Jesus - the electrician!
Soul Snack 172/12 ... Jesus - the electrician!#
It would be a very impressive trivia buff who answers the question, “What do Alexander Teves, John Larimer, Matthew McQuinn and Jon Blunk have in common?” The answer is that all four men are dead –
all four died on the same night – at the hands of a gunman James Holmes (the screening of The Dark
Knight Rises) – and that all four died protecting their girlfriends from the gunfire.
Recently Dr John Dixon a noted historian and TV documentary presenter pointed out that our society’s appreciation of humility actually began with Jesus. Up to that time, humility was considered as a weakness and not as a virtue. To be humble was to allow yourself to be belittled and humiliated. (Humility – humiliate – get it!?).
Jesus turned the thinking of society around by His words and His deeds. Jesus stayed at the home of a tax collector. Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. He touched ten men with leprosy. Jesus was loving towards adulterers and listened to prostitiutes. High society reacted very poorly to each of these choices. What is this man doing washing his servants’ feet or hanging around with women of the night and tax collectors?
Dr Dixon has searched the history books for any mention of humility as a virtue before the time of Jesus: thousands of documents: nothing.
Why do we look up to people who put others before themselves – people like Alex, Matt, John and Jon? It is because God makes us in His image. We are hard wired to understand that humility is a virtue – not a vice. The wiring was always there. It just took Jesus to make the connection.
The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. (Ps 147:6)
Today's Soul Snippet:
"When we become aware of our humility, we've lost it." Anon.
# Today's SoulSnack is reproduced and edited with the gracious permission of the author Dr Stuart Quarmby - Principal of Wollondilly Anglican College