Don Friesen
Some time ago I decided to brighten up the church office with some posters. I confess that I didn't particularly like the posters with pictures of cute puppies and rabbits. I was drawn more to posters with slightly twisted themes, like the one showing four very wrinkled dogs looking droopy and dour, with the caption, "We're happy in the Lord!" Reminds you of Mennonites, doesn't it?
Someone of a similar bent mind got tired of the motivational posters you see in offices with titles like "Teamwork," "Determination," and "Excellence," portraying wildlife, sports, and military themes, and so he took it upon himself to produce seven beautiful posters extolling the Seven Deadly Sins! The poster extolling pride, for example, shows a resplendent peacock, with the caption, "It's not easy being the smartest person in this office. You're brilliant, funny, and darned attractive, too. You have a lot to be proud of. Do what anybody in your shoes would do. Go rub everybody's noses in it." His posters are intended to be a satire of vacuous slogans, though in these twisted times, when sins like pride are considered an asset, they may be less than effective. For example, H.G. Wells' idea of modernizing the Seven Deadly Sins was to reduce them to four, and he quickly took pride off the list, arguing that pride is not a sin but rather the virtue of "intellectual integrity".
Pride: Proud of its First Place among Cardinal Sins
Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, and is closely related to vanity. In fact, the eight deadly sins were reduced in number to seven because Pope Gregory combined pride and vainglory. We don't hear the latter word very often, but perhaps we should bring it back, for it means, "excessive or ostentatious pride, especially in one's achievements".
Pride can also mean "vain display or show," and in Hieronymus Bosch's 15th century painting of the Seven Deadly Sins he shows pride asa demon presenting a woman with a mirror. In a more recent work, The Seven Deadly Sins, Ballet for Wind Ensemble (1984), each sin is represented by instrumental groups throughout ten movements. The opening processional, of course, is led by Pride, which falls to the trumpets. Lust, understandably, falls to the saxophones, which I've always thought of as verysaxy instruments. Pride is also the longest movement, using the image of Narcissus admiring his reflection in the water. Another dance rendition of the seven deadlies (George Balanchine, 1933; Jacob's Pillow, 2001) features Pride as the strutting finale, an all-out Broadway glitz extravaganza!
We like to think that we can be proud of many things without being vainglorious. I suspect we underestimate the sinfulness of pride, because pride certainly got first prize from a number of history's thoughtful judges. Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas gave it ten out of ten! Defining pride as "inordinate self-love," Aquinas said that it "is the cause of every sin". Pope Gregory also considered it the source of many other sins.
C.S. Lewis describes pride as the one vice of which no person in the world is free, but I confess I was astounded to come across a recent survey done of church pastors with respect to pride. Researchers interviewing senior pastors of Protestant congregations found that a majority of them rated themselves as doing an "excellent" job in ten out of eleven pastoral activities! ("Pastors Pat their Backs," from a January 7, 2002 Barna Research press release cited in ChristianWeek ) At first I thought there must be a mistake; perhaps these were fresh young seminary graduates, rosy-cheeked recruits who hadn't yet given congregations an opportunity to knock the starch out of them. But no! Nine out of ten seasoned church ministers said they are above average at preaching and teaching; 85 per cent of them claimed to do better than most at encouraging; and 82 per cent claimed to be above average at shepherding. The only area where there was even a hint of humility had to do with fund-raising, which is not surprising, given their difficulty in understanding averages.
Now, my first impulse is to request a survey of those who do surveys of pastors, but that's not pride, it's self-defence. I have found that the best antidote to pride in pastoral ministry is a congregation! And so it strikes me as odd and rather unseemly when those who serve congregations as Servants of the Word in response to a call from the Servant of servants, should be so cocky in their servant roles!
There is something generally unseemly in anyone who gets too big for their britches, and most of us enjoy seeing boastful and pompous people get their balloons pricked. It's like the two psychiatrists at a convention who were boasting about their cases, when one asked the other to cite the most difficult case he had ever solved. "Well," answered his colleague, "I once had a patient who lived in a pure fantasy world. He believed that he had a fabulously rich uncle somewhere in South America who someday would leave him a fabulous fortune. Every day, all day long he waited at home for a fantasy letter from some fictitious attorney. He never went out; he never did anything--just sat around and waited for this letter."
"Well," said his colleague, "what happened? How did you cure him?"
The psychiatrist stood tall as he answered, "It wasn't easy. It took eight years, and it was quite a struggle, but with determined skill and insight, I finally cured him."
"Amazing!" said his impressed colleague.
"Yes, it truly was," said the psychiatrist, "and then that stupid letter arrived...."
C.S. Lewis, who treats all of the Seven Deadly Sins in one way or another in his various books, uses humour to attack pride. He wasn't the first to discover this, of course. Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) said that "the prowde spirit ...cannot endure to be mocked," and his contemporary, Martin Luther (1483-1546), said that "the best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to the texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn."
