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Proper 17C
August 29, 2010
Sirach 10: 12-18 * Psalm 112 * Hebrews 13:1-8;15-16 *
Luke 14: 1, 71-14
The Rev. David M. McNair

The first reading we heard this morning from the book of
Sirach has an interesting, almost tentative place in the Bible. In the Episcopal Church, this book is part of our Biblical canon. In other denominations we might find this book, but under the name Ecclesiasticus. In other denominations we might not find this book at all.

When we talk about “the Bible,” we generally think we are talking about a specific Book. A book that has been the same across time. It might have different translations and various paraphrases, but it’s the same book – THE Book – THE GOOD BOOK -- except it is not necessarily so. You can’t live too long, especially here in the Bible belt, without hearing discussions about the Bible that assume it is the absolute, inerrant, unchanging word of God. We begin to realize that the Bible refers to something a little different in a Baptist or Presbyterian Church than in an Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic, or an Orthodox church. Then the concepts of “absolute” and “inerrant” have to be tempered with at least a little humility.

This is not to question anything about God’s ability to speak. It is question our human ability to hear, record, and transmit God’s word. Humans are never absolute and inerrant. As we approach the Bible—and especially our understanding of the Bible—I suggest we do so with a measure of humility.(1)

And humility, or precisely its polarity, Pride, is exactly where Ben Sira, the author of Sirach, starts in today’s readings. His book might have a tentative place in scripture, but his language is not tentative:  “The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.”

Pride is one of the sins classified by the church at least 1500 years ago as one of the seven deadly sins:  Pride, Sloth, Envy, Anger, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. Sometimes the seven deadly sins have been pictured as the major branches of a tree with Pride as the trunk of the tree. It may be overstating the case, but Pride makes all the other sins deadlier. It’s been said that Pride makes Envy greener, Anger meaner. Greed greedier and Gluttony “eatier.”  It deepens Sloth’s despair and gives Lust a strut.  Pride’s reach is long and its roots are deep. As one has said, “It comes early and stays late.”

What is the sin of Pride?  Dictionaries define it as “inordinate self-esteem.”  The Old Testament [Hebrew] has six words which translate as pride. They have the sense “to lift up” or “to be on high.” Tradition has given each sin its own face and associated each with an animal. We all know the saying “Proud as a peacock.” Pride is also described as “camel-nosed.”  Camels hold their noses high and lifted up. Have you ever seen a humble looking camel?  (I can’t resist noting the irony of Camel cigarettes and the fall of the tobacco industry). Pride is being “stuck up” or “puffed up.”  The chest is swollen—a walk becomes a strut.

But if pride is “inordinate self-esteem,” there must also be an ordinate self-esteem—a proper sense of self-worth. Aristotle called pride a virtue if it achieved the golden mean between extreme vanity and extreme humiliation. In the great commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Jesus implied the need for self-love.  What we need, it would seem, is a kind of pride that avoids thinking too highly or too lowly of oneself.

The Bible traces the sin of pride all the way back to beginning in the Garden of Eden where the serpent tempted Adam and Eve:  Eat of this tree and “you will be like God.”  We are created in God’s own image and called to represent and resemble God in the world. What a high calling. But the temptation is to want to be more—to be God, to assume God-like power, knowledge, and goodness. Historically the church has identified the sin of pride as three main idols: The pride of power, the pride of knowledge, and the pride of goodness.

One of my favorite novels is Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. In it Troy is an ambitious and self-assured young farmer whose pride ends up destroying everything he touches. Berry describes him by saying, “his point of reference was himself.” Then Berry goes on say: “Troy enlarged his pride by investing (a lot of money, usually borrowed) in equipment. And then, so the equipment, the power to do things mechanically, became his point of reference.  His question was what his equipment could do, not what the farm could stand. The farm, in a way, became his mirror. The farm never at any time was his reference point, and this was his bewilderment and his (and its) ruin. This is why he was reduced by everything he did to enlarge himself; it was why his life was all spending and no gain.”(2)

Pride then is the idolatry of the self, and the world becomes only a mirror of ourselves. We are endlessly self referential. It’s all about me. Or, in terms of a nation, “it’s all about national interest.”
Pride in a group or a nation can be all the more destructive. The “vain glory” of nations is that they assume God-like power, knowledge, and goodness.

As Americans we know this vainglory, we’ve seen it soar, especially in our nation since 9/11. The White House’s National Security Strategy of 2002 clearly articulates the sin of Pride. Here are some excerpts:
Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade political adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing or equaling, the power of the United States. Gone is the Cold War doctrine of the balance of power. We can survive only by the superiority of our power.

And so from that logic, we adopted the doctrine of preemptive war which states, The greater the threat, the greater the risk of inaction - - and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack. To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively.

The pride of Power lives by the creed Might makes Right. In Genesis God calls us to have dominion over the earth. But pride turns this sacred calling into a license to plunder and desecrate the earth for profit and personal or national gain.

There are so many branches of pride. To carefully examine ourselves is to find more than we suspect. There’s the pride of vanity. I like to look good—don’t you?  But when does looking good turn into vanity?  As Carly Simon sang about her ex-boyfriend, “You’re so vain you probably think this song is about you.” 

Pride is deadly because it blinds us to its presence. If you don’t think you have much pride, watch out! There’s the pride of conceit and resentment. There’s the form of pride exhibited by the rolling of eyes. There’s the pride of rebelliousness against authority. Do you chafe under authority figures, under rules? 

There’s the pride of giving to another and expecting something in return. The pride where we must win all arguments and force apologies from those who’ve wronged us. The pride of false humility, “O, it was nothing” can easily drip with pride. Few can speak of humility humbly. Heaven knows, especially priests!
What can we say and do in the face of the insidious power of Pride?  The word humility, like the word human, comes from humus or earth. The basis of humility is to know that we are dust and to dust we shall return. We are created by God and all that we have is a gift from the Creator.

The Apostle Paul points us to Christ to show us the way of humility. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” (3)

When we allow Christ-like love to rule, we make space within ourselves for humility to take root. Humility is the beautiful gift that God grants to us when we allow love for one another to take the lead.  Professor Roberta Bondi says it well: “humility invites us to stay low to the ground so that we can find the treasures there. Not so low that we become a doormat. . . Instead, humility helps us remain grounded in the best sense of the word: centered in the humus from which we have been created, the gloriously ordinary earth from which God made each one of us. Humility enables us to recognize our dependence on the One who fashioned us as well as our kinship with those who share this earth, this humus. (4)

This understanding of humility reminds me of the game musical chairs – with a twist. When we play musical chairs we know there aren’t enough chairs for everyone, so we push and shove and struggle to get one of the “chairs of honor” and not be eliminated. But when we play musical chairs with God’s rules, there are always more chairs than players. And, instead of being eliminated after each round, God invites more to play.

This is how Jesus shows us to live—not trying to be the last one with the chair, but making sure everyone has a chair in the presence of God.

Notes: