On humility

Today is the fourteenth Ordinary Sunday of Year A. Zechariah told us that the Messiah would humbly ride on a colt into the Holy City, Jerusalem.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9).
And we know that Jesus was that Messiah. He was humble. As the Word of God, he worked with the Father to create this universe. He deserved our honour and glory. Yet, he refrained from using his power to demand our surrender of our free will. He allows us to say no to his invitation. He only encourages us to take his yoke and learn from him.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30).
Remember, it is a yoke, a burden and a challenge. Yet he is gentle and humble. He does not coerce. He understands our needs and entices us into accepting his help.
Therefore, humility does not mean admitting our own ignorance and incompetence. Rather, it means refraining from making use of one's might and strength. Imagine a Karate black-belt. If he is not humble, a lot of people will be hurt. Unfortunately, many movies portray those assertive and trigger-happy people as heroes, rather than those who refuse to settle disputes with sheer brute force. Christians are expected to follow the example of Christ and Matthew has laid down eight rules of life in the Beatitudes: poor in spirit, mournful, meek, righteous, merciful, pure in heart, peaceful and willing to suffer persecution  (Matthew 5:3-12).
As a Chinese Christian, we can draw inspiration from the fertile soil of Confucianism. What examples has Confucius set up for us? The following is inevitably in Chinese.

孔子的仕途並不順利，在魯國當過三年官，見到魯定公沉緬女樂，不理朝政之後，又一次帶著學生周遊列國，去推銷「仁政」的政治理想。還是他的學生的推銷手法高明，當孔子停滯在衛國的時候，冉有（即「子有」）遊說魯國的權臣季孫，結果安排到魯哀公接見孔子。故事記載在【孔子家語‧儒行解】。
孔子在衛，冉有言於季孫曰：國有聖人而不能用，欲以求治，是猶郤步而欲求及前人，不可得已。今孔子在衛，衛將用之，己有才而以資鄰國，難以言智也，請以重幣延之。季孫以告哀公，哀公從之。
其實，當時的孔子，已經一把年紀。所以，他把心血都傾注到「六經」的修訂上。
從【儒行解】，我們可以一睹儒者的行為風範。孔子就儒者的十五方面，向哀公詳細解釋。包括了：自立、容貌、備預、近人情、特立；剛毅、自守、為任、憂思、寬裕；舉賢援能、特立獨行、規為、交友、尊讓。
最後一點「尊讓」，是總結，亦與今天所談的「謙遜」近似，姑抄錄如下：
「夫溫良者，仁之本也，慎敬者，仁之地也，寬裕者，仁之作也，遜接者，仁之能也，禮節者，仁之貌也，言談者，仁之文也，歌舞者，仁之和也，分散者，仁之施也，儒皆兼而有之，猶且不敢言仁也，其尊讓有如此者。」
「仁」是儒家的核心思想，「仁」的方方面面，儒者兼而有之，猶且不敢言仁，這不就是耶穌所教訓的「謙遜」嗎？
孔子的教訓，有很多地方與耶穌或保祿的教訓，不謀而合。例如「自守」一段，讀過之後，你可能有似曾相識的感覺。
「儒有忠信以為甲冑，禮義以為干櫓，戴仁而行，抱義而處，雖有暴政，不更其所，其自守有如此者。」


Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace;
besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:13-17).

My dear Advocate, I am an arrogant man. Guide my steps in humility. I pray that I may lead an authentic Chinese Christian life. Amen.