Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

I have heard it said that real humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. The definition of humility is a modest or low view of one’s own importance. Neither of these definitions captures the reality of what humility is supposed to be for a Christian. Christ certainly did not have a low view of his own importance when he humbled himself to become one of us. Instead of having a low view of his own importance, Jesus set his own importance aside out of sacrificial love for us. Sacrificial love is the key to understanding true humility.

God loves all of his creation with sacrificial love. This is the same love that we are called to have for one another. When you love someone in this way you put the good of the other person before yourself. You do this by setting your own importance aside. This can be easily seen in the familial bonds between spouses or between parents and children. One way our love is expressed as spouses and parents is shown by the level in which we are willing to sacrifice for our families. Realize then, that through our baptisms we are all joined into the same family as adopted children of God and therefore called to sacrifice in the same manner for one another. Real humility is recognizing the dignity inherent in every person without downplaying our own. Dignity is God’s thumbprint on the human soul. We give God glory when we honor the dignity of another. We give God glory when we see another with the same importance he sees them with.

At first glance one might think that St. Paul in the second reading and the Pharisee in the parable in the gospel were both boasting of their righteousness. The difference is that St. Paul was glorifying God for working through him to lead the Gentiles to know Jesus. The Pharisee was not only glorifying himself before God, demanding the esteem he thought he had earned, but he did so by degrading the dignity of everyone else. St. Paul dedicated his life to serving God and his people, whereas the Pharisee was only concerned with serving himself. The tax collector knew he was not a righteous man. He humbled himself before God and, with a sincere heart, only asked for God’s great mercy. He did not try to make himself look better by making someone else look worse. The first reading tells us that God is the just judge that has no favorites, but he raises up the lowly and humbles the self-exalted.