HUMILITY – THE COURAGE OF JESUS

• DAY 97
• Faith File: The Courage Of Jesus
• Scripture: John 2:1-5

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

If I were a god and I was set to earth, conceived by a virgin to save coconut-headed humans, humility would be far from me. I will trot about like I owned the place ad I will expect nothing short of worship from all men, even though I was a man too. I will probably give myself a title that rhymed the Emperor and my theme song will be “the emperor, the Champion the Lion is here.” Seriously. But not Jesus.

Humility is a recurring theme in Jesus’ ministry and sojourn on earth. And humility is a trait of a courageous and faith-full person. If anyone had any reason not to be humble it was Jesus. He was God, afterall, and we didn’t even deserve His glorious presence. Yet He made Himself of no repute and came for us. That alone was enough. Yet here on earth He still walked humbly amongst us.

In our text, we see Jesus at a wedding in Cana with His family. His mother told Him to turn water into wine. And although He didn’t want to do it, He obeyed. That was his first recorded miracle. The interesting thing is that He didn’t have to. He could have said no and rebuked her. She was only human and He was God sent to save her, but He yielded to parental authority.

Doing The Needful

Jesus also showed humility by doing what was required of Him. He went with the plan and the processes God set for man. We see that first when He goes to the temple with His parents at a young age, then we see it when He goes to be baptized by John. John confirmed it when he said,

 “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. (Matthew 3:14-15). 

Jesus knew that these things were necessary things that He needed to do, in other to fulfill the prophecies about Him, and to do things the way that God wanted Him to do them. You might consider this to be obedience instead of humility. But subjecting yourself to somebody that is by all accounts lower than yourself for that person to impart your life is definitely humility. 

Lesser or Greater

Quite a number of us are unwilling to let those we perceive to be beneath us to bless us. We take the scripture “the lesser is blessed of the greater,” to mean status and age. Disregarding the fact that there are graces available to the one we consider lesser that should be of importance to us. So we miss out on divine opportunities because we were holding onto position.

We ought not to think too highly of ourselves that we cannot learn or be blessed by others. We should refrain from setting ourselves on pedestals that we cannot learn from those considered beneath us. 

Jesus was not one to let these irrelevant semantics get in the way of doing what He ought. We’ve seen Him wash the feet of His disciples, He ate and spent time with them and other “lessers” in the society that it infuriated the religious people.

See finish?

One reason that people raise their shoulders is that they are afraid that people will look at them as less. And the truth is humans are disrespectful (no apologies). Chances are they will take you for granted if you let them. That’s why it is difficult to see people that are really humble or make themselves of no repute. Today, we hold class in such high regard that it has entered into the church in such a way that it is difficult for us not to discriminate amongst ourselves. Chances are, we’ve all shown superiority towards someone in church, consciously or not.

Check Your Heart

It gets dicey the more status we attain and the more wealth we amass. In no time we become conceited. As a person of faith and courage, you have to understand that no matter what height you attain, or what honor is given to you. Your heart has to remain pure and without corruption. because it all starts in the heart.

Pride starts in the heart as well as Humility. So hold fast that your heart does not deviate or step away from recognizing that all that you are is by the grace of God and you are not better than the next person even if you have more opportunities or grace and that your last name is different and has more power attached to it than the next person.  It is your responsibility to humble yourself, recognizing that God loves the other person as much as He loves you.

The Bible says  

Matthew 23:12 “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted”.

Matthew 18:4 “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”.

Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor”

James 4:6 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Do not feel like you’re too big, or you are above a particular level. Because the truth is that it only shows your insecurity. But as people of faith, we are not insecure. We know that our identity comes from God and we are not afraid to bring ourselves down and serve the will of the Father.

If you struggle with humility, ask God to help you and He will.

Shalom