O God of grace and glory, thank you for inviting
us to eat at your table ☩
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ambition used to be a vice. Shakespeare wrote of the “canker of ambitious thoughts” and for most of history, ambition was seen as perhaps the greatest vice. The saying was “Fling away ambition: by that sin the angels fell.” St. Augustine wrote of ambition as a “pernicious sin,” saying that ambition is the primary obstacle in the way of Christian faithfulness. Today, we tell people to “reach for the stars” and that “you can do anything that you set your mind to,” which is an absolute lie. We speak of ambition not as a vice, but a virtue – an up-and-coming person is described as “ambitious.” Just this week, Meghan Markle debuted a podcast and the first episode is called “The Misconception of Ambition.” She says she had always thought of ambition as a good thing until meeting the Royal Family and was chided for it. Markle picked up the lesson that we teach in our society – you deserve the best and the only thing holding you back is how bold and ambitious you are.
Humility,
likewise, has seen a shift in value. Humility had been prized as a character trait.
But with the rise of ambition, humility has been squeezed out. While we do tend
to use “humble” in a positive sense, there’s generally a looking down on the
humble – perhaps they lack self-confidence, why are they holding themselves
back, if they would pursue their dreams think of what they might accomplish. When
it comes to ambition and humility, we’ve come a long way from Jesus’ words: “All
who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted.”
People
watching is nothing new. Luke records that as Jesus went to someone’s house for
dinner, everyone was keeping an eye on him. Likewise, Jesus was noticing how
everyone was choosing the best and most prominent seats for themselves. It’s a
game we play all the time, right? I really enjoy going to the events at Water Works:
the chili cookoff and the oyster roast. You walk into the Trolley Barn and
there are lots of tables, but no one is sitting yet. First, you scan the room
and see who is there. Then get something to drink, and then you pick what seems
to be the best table, close to the food and far from the music, and put a jacket
or napkin over the chair to mark it as yours, then time for conversation. So to
all those who know how to scan a room and pick a seat, Jesus offers a short
parable.
If
you choose a really good spot for yourself, perhaps better than you deserve,
someone might come up to you and say “I’m sorry, this spot is reserved for our
Diamond level sponsors,” and how awkward that would be. But imagine that you’re
at some other seat and someone comes to you and says “Excuse me, we have a
place saved for you at the head table, please come with me.” Everyone loves an
upgrade, so just imagine how great that would be. Clearly, Jesus is not
offering a simple lesson about manners, etiquette, or practical advice on how
to pick a spot at social events. And he makes that clear when he adds, “All who
exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted.” This is about something much bigger than social conventions.
What
though does humility mean? What Jesus speaks of is not about modesty, it’s not
an “aw, shucks” attitude. Nor is humility a hack that we can use to get things.
Humility is not a trick to always start low so that there’s room to get promoted
when people feel bad for how low you are. No, that’s manipulation, not
humility. The word “humility” comes from a Latin word – humus, which means “ground”
or “dirt.” This is where the word “human” comes from. We are dirt creatures,
made from the earth, and to the earth shall we return.
Humility
is about lowliness, groundedness, and being authentic to how God made us.
Humility is not thinking poorly of ourselves, it is thinking correctly of
ourselves – we are creatures made from and for love by God. It is when we
forget these truths that sin and vice set in; when we think of ourselves not as
creatures but as masters, when we think that we are more important than the
earth from which we are made. This is the sin in the story of the Tower of Babel
– when people tried to build a tower to heaven it meant that they were getting
too far from the ground that they were given to tend and keep. We can
understand humility to be the opposite of idolatry, humility is when we accept God
for who God is and ourselves for who we are, and stop insisting that we know
better.
Humility
happens when we keep our focus on God as the center of all things. And so
humility is not thinking less of ourselves, it is thinking of ourselves less.
When we put our needs, our feelings, our desires at the center of all things
and expect the world to work according to our preferences, then we get into trouble.
An example is St. Peter, who our Lord called to meet him on the water. Peter
stepped out of the boat and walked on the water, with his eyes fixed on Jesus.
It was only after he paid attention to the wind and the waves that he was
reminded of his fears and the surface tension of water that he began to sink. The
humble are those who always have God in focus.
The
ultimate example of humility is Jesus Christ. In Philippians, there is a hymn
of the early Church that says, “Though he was in the form of God, Christ Jesus
emptied himself, became a slave, and was born in human likeness. And being
human, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has also highly exalted him.” And the cross becomes the paradigm,
as Jesus is disgraced on the cross, he is exalted as the King of kings of Lord
of lords. In being buried in a tomb he is then raised to Resurrection life.
So
when we define humility, it is with these things in mind: our identity as
creatures of God, a focus on God above all things, and the example of the
cross.
