebrity status. Imagine being St. John who, according to ancient Church Tradition, was the last surviving of the twelve, living until about the year 100. To be the last living person to have known Jesus would have given him exalted status within the community.
Of course, what the disciples do not know early on is that their status will also make them targets of persecution from many different sides. While St. John lives out his life to a peaceful old age, the rest of the twelve, along with many other disciples, suffer martyrdom for their connection to Jesus.
Jesus seeks to bestow upon his disciples the virtue of humility. We see his own expression of humility manifest so clearly in the Incarnation and expressed so succinctly by St. Paul in the Letter to the Philippians. Jesus chose to live his life in the fullness of humility, never seeking for himself honors, attention or exaltation.
Even today, humility is not a virtue that has a high place of value in our society. While we often dislike the false pretense of superiority and hubris found in the celebrity class of actors, athletes and politicians, we tend to give them a “pass” because they are influencers and we secretly wish we were able to be like them. Yet, we know that they are false heroes and all too often fall under their own hubris. Jesus calls us to humility, but in a way that causes us to understand our place within the world relative not only to others, but particularly to the Lord. The failure to recognize who we are leads us to entertaining a false sense of oneself.
The author of the Book of Sirach, one of the often overlooked Wisdom Books of the Hebrew Bible, does emphasize this sense of self-knowledge as a key to living a happy life and, more importantly, in accord with God’s plan for us and our lives.
God gives to us the gift of self-reflection and the capacity to understand who we are in relationship with others and ultimately, with himself. What we discover about ourselves: our strengths and weaknesses, virtues and vices, or goodness and our sinfulness, should lead us to experience humility and a deep desire to growth; to overcome the aforementioned dark sides of our personalities and nature.
It is through an experience of and exercise of this humility that we are able to grow in holiness and faith, and come to a deeper relationship with God.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.