Year A
Ezekiel 18:25-28
Psalm 25:4-5.6-7.8-9 (R. 6a)
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 21:28-32
Humility Necessary for Conversion, Repentance and Holiness of Life
Last week we looked at the fact that God is life. We realized that Justice and generosity are exclusively part of the life of God. We saw how Justice is found in Jesus Christ as our savior and Generosity is found in the Holy Spirit who is the generous spirit poured upon us. Today we look at the humility of the divine and by extension the necessity of humility in conversion, repentance, holiness of life.
Mostly the tall wants others to look up to them, they think the short are down to earth. But if we look at our beginnings as humans, you will see that we must all be down to earth. Looking at the creation of man, we see that we are all called to be humble. If nothing at all, let the soil you walk on remind you that you were formed from it. Even if you will not remember that, let the sight of infants remind you that your beginnings was of a state of humility, being nothing.
For the purpose of understanding today’s readings, let look at the mystery of the blessed Trinity. The Mystery of the Trinity is that, there is One God and there are three Persons in this One God. These Three Persons are God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This Mystery is clear in the Old Testament, but Jesus Christ came to make us understand it clearer in the New Testament, when he gave us the mandate to go and Baptize in the “name” of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (cf. Matthew 28:19). Now we have the singular word Name, and each of the three Person are linked to it with the possessive “of”.
So the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity states that God the Father is God, God the Son is God, and God the Holy Spirit is God, However, God the Father is neither God the Son nor God the Holy Spirit, God the Son is neither God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit, and God the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father nor God the Son. This is why it is a Mystery, because Mystery himself is God.
Let’s dip a little further with three analogies.
The Trinity could be understand in a simple practical way as for instance me, the words that come from me, and the love that exist between me and those words I utter. The words I utter is different from me but share my nature as is from a human, and also the love that exist between me and the words I utter is different from me and the words I utter, but also share my nature as is of a human. Everybody love the words that come from their mouth no matter the situation whether angry or not, because they think or beget them and say it. The words also love the one who says it because it does exactly what the one who utters it wants. In this analogy, I am God the Father, my words are God the Son, and the love between me and my words is God the Holy Spirit.
With this we can use the second analogy of a Lover, Love and his Beloved. Scriptures makes us understand that God is Love (cf. 1 John 4:8). Now Love is of three part. In Love, we have the one who Love, the one who is loved and the bond of love between the two. If I love someone the person is my beloved and I his lover. If the person returns my love it means there is a bond of love between us. So the Lover is different from the Beloved and the Bond of Love between them, the Beloved is different from the Lover and the Bond of Love between them. And also, the Bond of Love between them is different from the Lover and the Beloved. But they all have one thing in common, Love. Hence the Lover is Love, the Beloved is Love and the Bond of Love between them is Love. In this analogy, the Lover is God the Father, the Beloved is God the Son, and the Bond of Love is God the Holy Spirit.
Now to the Final analogy which will help us understand today’s readings. There is God and he knows Himself. But what thus he know about Himself? He knows that He is who he is (cf. Exodus 3:14). Now if he knows himself that “He is who he is,” then it means he has a Knowledge or an Idea about Himself. This Knowledge of himself is to him his identity. Therefore, he will Love this identity or Knowledge of Himself. God’s knowledge of himself is distinct from himself, and since it is not Himself but the Knowledge or idea of himself, the idea will also possess the nature of God, including been one. So God’s knowledge of himself is not ideas but an idea and so we do not call this knowledge God has of himself ideas or words, but Word, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Since the Word of God is also God, just as God love the knowledge of himself, the knowledge of himself also love God and from this we see the Holy Spirit as God’s Love of himself. Where the Father is the Son and the Spirit are, where the Son is the Father and the Spirit are, and Where the Spirit is, the Father and the Son are.
