Humility and Mercy

 In Matthew 23:11-12 Jesus says for at least the fifth time, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (ESV) Sometimes the phrasing is a bit different with masters and servants taking the place of exalting and humbling but the point is the same. We have heard echoes of these ideas from the beginning of the Gospel too. Jesus’s responses to his temptations in the wilderness require that he set his pride aside, reject the power and the wealth offered him, submitting himself to the Father. The Beatitudes reflect one who is humble and who seeks the things of the Kingdom even in the face of power and oppression. We see it when we are told to be righteous but not to practice righteousness to be seen doing it. We can feel it a bit in the statement “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” and how that flows from the teachings on forgiveness. Forgiveness requires humility because, without it, our egos would not let us forgive the wrongs done to us. Finally, we hear it from the cross in the words “forgive them.” 

Mercy arises from humility and we see it in Micah 6:8 where we are told what God requires from people, “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”  This week’s text includes the verses at the beginning of this essay. Verses 11 and 12 follow a short distance from the discussion of the greatest command. Jesus tells us that the greatest command is to love God with your entire being. That is not sufficient for Jesus’s purpose though. He goes on to say that there is a second command that is like the first one—love your neighbor as yourself. Apparently, everything we are supposed to learn about the Law and the Prophets stems from those two ideas—loving God and your neighbor with your whole being. Mercy when it is rightly understood arises from and demonstrates love.

Immediately before these two verses, Jesus tells his disciples to listen to the Pharisees because they sit on Moses’s seat, but while listening to them, the disciples should not use the Pharisees as their examples about how to live righteously. The Pharisees have positional authority but not moral or spiritual authority. Jesus then tells his disciples that they should not have rabbis, or teachers, or call each other Father. Coming where these restrictions come, we can see that they are about humility. We have somewhat recently seen some disciples trying to secure the seats on Jesus’s right and left and this discussion here can be understood as part of that discussion. Do not seek to set up hierarchies among yourselves as though some one of you is in charge. The Gentiles have leaders who lord their power over their brothers; this should not be so among the followers of Jesus. Humility and mercy, exemplifying care for one another is the mark of disciples.

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