Well, I'm spending the two talks today on the biblical background of the concept of humility. Most of my material in this series will be on the rule of Benedict and the monastic background of that, but today I'm talking about scripture. And I want to say this, that I'm not a scripture scholar, And consequently, I'm pretty dependent on my sources. My sources here, as I said this morning, one of them is a book, I don't have the exact title, it's by Klaus Mengst. Humility, The Solidarity of the Humiliated. That's about 1988 or something like that.

[01:08]

And the other source is the article in the Dictionary of Spirituality by Adness. I talked about the Old Testament material this morning, and just to recapitulate, the main point I wanted to drive home was that it seems anyway that in Greek classical culture, you don't have a single concept of humility as it will appear in the Bible. What you have is the tepainos, an adjective describing the attitude of slaves, submissiveness, deference toward superiors, and so on. On the other hand, the aristocracy is expected to be gentle and condescending and paternal and so on towards slaves.

[02:11]

And that attitude is prais. But you don't find the two things together in one person. If a nobleman is tapainos, It means he's got the mentality of a slave and he doesn't deserve to be a nobleman. All right. In the Old Testament, we start finding these two ideas combined and appreciated in a single person. I might mention, too, though, that the texts in the New Testament that I'm going to talk about do not appear in Benedict's rule. He, in chapter seven, he actually provides many scripture passages, but I'd have to say that none of the ones that I'm going to discuss here are provided. I don't want to fault Benedict for his choice of scripture passages.

[03:18]

But this, Wengst especially, points to certain passages, and I'm going to tell you basically what he's got to say about them. I would repeat, too, though, that Wengst, I'm pretty sure, is a Marxist. He was writing in East Germany. before the wall came down, and consequently there's always that current of resentment against the rich, and a great concern for the social consequences of this whole issue of humility. Well, we'll start with Paul. And the first passage I want to look at, well actually most scholars would not agree that Paul wrote it, but it is in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12, at least it's the Pauline school, it's somebody that has internalized, certainly internalized Paul's theology and at least wants to be thought of in the same

[04:40]

you know, along with Paul. Anyway, the passage reads, Colossians 3.12, because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. The two words here that are translated humility and meekness are precisely the two that we're dealing with, and that is Toplinus and Traiss. A citizen of Christ's new order should be both humble and gentle. When this yoke is not accidental, but it was a product of profound Pauline meditation on the meaning of Christ.

[05:45]

It was synergism. Remember now that Taipanos is basically theologically, humility, and a profound awareness of dependence on God, whereas praise has to do with my attitude toward my fellow brothers and sisters. It's more horizontal. We're saying here that Paul has somehow seen these things combined in a profound way in Christ himself, and that's where Paul's teaching comes from, the attitude that then he demands of Christians.

[06:54]

However, Wengst is not gonna be too easy on Paul. He's not too easy on anybody, in fact. He's willing to take a hard look at some things. He says, Paul did not come by this insight easily, for he still tends to think like a Greek. Now, there are probably lots of scholars who would, at that point, stand on their hind legs and bark. It's hard knowing where to place Paul. I mean, is Paul really a Greek? I mean, does he think like a Greek? He is certainly a Jew, from a Jewish family in Tarsus, says that he was educated by rabbis But anyway, Wengst insists that Paul sometimes argues like a Greek.

[08:01]

And in regard to this question about humility, he has betrayed some telltale attitudes. And he thinks that some of that turns up, for example, in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 10, There's a big taboo because the Corinthians have decided that Paul is a wimp. They have expressed their opinion that he's nothing but a little peanut that doesn't count for anything. And Paul is trying to fight back. And so in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 1, I, Paul, exert you by the meekness and kindness of Christ, I, who you say, when present in your midst, am lowly, but when absent, am bold towards you."

[09:12]

So he's saying to them, see, when I'm not around, then you are calling me a little wimp, topinos. And, you know, it hurts. Maybe he was a shrimp. You know, we don't know what Paul looked like, but some people take this pretty seriously and say, well, he must have cut a very prepossessing figure. However, he accepts the slur for the sake of the community of wimps. At least that's the way Wengst reads his text. And then he invokes the appeals to the magnanimity, praes, of Christ. See? By the meekness and kindness, the kindness of Christ, I, you say, when present in your midst am tapainos, but when absent I am bold toward you.

