WAY OF HUMILITY: A PALM SUNDAY SERMON
(A Sermon on Palm Sunday by the Rev.
Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, St. James Episcopal Church, 84-07 Broadway, Elmhurst,
NY 11373. 03/29/2015)
There are
many lessons we gain from the episode of Palm Sunday but foremost among them is
the lesson on humility. While it is often dubbed as “the triumphal entry of
Jesus to Jerusalem,” it is actually a prelude to his humiliation and defeat.
As he
entered Jerusalem on a donkey, he would be met by the crowds shouting, “Hosanna
to the Son of David!” Later the same crowds would shout, “Crucify him!” As he
drove away the money changers from the temple with a whip, he himself would
later be whipped and tortured by the Roman soldiers.
In all these
shaming, Jesus as the Son of Man and Son of God, showed extraordinary meekness
and humility and never used his power to exact vengeance upon those who rejected
him, mocked him, spat upon him and crucified him. So if there is anything that
we can learn most from Jesus, it is his humility.
What is humility?
Humility is the opposite of pride. In Christian ethics, pride is one of the
“seven capital sins” (pride, greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, envy, wrath,) from
which many of us needs redemption.
It is ironic
that we, who are Christians and so-called “servants of God,” also have pride. I
must confess that I am guilty of this myself. How is pride manifest in our
lives?
1. First, pride manifest itself in self-worship.
When you
love yourself too much that you are no longer sensitive to the needs and
feelings of others, you are falling into self-worship.
In Greek
mythology, there’s the story of Narcissus. He was so handsome and so attractive
that when he looked at the pool, he fell in love with his own reflection, that
he remained fixated to the water and drowned.
In the
Bible, there was Lucifer, the most beautiful of all the angels that he was
called the “morning star.” Lucifer was also the most talented musician. It is
said that whenever Lucifer moved, there was music. But with his beauty and
talent, Lucifer wanted to occupy God’s throne and make himself “like the Most
High” and so he was cast down from heaven.
The worship
of self, this “narcissistic” or “luciferous” temptation, is often marketed in
our modernistic, consumerist and me-generation. We love to take “selfies” with
our iPhones or iPads and put them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In movies and television, we call actors and
actresses as celebrities and starts. We are crazy about the American Idol, the
Voice, and Dancing with the Stars. Even in the games such as Football, considered
to be a “team sport,” some players would dance in self-congratulation---even before
reaching the end zone. A teenager was asked what her dream is and she said, “I
will be the next American Idol!”
In
Philippine culture, we even had degrees of stardoms. We call actress Nora Aunor
as the “superstar;” singer Sharon Cuneta as the “megastar”; and actress-dancer
Vilma Santos as “the star for all seasons.”
In the
Bible, Jesus was asked by Pilate, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus was silent.
The character of Leonardo De Caprio in Titanic proclaimed, “I am the king of
the world!” But this “King of kings and Lord of lords,” the “Maker of heaven
and earth,” “the One” who owns the world and everything in it, kept silent.
That must be the loudest silence ever!
2. Pride manifests itself in false modesty.
While pride
manifests itself in self-congratulations, pride likewise manifests itself in
self-devaluation. This is called false modesty.
Many people,
especially coming from situations or marginality or oppression, often do not
want to be complimented. This may be due to “internalized oppression.” They
have been used to being put down and so when someone makes a compliment, they
feel uneasy. They are experts on what is called “self deprecation.” For
instance, when someone said, “you’re beautiful,” instead of saying, “thank
you,” they would say “No, I’m not beautiful; as a matter of fact, I’m ugly.”
When someone says, “you have a beautiful dress,” they reply, “this dress? This
is cheap; I bought this in the clearance sale.”
False
modesty is not humility. We are created by God in His image so that we can
shine in human dignity. It does not do God any glory by us playing less than
what we are created for. We should not worship or idolize ourselves but we
should also not dishonor our human dignity by failing to be light of the world
and salt of the earth.
One of the baptismal
vows in The Episcopal Church asks, “Will you respect the dignity of every human
being?” And our response is “I will.” But respecting the dignity of every human
being means respecting our own dignity as well. This is similar to what Jesus
said, “Love your neighbor as (you love) yourself.”
Jesus bore
all humiliation but when he saw merchants and money changers in the temple
cheating other people, Jesus was filled with righteous indignation. He took a
whip and drove away the money changers and overturned their tables. He shouted
at them, “My Father’s house is a house of prayer but you made it a den of
thieves!” We should not keep silent when the human dignity of others, especially the poor and oppressed, and ours are being trampled upon.
3. Pride manifests itself in racism and cultural arrogance.
Individual
pride hurts relationships but communal pride hurts the whole society. When one
race or culture exalts itself as superior over the others, it becomes racism.
