Greatness comes from humility

 

Deep down we all want to be great. This desire goes hand in hand with our innate desire for happiness. We want our lives to have meaning and purpose, and we want to make a difference. The question is “How?” How do we do this? How do we achieve true greatness?

From a worldly perspective, greatness can often become synonymous with success, riches, power, admiration from others, etc.  But from a divine perspective, greatness is achieved by humbly giving God the greatest glory we can with our lives.

Giving God all the glory has a double effect upon our lives.  First, doing so allows us to live in accord with the truth of life.  The truth is that God and God alone deserve all our praise and glory.  All good things come from God and God alone.  Second, humbly giving God all the glory and pointing to the fact that we are unworthy of Him has the reciprocal effect of God reaching down and elevating us to share in His life and His glory.

That is why the gospel passage I reflected on today has a relevant resonance for us when we reflect on the conversation between John the Baptist and the priests, Levites and Pharisees who come out to challenge him with their questions (John 1:19-28):

"Who are you?  Are you Elijah?  Are you the Prophet?  Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?

This last question is the one that reveals the hearts of the questioners.  They’re asking not for themselves but for "those who sent us".  They have no commitment to the question; it didn’t arise from their personal desire for the Messiah.

Religious practice and religious practitioners can fall into this depersonalization of what can be a true faith experience.  When religious practice does not express our own personal hunger for Jesus, for a share in the saving grace that emanates from His victory on the Cross, and from the triumph of His Resurrection, then we’re only echoing the questions and concerns of "those who sent us".

When we hunger to know Jesus and His life-giving grace in our life, when we’re drawn to spend time in prayer with Jesus, and when we see the providential love of God working in the events of our life, then we know with certainty the Lord Jesus in our life, and the grace of God will see that we’re growing in age, wisdom, and grace throughout the new year of 2021.