[10:26]

Ranks says this is a Greek argument, see. He's uneasy about being accused of having a kind of slaves mentality. People in Corinth are looking down their nose at him. And in order to defend himself, he actually appeals to the sort of aristocratic magnanimity of Christ. that somehow in Bank's mind, Paul is accepting these terms. You see, that's where his basic mistake lies, that this split between dependence and smallness of the little guy and aristocratic condescension, that's where the trouble starts. He also says that some of this same thing comes out in regard to Paul's working.

[11:38]

As a working man, you know, he brags sometimes that he hasn't asked for anything from anybody, that he's pursued his trade as a tent maker. and therefore he hasn't asked them for anything. Anyway, this text in 2 Corinthians 11, 7, Could I have done wrong when I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge, humbling myself with a view toward exalting you? Do you know what he says? He humbles himself and uses that term topainos about his working with his hands. Somehow, his working as a manual laborer, some people in the congregation or in the community don't take this very well.

[12:49]

They think that they don't want to be led by a common working man. And I guess we're aware that manual labor, apparently, at least among aristocratic Greeks, was definitely looked down upon. And the idea was that if you're going to insist on working like a slave, you're going to wind up with a mind like a slave, and that's a servile mind. unworthy of a general. So, here Paul is sort of caught in these kind of Greek arguments. However, there are other places where he comes off much better. And one of those is in Philippians chapter two, a wonderful chapter

[13:53]

Truly one of the crown jewels of the New Testament. I mean, if I was told I had to go to a desert island and I only get to take one page of the Bible, this is the page I'd take. Philippians chapter two. We're aware that it contains this wonderful Carmen Christi, the hymn of Christ. It's very early. Here's Paul writing in maybe 55 or something, already quoting an early Christian hymn to Christ, a hymn that's certainly older than 55 and maybe quite a bit older. Maybe the hymn goes back to the 30s, who knows? It's very, very old and it's extremely precious. Now in verse three, Never act out of rivalry or conceit. Rather, let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves."

[15:00]

And the adverb, humbly, is actually, in Greek, is an abstract noun, tepainophrosine, meaning with a humble mind. a humble mind. He's insisting that Christians ought to be humble-minded, which would make them quite unlike social climbers, if that's what was the thing to do for Greeks. But anyway, that's not what Christians ought to be. They ought to be to Pine of Racine. And this, the thing is these demands, these ethical demands are anchored in the hymn to Christ. In other words, whatever he's asking the Christians to be, it's because that's the way Christ is.

[16:05]

I might just mention that the very next verse, each of you looking out for others' interests rather than his own is virtually coded in RB 72 and verse five, something like that. Looking out for others' interests rather than your own. So here we have material that is really classic monastic material and it's coming right out of the heart of the New Testament. Of course, the humility of Christ in the Carmen Christi, in this hymn, is not expressed by the word taupinos, but rather kenosis. I'll read a few verses if anybody still doesn't know what I'm talking about. Though he was in the form of Christ, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at.

[17:11]

Rather, he emptied himself kenosis, and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of men, human beings. And Wengst makes a nice point when he says that this coming of Christ into the world is not the condescension of an aristocratic divinity. Because he does not simply make a kind of cameo appearance on The Letterman Show or something. It's not just one of these pop jobs. But rather, he becomes a dulos. He becomes a slave along with the other slaves. I suppose it's hard to exactly gauge what a doulos is, but I mentioned this morning that something that stuck in my mind, they found these bones at Herculaneum of slaves, clearly there were slaves.

[18:31]

who were overwhelmed by the mudslide right down below Vesuvius, and all the bones are bent, the leg bones, the back bones, and so forth, are bent from carrying these tremendous loads that were not fit for human beings. Being a slave was no joke. For Jesus to become a doulos, was truly a plunge into the dregs of the human condition. He shares the lot of the humiliated. And I think in some ways that is the essence of really being poor, is you will be humiliated. You will wait in offices for hours and hours. Nobody cares. You have no clout at all. You will wait in lines. You will just simply wait. But Dunois, as he was, he was raised up.

