Members and guests, I come today with another message in a series on virtues. You may recall we examined the virtues of faith and gratitude. We recently celebrated two important religious holidays Passover and Resurrection Day. Passover commemorates the freedom of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The actual “Passover” occurred when the Angel of Death spared the lives of the first born sons of the righteous in what became the last of the plagues brought by Moses from God. Resurrection Day often mistakenly called Easter, represents the most sacred day in the Christian faith. It is the day Jesus Christ was resurrected from death 72 hours after being crucified. It was this sacrifice that forms the foundation of the faith, Christ died for the sins of the world so that through belief in him we shall have everlasting life. Ironically the term Easter represents something totally different.
During the holy week, this year Passover and Resurrection Day were almost concurrent, the History Channel ran a mini-series simply titled “The Bible.” It was this series that inspired my topic for today, humility. In his final days Jesus did something that astonished his disciples, he washed their feet. Peter in particular was taken aback that the Christ, his rabbi was actually washing their feet, a humble task normally reserved for slaves or servants. As one of his first official acts, Pope Francis went into the prisons and washed the feet of the inmates.
Saint Augustine said it this way, “Humility is the foundation of all other virtues, hence in the soul in which this does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
German Cleric Johannes Tauler added this, “In the school of Sprit man learns wisdom through humility, knowledge by forgetting, how to speak by silence and how to live by dying.”
Humility as a virtue is a major theme of both the Old and New Testaments. Why do qualities such as courtesy, patience and deference have such a prominent place in the Bible? It is because a demeanor of humility is exactly what is needed to live in peace and harmony with all persons. Humility dissipates anger and heals old wounds. Humility allows us to see the dignity and worth of all God’s people. Humility distinguishes the wise leader from the arrogant power-seeker.
By humility we acknowledge that God created us for his purposes and not for our-glorification. By humility we acknowledge the dignity of all God’s people. By humility we cool the angry passions of others. By humility we can turn enemies into friends.
A humble demeanor is not a denial of our worth as individuals. Rather, it is the tool that allows us, insofar as possible, to be on good terms with all persons. Senators, I say to you today remember this, in spite of this beautiful building and chambers in which we work, we are but servants, public servants. Everything here belongs to them; we are granted this opportunity at this time to make life better for them, not the other way around.
On this day open up your heart to the world, make a friend you didn’t have before-Amen.
