Humility Nuggets - 2

"Permit it to be so now" (Matthew 3:15)

Blessed Theophany feast! The verse above shows the meekness of our Lord Jesus Christ as he respects the will of St. John the Baptist. Respecting other's will and freedom is at the core of meekness, which is the apparent fruit of the inner humility of the heart. It is so true that we are called to respect other's will even if their will and freedom is against our own will as when our Lord Jesus accepted jews' rejection. For yet He was crucified to save those who did not accept His will [Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34]. Even if the other's will is at conflict with our own goals, we still need to respect it. "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also." (Matthew 5:40) Further, we need to respect other's will even if it is in conflict with their well-being from our perspective, as when our Lord Jesus respected the will of people of Gergesenes who asked Him to depart after He healed the demon-possessed man [Matthew 8:28-33]

In order to be able to accept and respect other's will, we need to first learn to accept and respect our own will! In other words, we realize our, and others, limits and respect it. Like when Jesus healed the people of Capernaum and then He left them while they were seeking Him. Our benevolent Lord did not ignored their will, for He did respond to them, but He have had set a limit beforehand, and when the limit was reached, it was time to serve His own spirituality to be able to continue serving, and it was also time to move on to preach other cities:  "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, 'Everyone is looking for You.' But He said to them, 'Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.' " (Mark 1:35-38) Fr. Anthony Messeh comments on this very verse in his talk about dealing with overly needy people (here) that it is like when w e ride an airplane and we are instructed that in case of emergency we should put oxygen masks on us first, only then we are able to help others who need help.

It should make perfect sense that if our own privacy is continuously prevailed, we have no concept of respecting others privacy. Similarly, if our own freedom and will are not respect, we end up having no concept of respecting others freedom and will. And if we don't respect others freedom and will, then we are not yet quite humble nor meek.

"Not driving chariots, like the rest of the kings, not demanding tributes, not thrusting men off, and leading about guards, but displaying His great meekness even hereby."  (St. John Chrysostom)