16th Sunday after Pentecost 24.9.06 Pride
The sin of pride is said to be at the root of all others, and therefore the worst of sins. It is of all the sins the most obvious denial of God, of His existence, His reality, His importance.
The first sin ever committed was the sin of pride. Not the Original Sin - the one before that - the sin of Lucifer and the fallen angels.
They were creatures of great beauty, but they could not accept their creaturely status. They wanted to be gods to themselves. So they rebelled against the true God and have been suffering ever since.
The crucial issue is: can we accept that we are created beings, created by one greater than ourselves? Or must we think that we just came into existence on our own merit, by evolution or some other process?
The fallen angels were right about one thing: they were beautiful. God had made them so.
Part of their beautiful condition was that they had the gift of free will. They had that extra capacity to decide for or against God.
This is a gift from God, which offers extra dignity to those who receive it. God makes many things which are beautiful, like stars, planets, trees, rivers, animals… but these do not have any freedom to decide for or against Him. They must do simply what their role in nature is.
We have this extra quality. (Sometimes we wish we did not, so difficult is it to handle).
If we do decide for God it makes our glory greater and gives greater delight to Him.
If we decide against it makes us wretched and grieves Almighty God.
If we do a bit of both (which is what does happen) then we are in a confused state of hope and anguish (which is what we are).
In the Gospel today Our Lord calls us to be humble, to take the lowest place and let Him invite us higher.
Taking the lowest place means not asserting ourselves against Him. Not demanding, not complaining, not disputing – simply accepting and trusting whatever He deals us.
We have just enough intelligence and understanding to be dangerous. We are tempted to use our little bit of knowledge to challenge the infinite knowledge of God.
The stars and the trees have more sense than that. They do not argue.
But we are glad we have this knowledge and we give thanks to God for sharing His wisdom with us.
We just need a little extra wisdom so we will not get carried away with our own importance.
If we can get this right, stay humble, He will exalt us higher still.
Heaven is for those who can remember they are created beings, that they exist only because God keeps them in being; for those who have enough sense not to bite the hand that feeds them, or cut the rope to which they are clinging.
Hell is for the rest, for those who follow Lucifer’s example and want to argue the impossible, who are carried away by their own reflection in the mirror and say they also are gods.
This life and this world have become very tangled because of repeated sins of pride. God has allowed a great confusion to come upon the human race as part of our punishment. There is a way out of this confusion, and it is simple: Repent of your pride, and return to the bottom place at the table, and from there await further instructions!
May the Lord guide us all back to the simple obedience that He receives from the good angels and the rest of creation.
