Who is the greatest? The GOAT (is that still a thing)? This is what the disciples come to Jesus asking at the beginning of Matthew 18.
Jesus doesn’t answer them directly, per usual. Their question isn’t even worth answering. It doesn’t matter who is the greatest. That comes with the wrong focus. Instead Jesus tells them:
3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Your position is not important. Rather, not viewing yourself as the greatest will put yourself in a better, more humble position.
There are several parables in this chapter, and I think you could probably tie them all to humility in some way, but I want to look at the last section. It starts with:
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
That is going to require humility. When someone sins against us, we probably feel we are in the right to be angry or to hold a grudge. After all, they sinned against me. But Jesus’ instructions don’t allow for this kind of pride. Instead, we are to go on forgiving our fellow Christians time and time again, swallowing our pride, pushing it aside, for the sake of forgiveness.
We might think this is unfair, but through the parable Jesus tells of the unmerciful servant, we can see that God forgives us so much! For us to accept God’s forgiveness for our own sins, but to hold another’s sins against them is prideful. It is saying that you deserve forgiveness more than them, or that your sins weren’t as great.
Instead, Jesus wants us to humble ourselves, to admit that we are just as low, or even lower, than others and offer the grace to others that we have been given.
Humility is a topic that has come up often in my discussions and readings the last few months. It is hard – it is against our human nature. But I really believe it is one of the most important things for us to focus on. And likely, it isn’t a one-time thing. We need to constantly be reminded and refocus on humility to make sure that pridefulness doesn’t seep into our lives, because pride does come naturally. But humility is key. It is key to forgiveness, to serving others, to spreading the gospel. Your message will be better received if it comes from a place of humility rather than pride.
~Stephanie Fletcher