Sunday, June 30, 2024
Sunday Reflection: Humility in the Hardest Times
If you have read this blog even casually, you probably know that I believe the heart of the Christian faith is humility. Jesus taught that over and over and over-- that we can't make ourselves the center of things, and that humility and sacrifice are what is righteous. And Jesus aside, a deep humility is inherent in any belief system that accepts that there is a God and I am not that God-- a belief in a deity is fundamentally humbling and means that there is much that you or I do not know and understand.
It's hardest to show humility when the stakes are highest. I see this often in criminal law. It is incredibly hard for prosecutors to admit they were wrong, because often the cost of that mistake is so huge-- someone has been wrongfully punished, sometimes imprisoned for decades. It is right there in Holy Week, at the trial of Jesus, when Caiaphus the prosecutor is so frustrated he tears his clothes and demands "Execute him!" Talk about over-commitment!
I've been thinking about this as Joe Biden digs in on his now-probably-futile run for the presidency. The best hope for Democrats and democracy would be for him to step aside, but that would mean admitting he was wrong when the stakes were highest (or at least feel like that).
He seems to be a good man. And a part of so many good people is that humility finds them at the right time. Perhaps that will happen now.
