Introduction—humility. Someone once said, “Swallow your pride occasionally, it’s non-fattening”. I wish on a day like today that fruit cake, chocolate and pavlova were non-fattening. One of my favourite humility sayings is, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, its thinking of yourself less”.
A past British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was once asked, “Doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?” “It's quite flattering”, replied Sir Winston. “But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big”.
Most of us would say that being humble is a nice way to be.
The story is told of a man who was so humble that his city council decided to honour him with a medallion for his humility. A week after the award ceremony, the award had to be withdrawn. Much to the embarrassment of the council, the man was proudly wearing the medallion everywhere he went.
Mary’s humility. Humility is an important part of the Christmas story. We see this in the book that Luke wrote about the life of Jesus. And Luke starts his book with the birth of Jesus. You’ve probably heard about the shepherds, the angels, no room in the inn, the angels singing. And Joseph and Mary being the unsuspecting couple.
Well, of course, Mary plays a key role and one of the reasons is her humility. When the angel of family planning appears it’s a rather frightening experience. I’ve never had an angel appear to me—not counting my wife—and I reckon it would be a little scary.
The angel comes and Mary humbles herself knowing she is speaking to a messenger from God. The angel tells her that she will bear a child which is a little confusing because she’s unmarried and therefore a virgin. But the angel says that God himself will overshadow her and in this remarkable way the child to be born will be the Son of God.
Mary is told also that her baby will be the fulfilment of many promises that God made long ago to his people. The promises he made to Abraham and David. Back in the old days God promised to fix the mess we humans are in by making promises and he made big promises to Abraham and David.
God promised that our big problem would get a big solution.
In our Christmas story, God tells Mary that she’s part of the big solution. Here’s Mary, a wee maiden living in the back blocks of Israel, being told that God is going to use her in a big way. It’s sort of like Scott Morrison (Prime Minister) knocking on my door and telling me I’ve got a key role in getting Australia back on its feet.
Except its God telling Mary that she’s got a big role in getting humanity back on its feet.
Mary responds to the angel by saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled” (Lk 1.38). It’s a humble response to things she doesn’t fully understand. In fact, Mary goes onto write, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant” (Lk 1.46–47).
I think we can really appreciate Mary’s humility.
God’s humility. But as humble as Mary is, there’s a greater expression of humility in the Christmas story. Have a look at these images from the Hubble telescope (3xslides). When we get a look at God’s creation there’s a sense in which we glimpse the size and power of God.
God is infinite and beyond our comprehension. I’m sure you know that It takes 24 hours for Earth to rotate on its axis to make a day, and 365 days to orbit around the sun for a year. But it takes around 230 million years for our solar system to complete a single orbit around the Milky Way. There are anywhere between 200-400 billion stars in the Milky Way and an estimated 100 billion planets.
And God made all this … and much more.
God is also Spirit. He is not confined by the flesh. He doesn’t have a physical body. And God is also personal. In the vastness of the universe, he chooses to speak to Mary. Is it not amazing that the God of all infinity would choose to become like us? Is that not real humility? That God would come to earth and we call him Jesus.
There’s another part of the Bible that ponders this fact. Let me read it to you:
Though he was God, Jesus did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Phil 2.6–8, NLT)
I once had a hit of tennis with John Newcombe. When I was growing up he was the world’s number 1 tennis player. I was at a tennis camp and my name was drawn to have a hit with him. Imagine how I felt! Why would Newcombe want to have a hit of tennis with me? It was so humble of him to come down to my level.
And I think It’s even more amazing that God would come down to our level.
God came as a baby. He surrounded himself with poor and humble people. Jesus didn’t have famous parents to shoot him to stardom. His parents were totally unknown to anyone. Born in a one-star inn, out the back, in a manger. Baby Jesus wrapped in cloths from the local op-shop. Lowly shepherds in the fields. Arguably the Magi were important, but they were blokes following a star—the first satnav—and it took them 12 months to get there. Maybe they were using Google Maps.