[19:41]

The hymn insists that because of this, God highly exalted him and so on. And so I think that's a really strong text right there. to identify with the typinosis of Christ if we want to be raised up. And that's probably part of the crisis of the priesthood today. So much of it has been based on privilege. I think until the priests, in general, have identified again with poor people and simple people, I don't think we're going to be able to be rehabilitated as a class. I think right now, if you go to places like Ireland, where I just came back from, the priesthood is in absolute shambles and disgrace.

[20:43]

A lot of the old resentment and anger is now coming out because, of course, of the pedophilia scandals and so on. Until we become humble, we will not be respected. And maybe we're being humiliated now for our own damn good. I hate to say it, but maybe some good will come out of this. I can tell you, I have one confreer who has been terribly humiliated, has had to go through treatment program and so forth. He's come home a new man. I mean, he has brought us more grace in the last couple of years because of, you know, what's come out of this. So we should hope. Move over to Luke. Wentz likes Luke because he says Luke keeps humility attached to social conditions.

[21:47]

He doesn't like it when the rich take over words like on a whim and so forth and say, we're the poor. No, you're not. He doesn't like that. And he thinks that one of the great stories from Luke, one of the best texts is in Luke chapter 14, rather 18, the Pharisee and the Publican. Everybody knows that little parable. I'm not gonna, I don't have to read it. A perfect parabolic illustration of our point. In fact, It illustrates the same Logian that Benedict uses in RB 7.1. That's the text he starts out with in the big chapter on humility. The proud shall be humbled and the humble exalted. That's Luke 18.14. The problem, it becomes perfectly clear in this parable because the Pharisee, although he is perfectly tapinous toward God, you see, he's fully dependent and in awe of the majesty of God and so forth, he's disdainful toward the publican.

[23:14]

He lacks He is not praise toward the public, and he sneers at him, oh, I'm glad I'm not like this guy. You know, it's painful to read this, and we think, oh, he must, how could anybody be so stupid? But Venk says, there you see it, the split, the split between a vertical spirituality that is perfectly pious, but is not is not aware of common creatureliness with my sister and my brother, and therefore is disdainful. He was not justified because he lacks half of this vital combination. Obviously, the publican has got it all together. even though he can hardly talk, but he is truly tapainos kaiprais.

[24:20]

Another text you're probably even thinking of is precisely the one in the Magnificat in chapter one of Luke and verse 48, for he has looked upon his servant, servant girl, in her lowliness. On all ages to come she'll call me blessed." Tapanis's taste delays. Now there's two words together. Now it's quite clear. Her humility is precisely the humility of a delays, a female servant, a slave. When we use the word servant, that's sort of genteel, isn't it? You know, that's not quite as bad as slave, but when you use that term slave, I think we still shudder.

[25:25]

Slavery was a horrible thing. I don't want to claim, though, that she was socially a slave. I think Jesus' parents were what should we say, lower middle class or something like that. I mean, we don't get the impression that they were impoverished or destitute or anything like that. He was a free carpenter, construction worker, something like that. However, that good old Marxist, Rengst, says, hey, this is great, this is a revolutionary cry on the part of this girl. You know, she is not a worm, but she is glorying in the fact that the Messiah will in fact be born of the working class. That's great. It's interesting to see the contrast with Agnes in the dictionary.

[26:34]

Talking about the same text, Agnes says, oh, well, she's not just socially poor, but spiritually. You know, he wants to make it clear that this is not just a question of class conflict. You know, as a matter of fact, that's somewhat of an issue in the New Testament, because you know, perhaps, that in the Beatitudes, Luke simply has blessed are the poor, period. But Matthew has blessed are the poor in spirit. And the question is, well, which one of them is closest to the words of Jesus, if we can even talk about that? Has Matthew found Luke's statement about the poor troubling? Well, he's maybe thinking to himself, hey, I know some poor who aren't very blessed.

