November 2, 2008
Edwards (Knox) United Church
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Matthew 23:1-12
Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
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The Rev. Dr. George Hermanson
Show off. One of our early learning's has been not to be a show off. Then we get the confusing advice to be the best we can - to excel - to be excellent. It is hard to navigate between the idea of pride and hubris - that is the tension between the idea of self esteem and having an enlarged ego, an extreme sense of self. Our identity formation is a process of creating an sense of of self that neither thinks too highly of oneself or not highly enough.
I watched my grandson practice hockey and saw how he was learning confidence in his ability. Afterwards, I asked him about his sense of himself and he said “I am the best.” Yet objectively I could see how he could improve. Thus, the question of how to nurture that confidence yet have a realistic sense of how he needed to improve and grow to become what he saw himself as.
Our book stores are full of shelves of books on self esteem. Our educational system spends much ink on the issue. In fact, one of the concerns we now have is, an inflated sense of self is problematic for the well being of others, for our society, and the environment. There is a concern about notion of entitlement, to have authority without earning it. The problem with the sense of entitlement is it creates a sense of self that ignores others and actually demeans them. As entitled we can run roughshod over the interests of others.
Self esteem without a critical and realistic assessment of oneself can lead one to act in ways that can be dangerous. Risk is important in addressing how to live without fear, but risk that is based on self importance can lead us into areas where are over our heads. We have not taken time to examine the resources needed and have a confidence that exceeds our grasp.
In personal relationships this is devastating. In ecological concerns it is destructive. In political realms it can lead us into situations of ruin. A friend, whose firm manages large sums of money, told me over a year ago that we were headed in the direction we have arrived at. He said that at the base of our financial problems was greed. And that greed was based on a sense of entitlement and over confidence in one’s ability - hubris. He further said that too many believed that capitalism was a natural reality not a human shaped product. They had forgotten the human factor and began to see their economic reality as given and deserved.
In political terms some commentators have seen the Palin phenomenon as an example of hubris. Hubris lacks self critical assessment of ones ability. Hubris language is seen in false humility. What the person who has false humility does is to stir people’s fear of those who seem alien. Hubris has allowed leaders to risk in Iraq.
So the encounter Jesus has with the religious leaders feels fresh. We have the same struggle about the nature of humility. Hubris is based on sense of the sovereign self which there is no authority beyond self interest. The source of authority becomes me and me alone. This devastates any sense of a collective good. This is the person who needs no one and has extreme self esteem. We hear this in the language of the ‘self made man.’
The vision offered by Jesus is not one of down cast eyes, doing good to be recognized, as is the problem of scribes and Pharisees, saying how much we have sacrificed. It is a sense of self that begins in humility - that we are in this together and we need and depend on one another.
Humility begins in the sense of radical connectedness with others. More fully it begins in a sense of God whose power is exercised in relationships. Humility is a gift not earned or self created. The fallback position is God. When we live courageously in the spirit of radical connectedness we open ourselves to see others from God’s perspective. We are seen by God as valued and respected and in humbleness we see others in the same light. It is not a matter of denying self interest but a matter of seeing how our interests are connected to the well being of others. It is not arrogance but a matter of loving ourselves fiercely as we know that strong love is to be found in the advocating for the dignity of others and their well-being.
Humility begins in the knowledge that we belong to God. We find our ‘true self’ in the knowledge we all belong to God. It is the sense that all of creation is crucial to God. This means seeing that importance is not self created but is found in the sense that all of creation is important to God. We are a self - in- the world. Our existence depends on relationships.
Paul was suggesting that justification is not based on our efforts but it is by God we have been justified. It is not earned, it is given. We are esteemed. not through self justification nor egotistic sense of our worth. God esteems us. It is the presence of God who works through us. We know we have a role in the large scheme of things. And we come to know that we embody God.
This is a new sense of self esteem, for it requires that we see ourselves in relationships, needing one another and being feed by others. We do not live alone. It is not all up to us. This sense of the cooperative nature of reality calls into question hubris. We can have pride. We can know ourselves as worthy. We don’t need ot justify ourselves by a sense of entitlement or sense of being superior to others. It is to know the world becomes better by our gifts that we offer to one another and that each gift is gifted by the strength and vision of others.
When we meet one another in the sense of community, that we are feed by the resources of faith, we exhibit a sense of humility. When we move to other centeredness we transcend self centeredness. We see that we are bound together in the reality of God who loves all and values all and needs all. It is the sharing of the table of hospitality that creates in us a heart of compassion for others.
George Hermanson
www.georgehermanson.ca
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