My first point is that in the Christmas story we see humility in action. We see Mary humbling herself before God and God humbling himself before us. So this leaves us with two questions:
Why did God humble himself before humanity?
Should we, like Mary, humble ourselves before God?
Let’s look at the first question (slide). Why did God humble himself before humanity? He did so in response to our big problem.
Pride wrecks relationships at every level.
Aren’t we sick of living in a world where so many people are so full of themselves and so boisterous and so loud? Aren’t we sick of a world where people have lost control of themselves and the result is violence—terrorism, domestic violence, sexual violence, alcohol and drug fuelled violence and verbal violence?
Aren’t we sick of a world where couples split up and children are hurt beyond repair? Aren’t we sick of drunk drivers and drug-induced drivers who decimate families? Aren’t we sick of a world where we need Royal Commissions (government enquiries) to teach people how to behave properly?
Pride says that no-one except me can sort out my problems. Pride says that everyone else is wrong and I’ve got it right. Pride says I can step on other people and to hell with the consequences. And the truth is that in our pride we ignore God. We don’t recognise God’s right to rule over us. We don’t care that he created the universe and made us accountable to him.
Pride disconnects us from people around us and it disconnects us from God. I challenge you to go to the local court for the morning. Have a sit and listen. Then I challenge you to go to the family court and have a sit and listen. It’s very sobering and it leaves you under no allusion that people are hurt and damaged and in need of repair.
And although I don’t find myself in court I can see a little bit of what’s going on in me. And God doesn’t like what’s going in. He fact, he hates what’s going on. And he’s angry. Who wouldn’t feel angry when people bash up other people.
How do you think a holy God feels when we rip him off? How do you think God feels when we ignore his goodness and kindness? How would you react if a loved one put you to one side and lived like you didn’t exist?
It wouldn’t be unreasonable if God wrote us off.
But God humbled himself and became like one of us to rescue us from this mess. Any which way you look at it that’s an amazing thing to do. God didn’t give us a lawyer—there’s too many of them. He didn’t give us an accountant because our big problem is not financial planning. God didn’t give us a holiday as if a happy time for a short time will solve all our problems.
God humbled himself and gave us himself. Jesus is God in the flesh. God walked among us in the flesh. The little baby grew up and he lived as a humble man. Whenever he could he avoided the crowds. He wouldn’t let them make him King. Jesus spoke gently to the sick and weak. He mixed with social outcasts.
Jesus described himself as one sent to proclaim good news to the poor. He came to announce freedom for the prisoners and give the blind back their sight. Jesus is the man who fulfils the promises that God made to David and Abraham. The promise that Jesus would come and be smashed on the cross in order to shield us from God’s fury. The promise of God’s friendship and permanently repaired lives.
Why did God humble himself before humanity? So those with humble hearts would find peace with God and one another.
Should we, like Mary, humble ourselves before God? Mary prepares us to meet Jesus. She says that we cannot fix our problems on our own. The humble poor receive and the proud are sent away empty. In her song of joy, Mary says that God scatters those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He brings down rulers from their thrones but he lifts up the humble. God fills the hungry with good things but sends the rich away empty.
The humble—the poor—the blind—the needy. If we would only throw away our pride and allow our humility to take us to Jesus. A humble God delights in humble people. People who are willing to give up their pride and enjoy the gifts that he brings.
Humble people come to God seeking forgiveness and God says put your trust in my Son. We don’t need Google Maps to find the God who humbles himself before us. God says look at the miracle of Christmas but move to the carnage at the cross. The humble poor receive the benefits of Jesus standing in their place. Humble people having nothing in their hands to offer God. So God gives them his crucified Son and says, “here is the peace offering you need to pay for your pride and rebellion”.
To all who humble themselves before God there is forgiveness.
Conclusion. Humble people admit they need a Saviour. As wonderful as Mary is—she points us to Jesus. For Jesus is the one born of Mary as the solution to our big problem with God and one another. “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King”.
