PROPER 9-C, July 8, 2007

Our word for this week is "humble". As Christians, as followers of Jesus, humility should be a hallmark of our lives. Today’s three lessons speak, each in its own way, to what it means to be humble. Each, in its own way, reminds us that being humble is never easy given the fact that pride almost always gets in the way. Each, in its own way, reminds us that we often need to be reminded to be humble if we truly want to be able to live out our baptismal promises.

In the first reading, as we heard, Naaman, the commander of the army of King Aram, suffers from leprosy. For Naaman it is not a debilitating disease so much as it is embarrassing, given his position in society. Since there are no known cures for the disease, Naaman has to suffer with his affliction as best he can. Providentially he hears from his wife’s maid that there is a man of God in Samaria named Elisha who could heal him of his illness.

As the story goes, as we heard, Naaman goes to Samaria, meets Elisha, is told what to do and then gets a little uppity when he is told to take a bath in the Jordan. Why, Naaman asks out loud, did he have to do anything? Couldn’t this man of God simply wave his hand over the leprosy and heal it? Or why did he have to wash on a foreign river? The unasked question, of course, was why he, Naaman, a very important man, had to come to Elisha. Should it not have been the other way around? Should not Elisha have been made to come to Damascus?

Humility, it seems, was not one of Naaman’s virtues. He would have to eat humble pie if he wanted to be healed. He wanted to and he did. It may have been a difficult lesson for this man to learn but, fortunately for him, he learned it. His pride had to take a back seat in order for him to be healed.

Then there is Paul. I suspect that when most of us think of Paul, humility is not a word that immediately pops to mind when trying to describe him. In fact, Paul often comes across as arrogant, prideful, and self-righteous, even self-serving. One would have a very difficult time trying to characterize Paul as a humble man. But, I think he was. I even think there is a hint of that in today’s reading.

I have always believed that the "thorn in his side" that Paul often complained about, was that he had poor eyesight. I think that is why, as he says in today’s lesson, that he wrote in large letters. Paul usually had a scribe write his letters for him. Paul dictated. The scribe wrote and I believe that Paul employed a scribe because of his poor eyesight. I may be wrong about this, but I think that Paul’s poor eyesight is what kept Paul’s pride somewhat in check. No one is perfect, not even Paul.

Like Naaman, so too with Paul, humility was not a virtue that came easily. Both men were successful, proud, respected, brilliant, each in his own way. For either of them to have had to deal with some sort of physical handicap was, I suspect, quite difficult and quite humbling. But they did.

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus sends out seventy disciples to prepare the people of the various towns and villages he intends to pass through on his way to Jerusalem for his arrival. He gives them very little instruction and tells them not to take much with them for their journey. They are to depend on the good will of the people of those towns and villages to meet their needs.

He does give these disciples one piece of advice. Don’t be a fair weather friend, says Jesus. Don’t look out for yourself first. Don’t move from house to house because someone offers you a better meal, a softer bed, a bigger room. Stay put and do the job entrusted to you. If you do that, then you will have peace of mind and heart and soul and you will be able to fulfill your ministry. If you are more concerned about your own well being than the well being of others, then they will not be well even if you are. But if their well being comes first, they and you will be well.

That is a lesson in humility that oftentimes comes hard. The temptation always is to put ourselves – and our comfort and well being – ahead of everything and everyone else. Let’s also be even more honest: it’s tough to put in a good days work if we’ve had a bad night’s rest because the bed was horrible, have an upset stomach because the food was awful, or because our work space was too cramped. When we are in discomfort, we tend to project that discomfort unto others. When we do that, our ministry, our work, suffers and so does that of those around us.

However, as Christians our ministry is to teach others about Jesus by the very way we live our lives. If our first thoughts are always about our own comfort and well being, our message will get lost. Others will see right though us, just as we see right through those who would maintain they are serving us when it is obvious all they care about, or at least care first about, are themselves

We have all discovered, learned, that when we put our pride and our own needs second and humbly put the other person and his or her needs first, when we are good to others, the good comes back to us in abundance. When, in our pride, we put ourselves first, no real good comes of it, certainly not in the long run. The disciples Jesus sent out were successful in their mission and ministry because they put the needs of the people to whom they had been sent first and their own needs second.

That was a lesson that may have been difficult for them to learn just as it is often one that is difficult for us to learn as well. Sadly, it seems, it is a lesson that comes hard and comes often, one, it seems, that takes a lifetime of learning.

We are to be all-weather friends. We are to be there for the other no matter how we feel. That is not always easy. But as the disciples quickly and humbly learned, that was the only way they could teach others about Jesus. It is also the only way for us to be Jesus’ disciples as well.

The problem I think we sometimes have is that we have a wrong notion of what it means to be humble. A humble person is one who admits to his or her failings and shortcomings but also one who acknowledges the gifts with which he or she has been blessed and uses them to see and seek and serve Jesus in everyone he or she meets. A humble person is not someone who allows everyone to walk all over him. That is a fool.

A Christian, a follower of Jesus, is one who can balance honest pride with honest humility. Like Naaman, we must acknowledge that, as powerful as we might be, we are still weak. Like Paul, as gifted as we might be, we must be willing to admit that we are not perfect. Like the disciples in today’s Gospel reading, we must put the other and his or her needs first and our own second. None of that comes easily or naturally, but that is what we are called to do and called to be. May we so do and so be.