[27:37]

I mean, it's a spiritual condition. It's not just physical poverty or destitution. But the other side of the coin is that we, fairly quickly tend to dissociate a word like poor, on a whim, from the actual physical condition. And we had a discussion we had in here this morning about, yeah, well, we Benedictines are not Franciscans. And sometimes we Benedictines maybe drive a Mercedes and say, hey, I'm not a Franciscan. But it's the community of Mercedes. Aren't we lucky? And driving a Mercedes is eventually going to get you in trouble, if you're a monk. And I shouldn't do this, but I have to quote the case of the present unfortunate, miserable Archbishop of Vienna, who was having to step down

[28:46]

because of accusations. I don't know if the accusations are correct, but very strange background. He was, I think, a diocesan priest who started a shrine, and the shrine was very popular, and he had lots of money, but then he joined the Benedictines. And I read, and it's true, yes, he drove over every day to the novitiate in his Mercedes. And that's the way he made, you know, so he hasn't got much of a leg to stand on right now. However, I want to spend most of my time here, at least, you know, we won't have much time for dialogue tonight. I guess this is a shorter session, but Matthew, Matthew, there's a great text in Matthew Matthew 11. Let me read the whole text, just a couple of verses. Matthew 11, 25 through 30.

[29:49]

On one occasion Jesus spoke thus, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise. For what you have hidden from the learned and the clever, you have revealed to the merest children. Father, it is true, you have graciously willed it so. Everything has been given over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him. Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, For I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I think it's a great passage. For one thing, it's almost certainly verbatim words of Jesus.

[30:56]

Even these guys in the Jesus Seminar out in Claremont give it red letters. Wow, the highest possible praise. They couldn't find any reason to throw it out. It shows Jesus relating to his father in very intimate terms, in a kind of quasi-Johannine fashion. Probably the only place in Matthew's gospel where you get that same kind of Johannine depth of intimacy. And then to put icing on the cake, de Vogue thinks that it's a very influential passage somehow in the background of the rule of Benedict. That in the chapter on humility and also in prologue, in the prologue, the school of the Lord's service, learn of me, Vogue connects that up with the scola.

[31:59]

Anyway, the key point is that Jesus here presents himself as gentle and humble of heart. Praiskai tapinos te kardia. So there, you know, the two adjectives brought together and personally applied by Jesus to himself. This should now strike us as very significant as the product of a long evolution of biblical understanding. He is humble toward God, but as the son of the Father. This is great tenderness in this passage. And in regard toward others, his brothers and sisters, he describes himself as praise gentle, probably reflecting Matthew's third beatitude, blessed are the gentle, the weak, when they shall possess the earth.

[33:10]

Vengst considers that that beatitude is an expansion on the one before it, blessed are the poor in spirit. And he thinks in spirit means voluntarily. Okay, that's probably a nice translation. We talked about that this morning here in the discussion. At any rate, Jesus has chosen to live in solidarity with the poor. No matter what class he was from, it's clear he's reaching out all throughout the Gospels to the lowest. Nobody's too low for Jesus' concern. And in this passage, he calls them the nepheoi, the little ones. the merest children, the nephioi. He doesn't call them topinoi, but still. And Wengst insists that this is not just pious followers, but in fact, the downtrodden, the burdened, and the worked to death.

[34:32]

Worked to death, that's some. It's an interesting idea. There was a book appeared a couple of years ago called The Diary of a Hard-Worked Woman. Not the hard-working woman, but a hard-worked woman. Something from the 19th century in Colorado describing the life of a of a person just struggling mightily to keep body and soul together. And God knows how many millions of women and people all over the world now are just barely making their work to death. And personally, I have got a feeling that altogether too many Americans are either work to death or working themselves to death. I think work is a terrific problem right now. Maybe it always has been. Anyway, Jesus will refresh those downtrodden people by giving them a new yoke, and the new yoke will be bearable because of solidarity.

[35:48]

Solidarity with him. He's not promising them to remove the yoke It's not social revolution, but he is sharing it with them, and he himself is praes kaitapanos. So those are my remarks on the biblical background of humility. And probably it would be quite possible to say, I mean, we can only look at so many texts, but I hope that that is at least produce some interesting ideas.

[36:30]

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