With this let’s gradually enter today’s reading. The second reading which Priests and Seminarians pray it every Saturday evening is my favorite prayer. It reminds me of the fact that the Knowledge of God with all his Divinity and Supremacy, lowered and humbled himself to the extent of giving his all to us on the Cross. It is God’s knowledge of himself, who wanting who God is to be practical and physical to us emptied himself by becoming flesh. This is what we called Kenosis.
Just as God is triune, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 makes us understand that humans have three part, body, soul, and spirit. This is also seen clear during the creation of Man, where God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The dust of the ground forms man’s body or flesh, the breath of life is man’s spirit and then the soul as a product of these two as they reacted during the creation of man. Hebrews 4:12 also makes us understand that the word of God as a double edge sword distinguish the spirit from the soul. Man’s spirit is the highest of this three, followed by the soul and the weakest part of man is his flesh.
So God’s knowledge of himself lowered himself to the extent of taking not only man’s spirit and soul, but also the weakest part of man, by becoming flesh. What today Paul put’s it as Kenosis, John’s Gospel 1:14, puts it as Incarnation or as in the Greek, sarkosis. God who is the creator of Heaven and Earth lowered himself to teach us that humility is necessary for conversion, repentance and Holiness of life.
The point is, we all have knowledge about ourselves, but for such a knowledge to become practical and physical to benefit ourselves and others, humility is crucial and needed. Even looking at the fact that God created the world out of nothing, you must realized that for God to do something for you, you must become nothing.
So in the Gospel, Jesus gives a parable which evidently talks about the pride of the Chief priests and the elders of the people. They are the first son who accepted to go and work in the vineyard but did not go, while the tax collectors and the harlots are they who did say they will not go, but later went.
Looking at the chronology of the parable, those who said they will not go where the first to be asked followed by those who said they will go. Thus because they deemed themselves to be better than the first Son, pride took root in them. Pride sets in a soul which thinks it is better than others, and Pride is the treat of the Devil.
Yes, a person with pride is a person at the side of Satan. According to Isaiah 14:12-16, because of Satan's pride he was thrown down from heaven. For the three parts of man, the spirit seeks life, the soul seeks Truth and the body seeks direction. It is interesting that Scriptures uses serpent to represent or symbolize the Devil. The fact is, serpents have poor eyesight, they do not see details, they only see shapes. This is what pride does to us we become blind or poor sighted and fall into sins.
While the spirit because it seeks live give life as Jesus said to gain life you must lose your life for his sake (cf. Matthew 16:25), the soul seeking truth searches, test and experiments everything for knowledge. Because of the souls situation, it turns against the spirit and delights in the senses of the body which already seeks direction as the weakest part of man.Thus humility stems from the spirit of man, while pride stems from the soul of man which seems to see itself as equal to the spirit as it is also an invisible part of man and hence seeks to control the spirit.
This is why man fell from the beginning. There were two trees mentioned by name in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instead of eating from the tree of life, which they were not prohibited from eating, they ate the one God prohibited them from eating. Why will God after creating all things and declaring them good prohibit them from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Well if the spirit is the highest part of man and its food is the tree of life, we must feed it with the tree of life.
How can we do this? Just as Jesus gave a parable, let me also give a parable. There was a man who knelt down and was searching for his key which he had lost. It was in the night and he was under the street light searching for the key, and a Policeman who was passing by stopped and asked him what he was looking for and he responded that his key. The Policeman asked him whether he lost it under the street light and he said no. And the Policeman asked again that then why are you searching for it under the street light, and he answered that the light is bright here.
This man was not ready to enter into the dark and search for his key, he was contempt with the light and was afraid to enter the dark were his key was. Most of us are afraid to lower ourselves and enter people's lives and bring them consolation. We do not want to enter people's shoes and situations. Entering the dark to seek your key is humility, scholars need it to advance in learning, presidents need it to develop and implement policies, sinners need it to convert and repent, saints need it to grow in Holiness.
This is what Jesus Christ, the Son of God has taught us. This is why the old Adam was a living soul but Jesus the last Adam became life-giving Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45). Feed your spirit with humility.
By Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
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