Racism is a systemic sin not only by individuals but by people.
What is racism?Racism is
prejudice plus power. For instance, almost every racial-ethnic person has
certain amount of prejudice over others. White maybe prejudiced against black,
black maybe prejudiced against brown, brown maybe prejudiced against yellow,
yellow maybe prejudiced against red. Sometimes there is even prejudice within a
racial-ethnic group. Thus Filipinos maybe prejudiced against other Asians;
Chinese maybe prejudiced against Indians; Mexicans maybe prejudiced against
Cubans. Sometimes Filipino immigrants who have become U.S. citizens are
prejudiced against Filipino immigrants who are undocumented.
So it is
common to have prejudices but when you act out that prejudice with power, then
it becomes racism. Just as example, the
employee who is black or brown maybe prejudiced against his employer who is
white but he has no power to execute his prejudice. But his boss who is white
has the power to fire his employee whom he is prejudiced against. So racism is
prejudice with power---and in this country, the United States, the so-called
“white privilege” is embedded in our political systems and social structures.
In this
country, the natives are the Indians, our indigenous brothers and sisters. We
are all immigrants--Anglos, Europeans, Asians, Middle Easterners, and to
certain degrees---Latinos. The origin of Black History is one of African slavery
and so racism by white against black is deeply imbedded in history. That is why
the struggle against slavery is a struggle for human dignity, a struggle for
human equality that God has given all of God’s creation.
In God’s economy, no
race can arrogate superiority over other races. God created all human beings
equal in His sight. And so we, who are Asian Americans, Latino Americans and
Anglo Americans as well, owe it to our Afro-American and Indigenous brothers
and sisters, the struggle to free us all from any racial-ethnic superiority and
to see ourselves equal as we are equal in God’s sight.
So the
coming of Jesus on Palm Sunday was an extraordinary example of humility to show
to us that God humbled himself and became a human being so that human beings
would treat one other with equal worth, status and dignity.
4. Pride manifests itself in Sexism, Homophobia and Bigotry.
When I was
in Israel studying “The Palestine of Jesus,” I learned that “sexism, homophobia
and bigotry” are the lot of the “scribes and the Pharisees” who rejected Jesus
and whom Jesus called “hypocrites.” The typical “Pharisaic prayer,” goes like
this: “God, I thank thee that I am a Jew, not a gentile; a Man, not a woman; a
Son, not a dog.”
Sexism is
gender discrimination and prejudice; homophobia is an irrational fear or hatred
against gays and lesbians; and bigotry is an irrational intolerance of
diversity of ideas or perspectives. On the whole, they are “pharisaic” attitude
that accepts only one orientation, one perspective and does not have an open
mind nor embraces the diversity and plurality of human natures.
I must
confess that the Church of our generation, as in past generations, needs
liberation in humility and openness to God’s continuing revelations. Some
strongly conservative and fundamental Christians need to be freed from sexism,
homophobia and bigotry; others need to come closer to the embrace and
celebration of God’s amazing diversity. By oppressing, marginalizing and demonizing the gays and lesbians--and those different from them---they have unwittingly allied themselves with the scribes and the pharisees.
This is also true to the arm chair liberals. For a long
time, many of us who call ourselves “balanced Christians” have skillfully
avoided celebrating sexual diversity. Our tacit policy with regards to GLBTQ
(gays, lesbians, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer) was one of “don’t ask,
don’t tell”. While we have known many friends and family members who are
GLBTQ, we keep them under wraps, seemingly hiding from shame. While we proclaim being open and
tolerant, we do it from a safe distance, from the theology of convenience and from
the security of our comfort zones.
On Palm
Sunday, Jesus did not enter Jerusalem riding on a horse, a symbol of certainty, strength
and superiority. Instead, he entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, a symbol of vulnerability, weakness
and humility. Come holy week, He would be despised and rejected; betrayed and
denied; beaten and tortured. He would be acquainted with grief and sorrows, he
would be stripped naked, crowned with thorns, bearing our shame---and crucified for our sins.
The Bible
says Jesus did not use his power as God, a thing to be grasped but he humbled
himself in human form and became obedient-- even to death on the cross.
Therefore God, the Father has highly exulted him and given Him a name that is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess---that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Father’s glory.
So the
lesson we have on Palm Sunday is that our dignity, our honor, our standing with
God is attainable through a life of humility.A wheat that
is full of rich grains, stoops down; but a weed that is empty and has no grain,
stands up. The richer the grains grow, the lower the
wheat bends. So it is with us, God’s created beings. If we are rich because of
God’s grace, we humble ourselves; if we are empty because of human pride, we
are arrogant. May we learn from the way of Christ, the way of humility?
