Boldness and/or Humility

There’s a new movie out about Martin Luther. I haven’t seen it yet, but it has reminded me of what is probably Martin Luther’s most famous statement. As he stood on trial before the men within the Roman Catholic hierarchy who sought to condemn him for his words and actions of reformation, he said, "Hier steh’ ich. Ich kann nicht anders." Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. A bold statement. It is just this sort of boldness I think the author of Hebrews is talking about when he says, "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness…"

Yet on the other hand, we have this morning’s Gospel where James and John are chastised for what really might seem to be a similar sort of boldness, and Jesus speaks powerfully to the disciples instructing them not to put themselves forward, but rather to be humble and to seek the role of a servant.

Boldness and humility. Both are held up to us as models for Christian living. Yet they seem in many ways to be contradictory, mutually exclusive. Is it possible to be both bold and humble? To put yourself boldly forward, yet put yourself last? Are we to somehow flip back and forth between Luther’s bold self-assurance and some sort of pious self-effacement or servitude? I just read a brief piece in the Christian Century pointing out that so many pastors, so many ordained leaders, within the church see their role as accommodators, humble servants of their peoples’ needs, that there is no one left to boldly lead the church. On the other hand, I can think of one or two church leaders who sound a bit too much like the bold James and John of today’s Gospel, and who could use (in my opinion) Jesus setting them down a notch or two.

Boldness and humility. Hebrews clearly inspires and rouses us to a stance of boldness as Christians. Jesus, in this morning’s passage from Mark, clearly teaches us not to put ourselves forward, but to seek humility. Now it’s true that James and John were not really being chastised for being bold; they were being chastised for attempting to gain a place of prominence over the other disciples. But I think the question is still a good one for us to consider. "Hier steh’ ich!" Luther says. Here I stand. As we take our place as Christians, what should our posture be? A posture of boldness or humility?

I would like to suggest a way of thinking about this issue that may seem unusual. And, for all I know, it may be wildly heretical. In which case, I’m glad they don’t still burn people at the stake for heresy, as the church did for quite some time after Luther’s day. As usual, of course, the answer is both. We are to be both bold and humble. But here’s what may seem the unusual twist. I suggest that we should think of ourselves as standing before God with boldness and confidence, and that we think of ourselves as standing before ourselves and our fellow human beings with deep humility. Let us be bold before God and humble before one another. I don’t think either of those is our natural stance… to stand boldly before God and humbly before one another. We are much more likely to do it the other way around. But I do believe we’ll be the better Christians for it if we work on practicing boldness before God and humility before our fellow men and women.

"Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness," Hebrews says.  Celebrating and affirming what God has done for us in Christ. Every Sunday (at least when we’re using Eucharistic Prayer B as we are now) we say to God, "You have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life. You have made us worthy to stand before you." This is what God has done. Not what we hope God might do, but what God has done. If we fail to boldly claim God’s gift, we imply that we think somehow God didn’t really mean it, or didn’t care quite enough to do it right, or didn’t have enough power to actually affect us. If we do not stand boldly before God, it must mean we lack trust in the effectiveness of God’s work, or if we exclude ourselves from God’s gift we have arrogantly presumed to judge for God whom God should save. It is Christ’s action, Christ’s life, death and resurrection, that have made us worthy to stand in the presence of God. If we do not fully claim this gift we have denied Christ’s power and the fullness of his love for us. Rather, as Hebrews instructs us, let us hold fast to our confession. Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness.  Let us affirm and claim what God offers to us.

This is certainly not to say our attitude towards God should ever be one of arrogance or entitlement. God’s gift, after all, is one of mercy and forgiveness, given because we so desperately need it. But the gift has been given. So let’s celebrate, boldly claiming what is offered, acting with the confidence that this gift makes all the difference in the world to us, shouting the good news from the rooftops. The good news that we are loved by God, we are redeemed by Christ… We have been brought out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life. That’s a bold conviction.

Bishop Knudsen sometimes adds a fourth clause to that Eucharistic Prayer. I’m actually not real keen on individual modifications to the Prayer Book (even by Bishops), but I certainly like the substance of this one. I don’t remember exactly how she phrases it, but she adds that Christ has also brought us out of isolation into community. Through Christ we have been transformed from random and isolated individuals into a community.

And that is where humility comes in. In our relationships with one another in community. Because the other side of our Christian calling is to be humble with one another. We are redeemed by God’s grace. That was Luther’s bold proclamation. But we are redeemed only by God’s grace, not by any actions of our own. James and John presumed to place themselves above the other disciples, as though it were somehow their own individual personalities or gifts that brought them close to Jesus. Jesus set them straight. When we stand before the mirror it should be in deep humility, for, as the Prayer Book tells us, "we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves." And we have absolutely no claim to stand apart from or above one another.

Approach God with boldness. Approach one another with humility. A way of Christian living.

This way of living is enacted every week when we celebrate, participate in, the Holy Eucharist. I quote Frederick Buechner from time to time. Listen to part of his description of the Lord’s Supper. His language and his images are rich. We, as a community, will gather around this very table shortly to share in the Lord’s Supper. May we gather with the boldness and humility that Buechner describes [from Wishful Thinking]:

"[The Lord’s Supper] is also called Holy Communion because when feeding at this implausible table, Christians believe that they are communing with the Holly One himself, his spirit enlivening their spirits, heating the blood and gladdening the heart…  (a bold affirmation)

Christians are also, of course, communing with each other. To eat any meal together is to meet at the level of our most basic need. It is hard to preserve your dignity with butter on your chin or to keep your distance when asking for the tomato ketchup.

To eat this particular meal together is to meet at the level of our most basic humanness, which involves our need not just for food but for each other. I need you to help fill my emptiness just as you need me to help fill yours…  (a humble plea)

The next time you walk down the street, take a good look at every face you pass and in your mind say Christ died for you. That girl. That slob. That phony. That crook. That saint. That damned fool. Christ died for you. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you." Amen.

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