What
then is ambition? When we speak of someone being “ambulatory” it’s the same
word – it is about movement and walking. Humility is about being grounded,
ambition is about never being settled. Ambition is about climbing the ladder,
trying to get further, faster, and bigger. Now, I realize that me taking the
position that ambition is a vice might not be popular, especially given who I
am – a straight, white, American, college-educated, employed male. I am exactly
who all the systems were designed for. I understand why someone like me saying “We
should all be happy with how things are” can be troubling. But, to be clear,
that is not what I’m saying, nor do I mean to imply that humility is about accepting
the unacceptable. Addressing wrongs is justice, not ambition. Demanding our God-given
dignity is not the same thing as ambition. What makes ambition a vice is that
it knows no limits, it does not know the word “enough.”
And
this is where ambition gets dangerous. Often when we call a young entrepreneur ambitious,
we are attempting to describe their drive and passion, but ambition covers over
all the evils that come along for the ride. Yes, ambition can lead to success,
but at what cost? How many family dinners are missed in the name of promotions?
How many coworkers are climbed over on the way to the top? How many people are
exploited and used as tools as we try to get to the top? For most Silicon
Valley “success” stories, there are also untold numbers of underpaid interns,
or overseas human rights violations, or warehouse workers being abused. I’ve
seen it, I’m sure you have as well – ambition destroys churches when clergy use
a congregation as a “stepping” stone to something bigger and supposedly better.
Humility is about keeping our focus on God, but if our focus is always the next
step for us, it’s impossible to keep our focus on God as well, which means that
ambition and idolatry go hand in hand.
This
message from Jesus that those with ambition, those who try to exalt themselves,
will be brought low is a difficult one. If we are to do as Jesus says, we have
to act against our own self-interest, something that we are not conditioned to
do. And the paradox to humility is that it is impossible to try to gain humility.
If we try to make ourselves humble, then we are focusing on ourselves, and
therefore can never achieve humility. Humility is not something to pursue,
accomplish, measure, or achieve, instead, humility is a byproduct that comes from
nearness to and trust in God. Proximity to God is what enables us to be humble,
and also forgiving, generous, and peaceful.
And
this is where the exaltation, the lifting up, comes – not because we earn it or
deserve it, but when are closer to God, we are drawn to where God is. When we
are closer to God, we can more easily hear the gracious and loving words bein
spoken to us: “Come and sit at my table. Have this bread, which is my Body
given for you; drink this wine, which my blood shed for you.” Jesus makes it clear
that exaltation only comes by invitation. And the humble are those who remember
this and know that it is only by the grace of God are we invited to move up
higher.
We
might wonder why this matters – why think about a virtue like humility when it generally
doesn’t get us ahead in life and isn’t even something that we can cultivate, because
even in thinking about how humble we are, we are pulled away from humility. Well,
because the way of the cross is the way of life, and the way of the cross is
the way of humility. And, as I’ve said, another way of saying “humble” is to
say “close to God.” And being closer to God is certainly something that souls
long for. It was St. Teresa of Ávila who wrote “Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.” When we understand that, a lot of other things fall into
place. And the only way we learn humility is by being close to God and having
the example of Christ crucified.
I’ll
close with a story of what humility and exaltation can look like in human terms,
trusting that it’s even more glorious when it comes to God. There was a very
high-level English politician in the 1960s named John Profumo who was serving as
the Secretary of State for War, quite an exalted office. Well, as often happens
with people who have too much ambition, he crossed some lines and had an
affair. And the 19-year-old woman who the 46-year-old Profumo was with had
other relationships as well, one with a Russian spy. And so when the news of
this scandal broke, it was a tabloid sensation and Profumo was brought lower
than low – he was painted as an adulterer, a liar, and a fool for having gotten
tied up in a situation involving Russian espionage. He was disgraced, rejected,
and his name became a euphemism for people who had blown their chances.
Profumo
disappeared. He didn’t try to win back the public’s trust, he didn’t start a
new venture, he didn’t try to get back to the top. He had been humbled, and
that’s where he stayed. He went to one of the poorest and rundown parts of
London and did social work; and not desk job social work, but the hard labor of
visiting people in asylums, cleaning toilets, and doing the sorts of jobs that
no one particularly wanted to do. He wasn’t doing these things to serve his time
and show his contrition to earn another chance. He had lost all of his friends
in his fall, and he didn’t tell anyone where he was or what he was doing. He
didn’t give interviews, he simply allowed himself to be forgotten and continued
his work, which he did for the next 40 years.
Well,
eventually word got out about this. And in 1995, for Margaret Thatcher’s 70th
birthday party, he received an invitation. He assumed that he’d be trotted out
as an example of public service and then be quickly forgotten again. He arrived
at the party and he figured he’d be seated at some table near the back. But no,
he was ushered up to the front of the banquet hall and was seated next to her
majesty Queen Elizabeth, to the seat of greatest honor. He hadn’t been playing
the long game and feigning humility for a reward. No, a funny thing happens
when we fall off the ladders of ambition and hit rock bottom, we come face to
face with Jesus, who for us and for our salvation came down to us and is found
in the lowest of places. And when we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, just as
sure as we see him rise on the third day, we’ll find that he brings us along
with him.
