Walking Humbly Before the Lord

John 13:3-4 “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

It is not uncommon for religious folks to say that there is a lot wrong with America today. Rarely, however, do Christians indicate that community is something that is missing from American society. Despite the relative silence on the subject of community from the Christian right—though they are very loud when it comes to issues like abortion and homosexuality—America’s inability to create community is something that many Americans, both Christian and non-Christian, recognize as a very real problem. In the sixties, students rebelled against a government and society that they felt did not allow them to be whom they were supposed to be. One of these movements against America’s cultural institutions was the Students for a more Democratic society. As they indicated in their foundational document, The Port Huron Statement, Americans were unsatisfied with their lives because there was “no real conception of personal identity except one manufactured in the image of others, no real urge for personal fulfillment except to be almost as successful as the very successful people.” Many students rebelled from this competitive, impersonal, and stultifying environment by dropping out. Some hoped to find something that transcend the media images they were increasingly being bombarded with. Some formed communes in the hopes of finding themselves.

It is tempting to think of these folks who “dropped out” of society by joining communes as finding themselves by rejecting their communities. In order to find themselves, they had to leave everyone else behind. They had to get away from it all. Some of the folks who founded these communes went to Amish communities to learn from them the skills they would need to make a more independent life. They were probably very surprised to discover that these Amish were the Americans who were most dependent on their communities and most willing to humble themselves before their friends. Most of them went to learn how to can vegetables and build homes; few went searching for the reason that the Amish “dropped out” of modern American society. The Amish dropped out of American society so that they could better become servants of the Lord. They decided that worldly, modern possessions inhibited this growth, and they therefore decided not to adopt electrical appliances or automobiles. In order to be more dependent upon the Lord, they decided that they could not become dependent upon what the world had to offer them.

Most Christians today would wonder what cars have to do with humbling ourselves before the Lord? Perhaps an automobile might be a tool that might help us to serve the Lord better. If one looks at the Amish and their communities, however, I think that we can begin to see why depriving themselves of automobiles is so important for their Christian walks. Unlike the world around them, the Amish don’t feel anonymous within a world of big advertisers, nationally syndicated shows, and Tickle-me Elmos. They are radically attached to a place and a community. They cannot travel very far very fast. They have forced themselves to rely upon each other. By getting rid of their automobiles, they have forced themselves to be dependent upon each other. If they need help, they have to humble themselves before their friends and ask for assistance. Within their tightly knit, small communities they cannot remain anonymous. They are unable to drive away and start a new anonymous life somewhere else when they become trapped in a sin. They have to allow their friends to labor with them in love. They have to work things out since they cannot just leave, and they cannot remain individuals in a place where they have to rely on their neighbors. In short, by denying themselves automobiles they have forced themselves to humble themselves to each other.

I think that this helps me to understand better how we, as Christians, might follow the model set by Jesus Christ when he washed the feet of his disciples. He was and is the greatest of all possible people. He is unique in being both fully human and fully divine. Yet even he humbled himself before his disciples. Indeed, Christ’s life is one in which He sacrificed himself for the sake of His disciples and the rest of humanity. He died so that we might live. Christ’s life is thus an even more radical commitment to community and to humility than the Amish.

The lesson of Christianity to the world around it is that human beings might better find out who they are by first dying to themselves. Perhaps the first step in following this Biblical model is to abandon our search for bigness. Stop looking for more money, buying bigger houses, becoming the smartest person, or striving to become the toughest nation on the block. In our search for big things we have lost ourselves. The unrest of the 1960s is an example of the effects of striving for bigness. In searching for our own glory we lost ourselves. We became lonely and isolated. Perhaps we can find ourselves by humbling ourselves before our God, and what better way to practice humility than by humbling ourselves before God’s servants. This is why loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and strength is the greatest commandment. Loving our neighbors with all our hearts, minds, and strength flows out of devotion and obedience to God. Walking humbly before all of humanity is what Christ did for us, and it is how we should walk before God and before each other. Whatever we do unto the least of these is truly what we do unto the Lord, and practicing humility before the least of these helps us to become more humble before the Lord.

How might we apply this desire for humility to our lives? What does a humble life look like? Do we need to give up our worldly possessions? Perhaps. It seems to have worked rather well for the Amish who in being radically humbled before each other are radically humble before our Lord. It might be good for all of us to start looking at those parts of our lives that prevent us from better exhibiting the humility that God performed before us when he washed his disciples’ feet. What things get in the way of acting humbly before God and each other? One person might find that he or she watches too much television. Perhaps by turning it off he or she might be able to find more opportunities to create community with her fellow Christians. Perhaps by refusing to want to be the best student, employee, or historian Christians might find more time to dedicate to each other rather than to themselves. This searching of oneself is perhaps best left to the individual believer, but it something that Christians ought to be more self-conscious of.

A few decades ago, an historian named Samuel Hill reflected on Southern white churches. He asked himself why white church communities were not more concerned about the civil rights struggle going on around them. He concluded that it was because they were primarily concerned with justification. Once a seeker declared faith in Christ, the process was over. As such, they ignored the evils that went on around them so that they might focus on getting everyone to say they had faith in Christ. Such an imbalance continues today. Perhaps we should more strongly emphasize fellowship that we can daily become more like Christ. We should lovingly point out to each other the worldly things that keep us from producing better fruit. Perhaps the world around us really does matter. Perhaps the world around us can keep us from growing in Christ. Perhaps we should not call it quits once a seeker learns a Christian lexicon. We should recognize that the stuff we have and the the stuff we do are not just a tool that can be used for good or evil depending upon the person in control of that stuff. Material things have a power too.

We ought to seriously reflect upon what is leading us astray today. What makes us so concerned about funding a national military so that we can be strongest country in the world? Why is it so important that I tune into American Idol; would that time be better spent reading, writing, or laughing with my child? Is this car helping me get to where I need to go, or is it enabling me to get away from where I need to be? Are these activities and things helping us in our walk to become more like Christ, are they neutral, or do they hinder our walk. I think that most Christians would regard such things as neutral in our walk with the Lord, and perhaps they have neither positive nor negative affects for individual believers. On the other hand, I don’t think many self-proclaimed Christians—with the exception of the Amish and few other plain believers—have spent much time reflecting on the effect that such things and actions have on us. Since so many other non-believers feel alienated by what the world has to offer, we might do well to think and pray about the effects that such things have upon us. Apparently, most Americans feel that something is missing in our hyper-consumerism. If we reflect upon the things that lead us astray and abandon those things that lead us astray, we might actually be able to show all those seekers out there that they can find themselves by first dying to themselves.