John 13.8 “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
There is a humility that is beyond the humility that somebody can tell me I need to have or that I can see and grasp. It’s beyond a virtue or anything that you can talk about, I think. Jesus doesn’t talk about being humble, whatever that means, but He always talked about the actions and the fruit of the humble.
humble yourself like a little child
the one who leads should be like one who serves
the greatest among you will be the servant of all
For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.
If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.
There is no way at all that you can muster up humility in yourself and BING! be humble.
So being humble is an activity. It can be shown with activity, though that is never the point, and it can be cultivated with activity. At the same time, it can be shown and cultivated by receiving activity. Peter was NOT going to let Jesus wash his feet, but to talk that way to Jesus was the opposite of humility and submission to Him. Peter really shows off our pride of self-inflicted devotion at the Last Passover. If he really cherished and honored Jesus, he would let Him do whatever He wanted. If he really believed that Jesus was always right and wise, then he wouldn’t have argued when Jesus said, “all of you are going to fall away,” but instead he jumped in with great declarations of devotion that Jesus knew he wouldn’t keep.
There is a humility in just letting Jesus do His thing with us. It’s not found in us trying to show Him (or anyone else) how devoted we are or how GLORIOUS we think He is. It’s a humility that let’s people serve you and looks for the way to serve others and never notices either way.
I’m not there yet, but Jesus is, and I’m following Him.