The Scriptures Are not Proud of Pride
The Scriptures may not use humour to attack pride, but attack it they do. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, a good source of wisdom on any of the Seven Deadly Sins, lists seven things that are "detestable" to God, and among them are "haughty eyes" (6:16-17, NIV ). "Pride and arrogance" (8:13) do not fare well in Proverbs, where we are told:
It's not only biblical wisdom that warns against pride; one of the first examples of pride in the Bible is the construction of the Tower of Babel, a perfect emblem for pride, for at the start of construction they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves...." (Genesis 11:4) Well, that was one tower that fell, and the fall of many other towers and human monuments have echoed its fall.
Our reading from Isaiah says that the "haughty eyes of people shall be brought low, and the pride of everyone shall be humbled; ...the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; ... The haughtiness of people shall be humbled...." (Isaiah 2:11-12, 17) There are many other biblical phrases one could quote, but at the heart of the Scriptures' distaste for pride is its displacement of God. In the verses I just quoted, Isaiah contrasts human vanity with the "glory of (God's) majesty" (2:10, 19, 21). "The Lord alone will be exalted," says Isaiah. (2;11, 17), and then a most powerful statement at the end of the chapter: "Turn away from mortals, who have only breath in their nostrils, for of what account are they?" (2:22)
A few weeks ago I mentioned worm theology in one of my sermons, prompting one of you to ask about it, which in turn prompted me to look into its biblical source. It's a shorthand way of referring to theologies that have a low view of human beings, and one possible source is the Psalms, where the writer, feeling utterly dejected, says "I am a worm, ...not human; scorned by others, and despised...." (Psalm 22:6) Another source may be the book of Job, where we discover that worm theology is too lofty for some. One of Job's supposed friends (Bildad the Shuhite) asks Job, "How ...can a mortal be righteous before God? ... If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less a mortal, who is a maggot, and a human being, who is a worm!" (Job 25:4-6) For people who are greatly impressed with themselves, this should be required reading!
In the New Testament, the Corinthians, who were very proud of their great intellectual ability and tended to take themselves a tad too seriously, receive their comeuppance from the Apostle Paul, who effectively punctures their pride when he says, "Consider (that) ...not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world... God chose what is weak in the world... God chose what is low and despised in the world...." (1 Corinthians 1:26-28) Not the most uplifting words, but Paul writes them, he says, "so that no one might boast in the presence of God. (God) is the source of (our) life in Christ Jesus...." (1:29-30) Pride interferes with our recognition of God's grace.
Pride Pales in the Shadow of Noble Humility
There are many other biblical injunctions against pride; Jesus himself had words about it, and had little patience with it when the mother of two of his disciples asked for exalted status for her two sons. Jesus said that those "...who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Luke 14:11) And he underlined his words by encouraging childlikeness in his disciples. (Matthew 18:3) Jesus was much more impressed with humility than with pride. He suggested that it's much more gracious, when you're invited somewhere, to "sit down at the lowest place." (14:10) If your host moves you to a place of honour, fine, but don't presume that the place is yours!
On this particular week in the Church's observance of Christ's life, we have the most vivid examples of humility ever captured by human imagination. Jesus' entry into the Holy City--amid shouts of "Hosanna!" and the throwing of palm leaves--ranks as one of the greatest mockeries of pride ever expressed. The grand entries of military heroes and political messiahs astride impressive stallions are lampooned by Jesus' entry on the back of a donkey--a donkey!--not only one of the lowliest animals ever invented, but one of the clumsiest and most uncooperative! The people soon caught on, for they began to spread their outer clothing upon the street where the donkey was vacillating between a walk and an attempted gallop. Still others cut branches of palms from nearby trees and waved them in the air. And then the mantra begun--the chant of the people greeting the Messiah! Some may have believed this was the entrance of the Messiah; I think many were just happy to participate in the parody. The servant posture Jesus adopted was not parody, and it became even more pronounced later in the week when Jesus took upon himself the role of a slave, and washed his disciples feet!
Jesus must have looked ridiculous to some as he entered the Holy City on that silly beast, but that is not the way he is remembered by his followers, or by history. We celebrate his entrance as a coronation. We remember his silence before his accusers is a noble silence. We remember his acceptance of the Cross as a noble acceptance. His suffering on the cross was undertaken as nobly as extreme suffering can be taken. We remember his humility as a prerequisite for his exaltation, his humility immortalized by the hymn found in Philippians, chapter 2, where we read, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross. Therefore God ...highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name...." (Philippians 2:5-9)
There is something winsome and compelling about humility, especially in someone great. Apparently Albert Einstein never understood why anyone treated him as anything special. A mother was surprised to discover that her young daughter stopped in to see Einstein every day on her way home from school. One day the mother met Einstein and asked him, "What do you two talk about every day?" Einstein laughed, and said, "She brings me cookies and I help her with her arithmetic homework." (Lee Silber, "The Seven (Bad) Habits of Highly Ineffective Creative People--Big Head, Big Problems")
William Wordsworth described pride as "a whizzing rocket that would emulate a star." Pride's allure pales in comparison to the nobility of humility, especially Christ's humility. The Apostle Paul wrote, as a preface to the Philippians hymn, "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ... Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus...." (Philippians 2:1-2, 6) If ever there was a beautiful mind, a beautiful and compelling mind and spirit, it was the mind and spirit of Christ. May this same mind be in us. AMEN
Then there's the well-known Proverbs 16, verse 18: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.