Humility

Christ is Perfect God and Perfect Man. 

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Anthony van Dyck)

I have long considered the infinite humility of Christ.

Christ is Perfect God and Perfect Man.  That means that He truly understands all things in the past, present and future.  He understands the Prophecies perfectly.  That means that when He rode that donkey into Jerusalem and when He smiled at the crowds and loved them and blessed them, He knew that within a week they would kill Him and turn away from all things holy.

And still He sat on the donkey and loved those people.  He loved them.  Perfectly.

He did not withhold His love from Saint Simon Peter – even knowing that He would be denied three times before the cock crowed.  He did not withhold His love from Judas Iscariot, for whom it would be better if he were never born.  He did not withhold His love from anyone – not even from the Jews who cried so loudly “Hosana” and would later cry, “Crucify Him…”

He did not look at those souls and say, I know what is coming, I can see the failure that will be, so for now, I will only give them a little of my love because they deserve no more than that…

“When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.  Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!’   Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.” (Mark 11:7-11).

Imagine the humility in that.  The complete surrender to the Will of God in the present moment…  Christ does not look to the future, He lives entirely in the present and understands that if God had wanted Him to witness the betrayal of these souls, He would have presented it to Him…  Instead, God allows the good in those souls to be present and allows Christ to humbly submit to recognising that goodness.

This is the same humility as in Bethlehem and later on Calvary. 

And I have been reflecting on that today, as I lay down my palms with all the others.  For Christ is looking on me with the same love that He looked on those souls twenty centuries ago.  And His love for me requires such humility because He KNOWS the sins of my soul.  And He KNOWS that I am going to fail.  He knows that while I cry “Hosana” now, I will cry “Crucify Him…” through all of my actions in a matter of days.

And through my sin, I will kill my God again and again, and still, I will ask Him to humble Himself to love me on the one day a year when I cry “Hosana” through my sins.

Of the humility of my awesome God!  Oh, the humility!

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.