Psalm 130│Malachi3.13-4.6│2 Peter 3│Matthew23.1-12
Be a humble servant
This is one of
those passages that is so familiar it can just bounce off us when we read it.
We might have to sit with it for a while to feel the significance it holds for
us. Jesus is talking about the Pharisees and their hypocrisy. While acting
holy, they exploit others and do not put into action the principles that they
preach. Verse 5 says Everything they do is done for people to see …
Few of us are
‘Teachers of the law’ (or the modern-day equivalent), so it can be easy to hold
the accusation in this verse at a distance. But surely it applies to each of us
more frequently than we would like to admit. We are all experts at putting on a
show, at creating an image of ourselves for others that doesn’t match the
reality of all our failures, doubts and weaknesses. The way we retell events to
cast ourselves in a better light, the practiced ease with which we let blame
and responsibility for mishaps fall on others rather than ourselves, the care
we take with what our social media posts show about us … - how often we give in
to the desire to be seen as being in control, being good, being right.
Thought no. 1
- This needs to stop. The Nativity is all about humility – God of the universe
taking flesh in the form of a human baby, in a poor family, in an oppressed
nation. Where is the humility in our own lives?
Thought no. 2
- If we can face just how far we are from being humble as Jesus demands, then
maybe we can be more compassionate to others when they fail too.
Thought no. 3
- what change in our lives, in our relationships, perhaps even in the world,
might be possible if we could stop trying to be right, and let God be right
instead? Let’s pray about this today.
Mags Bird
Image; 'Christ Teaches Humility by Lauder, Robert Scott, 1803-1869. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55623 [retrieved December 4, 2021]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Teacheth_Humility.jpg.
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