The Baptism of Jesus – Humility
January 11, 2010
On the first Sunday of Advent, I compared the birth and life of Jesus with the lives of some of our modern-day leaders. And I made the point that, while our modern heads of state live lives that are very different from the people they lead, Jesus truly became one of us – our creator chose to save us by becoming one of us – by experiencing the human condition – not from 30,000 feet – but right there with us. As Father Paul said last week, during his public life Jesus didn’t even have a fixed address.
In the Gospel today, we hear the story of the baptism of Jesus. We see another example of Jesus standing side-by-side with us, humbly choosing to be baptized by John. Jesus had no need for baptism. The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance – and Jesus had no need for repentance. Jesus’ baptism was an act of solidarity – again, Jesus showed that he was one of us.
We actually see two acts of humility in the Gospel. We see Jesus beginning his public life by joining with his people in the Jordan, but before Jesus’ baptism, John, gives us another example of humility. The people were asking him whether he – John – was the Messiah. I’m sure I would have been quite flattered. But John would have none of it. He deflected the admiration of the crowd, and said: “…one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.” In those days, it was beneath the dignity of even the Hebrew slaves to untie their masters’ sandals, so John’s statement showed great respect and humility.
Now the account of Jesus’ baptism that we heard today was from the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Matthew shows John’s humility even more clearly. In Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus approached John for baptism, John said: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” So John, the man that people thought was the Messiah happily stepped aside. In another gospel John the Baptist was talking to one of his disciples who was concerned because Jesus had begun baptizing people. John the Baptist said simply: “He must increase, but I must decrease” – what a wonderful example of humility for all of us.
It’s this gentle and humble approach that Isaiah spoke about in the first reading. We heard him talk about God bringing back the Israelites from exile, saying: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”
A little over a year ago, I was visiting our sister parish in Jamaica. It was a Saturday, and I was sitting in the rectory, working on Sunday’s homily. Across the field, I could hear what sounded like someone shouting through a megaphone, or maybe just a bad PA system. I couldn’t make out many of the words, but it became clear that this was a preacher, yelling at his congregation. I mentioned this to one of the parishioners later that day, and she said to me: “Yes, it’s so nice in our church that people don’t yell at us like they do in most of the churches.” There are many ad hoc evangelical churches in Jamaica, and their usual method of exhorting their flock is yelling.
And I don’t understand it. These churches claim to be Christian churches, but the Jesus we see in the Gospel today was not like the brash, self-righteous screamer that I heard in Jamaica – Jesus was a humble servant. That doesn’t mean he didn’t understand who he was. If he had any confusion, it would have been cleared up when God spoke from heaven saying: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” So when we say that Jesus was humble, it doesn’t mean he lacked an understanding of who he was, or that he lacked confidence.
I think we get confused about humility. We think that people who are humble lack confidence or feel inferior. In fact, humility is a gift. I think I’ve told you before about my experience with open heart surgery. During my recovery, especially in the early days, I wasn’t able to do many of the things I used to do. I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without stopping to catch my breath. For the first time since I was an infant, I was almost totally dependent. Some people react to this kind of dependence by getting angry or depressed. For me, accepting my limitations – learning that I didn’t have to be strong or capable – was liberating – it was a blessing. And I think that’s how we should view humility – not as something that we accept when nothing else works – when the world dumps on us – but as a priceless blessing.
Now humility is not the same as humiliation. Humiliation is what a bully tries to do to you in the schoolyard, what an oppressive boss tries to do to you at the workplace, what the abusive spouse tries to do at home, or even in public. They try to take away your self-esteem – usually to build up their own sense of worth – often because they don’t really have much self-confidence themselves. When people try to humiliate us, we can accept humiliation, or we can reject it – but either way, that’s not humility. One of our parishioners said it well. She told me: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself – it’s thinking of yourself less.”
This is what Jesus’ public ministry was about – thinking of himself less. Instead he was focused on doing the will of his Father. In John’s Gospel we hear Jesus say: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.” And later in the same Gospel, Jesus said: “…for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak.”
There’s a lesson here for all of us. We are nothing more than the gifts God has given us. This is true humility. If we start to take credit for the many blessings we’ve received, then humility is gone. All that’s left is pride and arrogance. How many of our supposed heroes – the entertainers, the athletes, the wealthy business people – have forgotten this? Maybe that’s why we see things like the Tiger Woods scandal, and the never-ending stream of entertainers in and out of the courthouses.
If we see all of the good things about ourselves and about our lives as gifts from God, then we do understand that we are nothing more than the gifts God has given us. And we are nothing less – unless we choose to be.
A little more than two weeks ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus into the human condition in humble circumstances. Last week Father Paul talked to us about the visit from the Magi who found the baby Jesus in modest surroundings, and yet they acknowledged his kingship with a gift of gold, and his priesthood with a gift of incense. Today at the start of his public ministry, Jesus again acts in humility, being baptized by John – doing the will of his Father.
Can we do anything less?
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