October 26, 2025: On Being Humble

Old Testament Reading: Sirach 35: 12-17
The Gospel: Luke 18: 9-14    

Let’s face it. We’ve all done it. We have seen that person who is struggling - with a sign that says “Homeless - anything helps. Thank you” or even “Bless You” standing at the intersection. And how often do we turn away, hoping not to make eye contact, hoping the light changes so we will not have to stop right next to them, that we will not have to engage. 

We might justify ourselves thinking: I don’t have any cash right now and I give to the Vermont Food Bank or Black River Good Neighbors and I am going to help with our Fight to End World Hunger Dinner. 

And those could all be true, but there is still a human being standing right next to us in need or at least appearing to be in need. 

Imagine the courage and humility it takes to stand there with a cardboard sign and a bottle of water, and maybe even your dog at your feet in the heat, in the rain, in the cold. Imagine not wanting to make eye contact either, feeling sad, ashamed or even angry to have to ask for help, wanting to be anywhere but there with that sign, but also needing food to eat, maybe for yourself, maybe also your children, and maybe a warm place to sleep, wanting to believe that there is help and hope in the world, maybe a new start, even for me. 

Rev. Dr. Steven Berry, the primary instructor for the Pastoral Preparation Program that I went through, encouraged us to engage with those people standing in need. He told us that we should start by recognizing their humanity. Say hello, ask them their name and greet them with respect. He noted that you do not even have to give money every time, but give them the grace of being seen, being acknowledged, wish them luck or tell them you will pray that things get better for them and do it. 

Imagine the little jolt of caring the person receives who knows that rather than avoiding eye contact, you see them, you feel with them and care about them in their struggle even though you cannot fix it. That greeting, that smile, that prayer, may have provided a seed of hope that a $10 bill shoved quickly out a car window without comment could not have done.

I am not sure where I first heard the phrase, “There but for the Grace of God go I” but I sometimes find myself thinking it when I see people struggling. But for this education or that job, this person who supports me, this luck or this inheritance, couldn’t we all be in a challenging place at some point? Maybe we have been. 

The phrase itself is attributed to 16th Century English Reformer John Bradford who, while in prison, saw a criminal being led to his execution, and reportedly said, “There but for the Grace of God goes John Bradford” expressing his humility for the fact that it was God’s grace, not his own merit, that saved him in that moment. 

But I struggle with the phrase because God gives grace freely and while that expression seems like paying homage to God on one hand, it also seems like we are saying - that poor person does not have or deserve God’s grace. That sure seems like a judgment to me and I do not think I have the right to stand in judgment of anyone. How am I to know the state of a stranger’s soul? I believe instead that God is with that stranger even as he heads to his execution much as he was with Jesus as he was crucified on the cross. 

We have to be careful not to be like the Pharisee who in following the religious laws around fasting and tithing, judged himself to be better than others. He prayed in the synagogue, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers or even like this tax collector”. I picture his head bowed but tilting to the right towards the tax collector nearby who was also in the synagogue praying. Somehow I think a “thank you that  I’m not” prayer is never the right way to go. It comes from a place of superiority, of pride. Much better would be a prayer of Thanks: Thank you for what I have and please help me to help those with less or at least a “please help those who are struggling.” 

You see the beauty of our God, is that God always reaches out, always welcomes back, always pushes us forward in our faith journey. God does not want us to be stagnant like the Pharisee who has checked all of the boxes and thinks he is secure in his righteousness, exalting himself rather than God. He is not being humble in thanking God that he is not like others, he is being judgmental and exclusive - the polar opposite of the example of Jesus Christ. So Jesus points this out in the parable noting that the tax collector, who was truly repentant, who humbly stood beating his breast in anguish saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” was justified in his faith when the haughty Pharisee was not. 

After all, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” 

Our God is a God who defies conventions. He does not seek the richest, the most powerful or the best but asks each of us to be our best selves, seeking forgiveness when we make mistakes, asking for and accepting help when we need it and using our resources of time, talent or treasure to help others in their time of need. 

The Pharisee should have been praying for the tax collector next to him, rejoicing that he would come to God to seek forgiveness rather than condemning him.

There is nothing wrong with being grateful to God for what we have and what we do. Those gratitude prayers are a chance to humble ourselves before God, to admit that while we are doing the best we can with what we have, we are grateful that at the moment, we are in good shape, not in comparison to anyone else but ourselves. And if we are in good shape, then we are called not to exalt ourselves for that but to exalt God and say in prayer - Thank you God for the many blessings you have bestowed upon me, show me how I might use them to bless others as well.

Imagine if the Pharisee had done that in his prayer saying, Holy one, thank you for the abundant blessings in my life and my ability to serve you and your people. Show me how I might share these blessings with others. Show me how to reach out to this suffering man next to me and show him that he too is a part of your kindom.

Praying itself is an act of humility. It admits that we cannot do it all, that we need support at times and that we are grateful for that support. Prayer can be a release, a letting go and a sharing with God. That kind of prayer might be something like: Loving God, I just can’t handle this situation alone. I am not sure what to do next. I ask you to share this burden with me by guiding me towards a solution or putting people in my life who can help me. Hold me up when I feel like I am going to fall down. Give me the courage to keep going.
 
I want to conclude with a poem on the Luke scripture by Pastor Steve Garnaas Holmes:

  Two went up to pray by Pastor Steve Garnaas Holmes

          Two went up to the temple to pray,
          a Pharisee and a tax collector....
                                 —Luke 18.10

And I was sure I was the righteous one,
humble in my correctness,
and the other, the bigot, clearly
neither right nor humble enough....

although, in fact, we pharisees are good people,
and we tax collectors actually are scum,
and we know it, which I guess is the point,
so I'm not sure which side I'd be on:

the good one, the butt of the joke,
who's spent a lifetime trying hard,
or the sleazeball, accepted, forgiven,
but still technically a sleazeball....

which means, in the end, all our judgments
are delusion, and there is no grace
in deserving, but only in receiving,
so we both end up praying in unison,

God be merciful to me, a sinner. 

Amen.

Pastor Michelle Fountain

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