It is obvious from reading all four gospels that Jesus favours the humble over the proud. The humble accept life as a gift from God. They have no pretence. They know who they are and where they have come from. The humble have nothing to prove to themselves and to others. They are secure in their knowledge of God’s love.
The proud on the other hand are full of their own self-importance. They are preoccupied with their reputation and their status. They usually do things out of self-interest. They are insecure. While the proud are self-sufficient and self-reliant the humble know their need of God and other people.
In his teaching and his ministry Jesus always sought to get rid of the things that caused division between people. The Jewish authorities had created a society of distinctions. It was a hierarchical society and the yardstick for measuring status and prestige was observance of the law. Those like the Pharisees who kept the law considered themselves better and holier than everyone else. Indeed, they looked down on everyone else. This was ironic because the law they sought to keep was more about externals than about values; more about ritual purity than about relationships.
In the world of Jesus we are all God’s children; we belong to the family of God and each one of us is loved uniquely by the Father. This means that we are sisters and brothers to one another, sharing a common humanity and an equal dignity. To accept that we are equal in the family of God is to accept that we are no better or no worse than anyone else. It is to accept that we do not need to make ourselves feel important by isolating ourselves or by looking down on other people. Those who know who they are in the eyes of God also know who they are in the human family. This is the kind of knowing that helps to build inclusive community.
The word humility comes from the Latin ‘humus’ which means of the earth. When we are tempted by the many forms of pride it is good to remind ourselves that we were created by God from the dust of the earth. “Remember that we are dust and unto dust we call return” (Ash Wednesday blessing). No matter who we think we are, we are totally dependent on God. What’s more, we are dependent on other people. The humble man relies on God and on others. The proud man relies on himself. Humility leads to communion, pride leads to isolation. Communion is heaven, isolation is hell.