The Humility of Jesus Christ

I’ve begun work on another book project.  The following is a short excerpt from the second chapter:

Some of Jesus’ most famous words were spoken on the Mount of Olives in a prayer on the night before He would be killed.  Luke 22:42 says, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  In this short prayer are five statements from a humble heart which deserve careful attention.

First, Jesus positions himself appropriately with the acknowledgement of God as ‘Father’.  It’s not really necessary for us to dwell on this too long considering that ‘Father’ is a well-known title for God.  However, it should be understood that in this prayer, the title was more than just an opening.  Jesus is the Son of God.  By opening His prayer with this reference He is glorifying God and reminding Himself of whom He is.  When we pray, we should always begin with a reverent acknowledgment of whom we are speaking with.

Second, Jesus opens His statement with the words “if you are willing”.  Regardless of the situation we are in we should always approach God with this attitude.  Many have lost the fear of the Lord and abused scripture references such as ‘boldy approach the throne’ or ‘all things are possible’ on their way to disrespecting God with prideful demands.  A humble heart understands the authority in charge.  If Jesus says, “if you are willing”, then we certainly should too.  Please note: this position is a universal one and should apply to our entire view of God.  A good first step in developing humility is to begin prayerfully establishing a fear of the Lord.  That is, a deep and personal respect for Him which is a natural result of time spent with Jesus Christ in prayer and solitude.  “Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of Him,” says Psalm 33:8.

Third, Jesus makes His request known to God when He says, “take this cup from me”.  There is nothing wrong with a prayer request, folks!  I have heard an increasing outcry from church goers regarding the typical prayer request methods used by most congregations.  We either list them all out in the bulletin or we sit for thirty minutes listening to everyone’s issues.  I’ll never forget hearing about a woman who stood to explain a prayer request she had.  On and on she went with descriptions of the marital issues, health problems, and legal matters of some friends of hers.  Suddenly she stopped and her face got red.  She sat down quickly when she realized she had just shared a prayer request for characters on a soap opera!  What a ridiculous situation.  Of course, I am not endorsing this type of prayer request and I certainly understand the frustration with gossip, rumors and attention grabbing stories passed off as a prayer requests.  This is not the book to discuss these frustrations, but, please try not to allow the foolishness of others to spoil a necessary practice.  (It’s good for us to pray together!)  In the prayer of Christ we see that a humble heart still has heart.  In other words, being humble doesn’t mean you are a pushover or a sissy.  In fact, humility gives you the freedom to know when to speak up and when to listen.  Jesus spoke up.

Fourth, Jesus does what we so rarely do when He says, “yet not my will”.  Jesus denies His own will, including the request He just made.  Throughout the entire ministry of Jesus we see Him referring to the will of the Father.  One of the greatest sermons I have ever heard was called ‘Obsessed’ by Stephen Manley.  Manley has a very unique style of preaching and speaking that I really enjoy.  The Sermon on the Mount is the scripture of choice and becomes the backdrop for Manley’s main point that Christ is obsessed with the will of the Father.  Every time I listen to it, I ask myself, “Am I obsessed?”  In fact, perhaps I should ask, “Am I more obsessed with His will than my will?”  Jesus was.

Lastly, Jesus chose God’s will when He said, “but yours be done”.  To be submissive just means that we give in to another’s will.  To be biblically humble means that we give in to one other’s will, God’s.  Actually, we are so serious about God’s will that we refuse the will of anyone else.  We refuse our will and their will regardless of the cost.  His will is more important than our life and, therefore, we protect it with our life.  In every situation, humility responds by saying to God, “I must decrease, you must increase.”