Pentecost 20

Pentecost 20 (Matthew 23:1-12) All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Heaven is humility. Hell is pride.
Heaven is humility because heaven is a personal transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.
Humility is above all else teachable. The soul that seeks to practice humility recognizes that God is love and that love is infinite and eternal. There is always more to learn and more to celebrate. Even St. Paul with all of his knowledge and insight could only say: now we know in part. There are no experts in the kingdom of heaven. There are only students.
Humility helps the soul value Jesus above all other things and people in this world. Humility also assists us in treating other people with kindness and compassion. Humility actively seeks ways to immerse itself in the love and holiness of Jesus Christ through worship, Bible study and prayer. Humility never asks: what is the minimum I must do to get what I want. Humility asks the Holy Spirit for that next step in grace to savor the beauty of holiness.
It is the virtue of humility that enables us to forgive people we think may have sinned against us. And, it is the virtue of humility that empowers us to give other people the benefit of the doubt. The greatest challenge and the greatest joy of humility is to place another person’s interests first. We can do this only as we practice the relationship our Heavenly Father gives us through Jesus Christ. The Christ centered soul can let go of the demand to be right and the demand to impose its will at all times, in all places and over all people.
The religion of Pride is the corruption of humility. It is the defining characteristic of the souls in hell. Pride can be religious or secular. The pride of the religious results in the exaltation of the self. Its voice is: my will be done. It brings forth a demand to other people: do it my way. It stands before God and asserts the right for a reward.
Pride is the collapse of the soul into a tightly compressed set of fears and demands. Pride sets very specific, rigid and inflexible boundaries on what God can do, will do, and must do. It sets the boundaries on other people and even itself. Pride becomes more brittle and self limited as it succeeds.
The worst thing any person can experience is success in pride. Such success exalts the power of original sin. That power is separation. It is present in each of us, in all of us. The extent to which we are unwilling to compromise and practice compassion reflects the degree of dissolution and death we choose to bring into our souls.
My mother used to tell my three brothers and I when we jostled for position in the family or at school: the only thing worse that not getting what you want is getting what you want.
Success in the demand of Pride is failure on the path to Heaven.
The saints understood this very well. They all came to a place in their lives where they recognized the danger of self will, the danger of successfully getting what we want when we want it. The saints understood that the demand of self will is the defining characteristic of a two year old child.
The Pharisees functioned with the consciousness of two year old children. The child wants what he wants and he wants it now. The child is fine when he gets what he wants. He can be charming and even productive. But, don’t cross him. The child has no toleration for frustration or restraint.
The Pharisees looked good on the outside. They had impeccable religious credentials and degrees. They worked hard to gain these credentials. Insofar as they taught the word that God had revealed to Moses they offered understanding to their students. But, they lacked wisdom.
They lacked wisdom because they did not practice the virtue of humility that the Bible says defined Moses. They held the outward and visible signs of the Plan of Salvation but would not and could not practice the inward and spiritual grace.
The more successful the Pharisee in asserting his will to power the more narrow his vision became, and the more fearful his heart. Every soul in Hell is trapped by its own success in bringing forth the demand: my will be done.
Jesus gives us the solution. The solution is humility.
My grandfather often quoted President Coolidge when people challenged him. It is said of President Coolidge that he answered his many critics with the words: you may be right.
St. Paul reminds us: now we know in part.
Since we know in part we can never legitimately say: do it my way. The Pharisees not only believed but trained themselves to know they were always right and everyone else was always wrong. In that knowledge they bought forth arrogance and cultivated pride. They exalted themselves and humiliated other people.
Jesus invited them to reexamined their attitude. They were so close to the solution. They could be so productive in their own way. Only their own success kept them from a personal encounter with the Living God.
The exaltation of the soul through the demand of self will always leads to hell. Only the transforming power of divine love and compassion can rescue us from that path, the path of self-destruction, and restore to us the path of life.
Where do you need to give someone you disagree with the benefit of the doubt? Where are you reacting to life, other people, even God from the consciousness of a two year old child? When was the last time you allowed someone else the luxury of being right? Where are you willing to practice the humility that says to God: not my will but your will be done?
The path to heaven is the way of humility. It is the reality of Jesus’ statement: All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.