Jesus needed no lesson in humility, but we do. A false sense of humility is nothing more than pride dressed up for a dance. But genuine humility is essential. No one can truly approach God without it.
Humility takes us off our throne. It removes any pretense of controlling our own destiny, any more than we controlled our own birth.
Humility removes any sense of self-sufficiency. The history of religion in the world -- man made religion, that is -- is a history of man's attempt to gain perfection through his own accomplishment. If only enough sacrifices could be made, or enough good works, or enough rules could be obeyed. Self-sacrifice is valuable, good works are good, rules are necessary, but none of them could possibly bridge the gap between man and God. That project had to be undertaken from his side. We simply haven't got the tools.
Truth demands it. In Dr. Zhivago, the hero was accused of opposing the Russian revolution because he admitted that disease had become rampant in Moscow. Asked why he said that many people were sick, he shouted back, "Because it is so." Humility is important because humility is appropriate. Only from within it can we be truly be released from the bonds of our own idiotic pride.
Christ's life was more than a down payment. It was also a demonstration. We could use a demonstration, for this kind of living had never been tried before.
But it was a demonstration in a different sense: a clear, precise, accurate, devastating picture. Of a race desperately sick from their own sin and rebellion. Of a debt desperately owed. Of a price dearly paid.
