Eye of the Needle
Jesus said to his disciples, “It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is
rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:24). Jesus uses this metaphor to
show that God’s grace is necessary for us to enter into salvation.
If we visit Bethlehem, we would find the gate, called, “The eye of the needle” at the entrance of the Church of the Nativity. It is the oldest church in the Holy Land. The highest lintel was the original entrance. The middle opening with an arch was built by the Crusader. The current 4-foot small entry was built around 1500 AD to prevent war animals from entering the Church. Whoever wants to enter the church, they would need to bow low. This place is a significant reminder that we enter the kingdom of heaven on bended knees.
A disciple is someone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, intentionally follows him, and strives to live more like him. The word “discipleship” is often used to describe a journey of spiritual growth; journey into Christlikeness.
Discipleship and the Beatitudes
The beatitudes paint a masterful
portrait of a disciple’s journey into Christlikeness. First we see them
acknowledging their spiritual poverty and mourning over it. This makes them
meek and gentle in all their relationships. They constantly hunger and thirst
for righteousness, longing to grow in grace. Since they live by grace, they
show mercy and grace to those battered by sin. They are cleansed and pure in
their hearts, and seek to play a role as peacemakers. But they are not
appreciated for their efforts, but rather opposed, slandered, and persecuted for
doing right in this world. They stay humble, and stay the course to the end.
Discipleship and Humility
A recurring quality from each
beatitude is humility. We may say
discipleship is a journey toward humility. God often uses our humiliating
experiences – our sickness, our aging process, our weakness – to make us
humble, to make us more like Christ. Humiliation is the road to humility. I am
often asked, “Where are you really
from?” Though all my children were born here in the US, they too are asked,
“Where are you really from?” This
question implies that you are not one of us. Until Joyce and I received green
cards in 2019, when we went through immigration at the airport after our
international trip, we were always set aside for further investigation though
we had all the papers. We often had to wait for long hours in an investigation
room and missed our connecting flights. One time we were almost deported. For
me personally, these humiliating experiences help me stay humble.
For many of us, aging process is another humiliating experience. I love the way Missy Buchanan describes it with a prayer poem. The title of the prayer is “I can’t do it now” [1]:
I can’t do it now I gave up the
keys to the car.
I knew it was time.
In fact, it was a relief.
But it was hard for this
do-it-yourselfer to admit I cannot do things I once could.
O Lord, my sense of independence
has taken a beating.
There are so many things I’d
like to do but can’t.
If I could, I would change an
overhead lightbulb and balance my checkbook.
But these tasks are hard for me
now.
At times I feel humiliated by my
dependence on others.
I don’t want to be a burden.
Lord, give me a humble spirit to
accept help graciously.
In my weakness you are strong.
In the mystery that is life,
help me to depend on you and trust your perfect plan.
Humiliation is the road to humility. Another good example is the film Driving Miss Daisy. It is a story about two main characters, Miss Daisy, the stubborn 72-year-old widow and her African-American driver, Hoke. The story begins when Miss Daisy crashes her car by putting her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. Her son, Boolie, tells her that no insurance company will now insure her and that she must get a chauffeur. He finds Hoke and hires him as her driver. On one occasion she yells at Hoke, “I don’t need you, I don’t want you, I don’t like you!” But gradually as Miss Daisy and Hoke spend time together, they grow to appreciate each other until years later she says to him, “You’re my best friend. Really.” Later on, Miss Daisy shows signs of dementia. Her son arranges for her to enter a retirement home. The film ends on a Thanksgiving Day in the retirement home. Boolie and Hoke both visit her. Now Missy Daisy is 97, and Hoke is 85. He notices that she has not eaten her pumpkin pie, and as she tries to pick up her fork, he gently takes the plate and fork from her. He cuts a small piece of pie and carefully feeds it to her. She is delighted. At the beginning, she refused to be dependent on him for anything. At the end, she is dependent on others for nearly everything.
Whether it is aging or sickness, whether it is a disappointment or a frustration, we need to learn to trust God who makes us humble like Christ in this process. “It is good for me that I was humbled, so that I might learn your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71, NRSV)
Our Lord Jesus is the humble Christ. He is born a baby, totally helpless and dependent on others. He needs to be fed, he needs to be washed, he needs to be held. And at the end, on the cross, once again he becomes totally vulnerable and dependent, unable to move. But he never loses his divine dignity.
Cultivating Humility
The more humble we stay, the more we become like Christ. As disciples
of Jesus, how can we then stay humble? How can we more proactively cultivate
humility in everyday life? For me personally, I always try to remember and
practice the advice of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, who preached
at one of the ordination services. His sermon was on humility and included the
following advice[2]:
1. Thank God, often and always...Thank God, carefully and wonderingly for your continuing privileges...Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.
2. Take care about the confession of your sins. Be sure to criticize yourself in God’s presence: that is your self-examination. Put yourself under the divine criticism: that is your confession...
3. Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly, but they help you to be humble. There can be the trivial humiliations. Accept them. There can be the bigger humiliations...All these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our humble and crucified Lord...
4. Do not worry about status...There is only one status that our Lord bids us to be concerned with, and that is the status of proximity to himself...
5. Use your sense of humor. Laugh about things, laugh at the absurdities of life, laugh about yourself, and about your own absurdity. We are all of us infinitesimally small and ludicrous creatures within God’s universe. You have to be serious, but never be solemn, because if you are solemn about anything, there is the risk of becoming solemn about yourself.
Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
When we are humble, we are poor in spirit and pure in heart.
When we are humble, we are meek and merciful. When we are humble, we are
mourning and hungry. When we are humble, we become peacemakers and the
persecuted. When we are humble, we are like Christ.
So far, I have shared much about the beatitudes as the journey toward humility, as the journey toward Christlikeness, but how is it possible for us? Many of us in this room love the beatitudes, but oftentimes, we feel the gap between its ideals and our reality, and we question, “Are its standards attainable?” In our own strength, it’s impossible. But God has given us his Holy Spirit to enable us to live the beatitudes. William Temple used to illustrate the point from Shakespeare in this way[3]:
It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me
to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t. And it is no good
showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like
that. Jesus could do it; I can’t. But if the genius of Shakespeare could come
and live in me, then I could write plays like his. And if the Spirit of Jesus
could come and live in me, then I could live a life like his.
Without the Holy Spirit, all our spiritual disciplines are no use. We practice spiritual disciplines in order to create room for the Spirit of Jesus to come and live in us and empower us to live a life like his. May we welcome and be filled with the Holy Spirit. By God’s grace, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, may we stay humble and stay the course until we enter the kingdom of heaven on our knees. Amen.
Amen. Praise God for His mercy.
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