In the time of the prophet Zephaniah, the people of Israel are seeking control of their own world, rather than recognizing their need for the Lord. In an attempt to turn the people from their evil ways, Zephaniah reminds them that relationship with God should be their first priority, and that relationship is born of humility and life-giving justice. When Jerusalem is restored, God will single out the remnant that remained faithful: But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord. This remnant knows that they need God and recognize the qualities of God listed in Psalm 146: The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, and so on. To be humble is to live in such a way that we know we need God, that we need God’s presence, that we need God’s love, and thus we work to hold him at the center of our lives, seeking the Lord from a stance of profound humility.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus offers the Beatitudes, or blessings, as part of his Sermon on the Mount. In each and every case, the people who are blessed are notable for some manifestation of humility: they are poor in spirit, recognizing their dependence upon God, for without God, life is without meaning; or they hunger and thirst for righteousness, for right relationship with God, a relationship in which humility trumps self-sufficiency; or they are persecuted and insulted precisely because they recognize overtly their need for God. Each is acutely aware of their need for God; each seeks to hold the Lord at the center of their lives. As Paul will later tell the Corinthians, God chose the lowly and the weak, those who count for nothing to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast in God. Christianity is a reversal of the world order that prizes self-sufficiency and control; it is through our humility, our openness to reliance upon God, that God will work in and through us. Our participation in worship is a marker of that dependence: to worship is to recognize our profound need for God and the place God holds in our lives. Let us come together to embrace his presence and his love, that he might lead us ever closer to him.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
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