Christ Church Sermon, Unsung: Humility, October 4th, 2026

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Thank you for listening.

Today's scripture reading is from the

New Testament, the Gospel of John,

chapter 13:es 3-5.

This passage is part of a narrative that

Bible scholars call the last supper

discourse, which in turn is part of a

large larger section of John's gospel

called the book of glory. Hear now this

reading from the New Testament.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all

things under his power and that he had

come from God and was returning to God.

So he got up from the meal, took off his

outer clothing and wrapped a towel

around his waist. After that, he poured

water into a basin and began to wash his

disciples feet, drying them with a towel

that was wrapped around him.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the

church. Thanks be to God.

Thank you, Mark. So, I want to begin our

time together with a question.

What or who keeps you humble?

We all have those moments where we get

humbled a little bit. Now, for some of

us, that moment may be when someone

waves at you and being the friendly

person you are, you wave back nice and

big only to realize that they were

actually waving at someone behind you.

and now you have to make up an excuse

for what you were doing with your hands.

Or maybe for some of us, it's when your

9-year-old corrects your math repeatedly

and accurately. And I don't know from

personal experience or anything.

Life has a way of humbling us. But being

humbled and being humble are different.

Being humbled happens to you, happens to

all of us. But being humble is something

that you choose. It's something that we

allow the spirit to develop in us. It's

a way that you carry yourself in the

world and how you connect with other

people. And that's the unsung trait that

we are going to talk about today. Jesus

modeled humility for us and told us that

we are to follow his example and do

likewise

because if we want to serve, if we want

to faithfully and effectively live out

our disciplehip,

humility is something that we need to

embrace.

In today's scripture, Jesus kneels and

washes his disciples feet. Now, in first

century Palestine, roads were unpaved,

dusty, and littered with animal debris.

So, homes kept large jars of cool water

by the entrance for washing visitors

feet. It was so expected that failing to

offer this was a social scandal against

the host. But that isn't the scandal in

our scripture. The scandal in this

passage is who did the washing.

Jewish legal texts list footwashing

among the 30 the 30 tasks a Hebrew slave

owed to their master. The Romans

considered it so demeaning that they

sometimes assigned it to conquered

foreigners as a means of humiliation.

And rabbis even debated whether a

student could wash his own teachers feet

and most decided it was too menial of a

task. So, it's no wonder in the verse

right after what Mark read for us that

Simon Peter, Jesus's a disciple, tries

to refuse Jesus. The disciples weren't

even supposed to be doing this for

Jesus, let alone having Jesus kneel to

wash their feet.

Footwashing happened all the time in

this culture, but it never happened in

this way.

Of course, our modern world and culture

would also have some issues with

footwashing. We as a church try to

create opportunities to deepen our faith

and grow together as disciples. And so

if I were to announce to you that this

upcoming week we are going to be having

a footwashing class where we would all

come together and remove our shoes or

better yet we'd commit to each other to

not wear any shoes or bathe our own feet

from now until Wednesday. I can imagine

that many of you may find your schedules

all of the sudden packed with conflicts

and reasons why you just can't make it

to that class. But of course, both for

our disciples and for us, it's not just

the physical act of washing or touching

someone else's feet that's really at

stake here. It's the posture and the

place that Jesus chose to occupy that

really upsets the established way of

things and calls us to something more.

It was the humility that Jesus chose to

embody.

Humility is a difficult practice in our

age. We're encouraged to promote

ourselves and measure life by visibility

and control and influence.

That humility is more often seen and

treated as weakness. That if I am

humble, then I'm letting people walk all

over me.

Well, John Wesley said in his sermon,

the circumcision of the heart, that

humility is not weakness, but honesty, a

right and accurate portrayal of

ourselves and a realization that

everything good in us is a reflection of

God's grace and generosity. He said that

humility is a sign of grace at work and

a practice that deepens our love for

others.

Unfortunately, a humble heart isn't

always the goal in our world, and that

impacts how we can love others.

We could spend all day talking about

what's wrong with the world around us,

but on this topic in particular, I think

we need to look in the mirror. In 2022,

the Episcopal Church conducted a study

asking non-Christians and non-religious

people what traits they associate with

Christians. So, what do you think they

found?

Now, if we move forward in the chapter

that Mark read from just a little bit in

John 13:35, Jesus says the memorable

John 13:35

passage, by this everyone will know you

are my disciples if you have love for

one another. So, was that the identity

marker that the Episcopal Church found?

Was love at the top of the list? It

wasn't, and neither was humility. The

top traits were hypocritical,

judgmental, self-righteous, and

arrogant.

Every one of those kind of flies in the

face of humility, doesn't it? The

reality is that we Christians today have

a humility problem.

And if we're honest with ourselves, we

know we too often insist on being right.

We like feeling influential and in

control.

We declare what we believe here on

Sunday or in social media posts, but we

don't always live it out in private. The

problem with this disconnect

from humility is that it holds us back

from being the servants that Christ

called us to be.

And it also shapes our testimony that we

are sharing with the with our community

around us. It limits the impact that we

can have on the world.

I was watching the first Avatar movie

with my son recently, and one particular

line stuck with me. In the movie, a

self-confident Marine's pride keeps him

from understanding the alien people that

he's living among, and one of them

finally tells him it's hard to fill a

cup that is already full.

I liked that line. It turns out that it

comes from an old Zen proverb about a

scholar who was supposed to be learning

from a Zen master but was really only

waiting for the next opportunity to

share his own ideas and perceived

expertise.

And so recognizing what was going on,

the master decided to offer the scholar

a cup of tea. And so he poured it into

the teacup until it started overflowing.

It overflowed onto the table and then

onto the floor and it finally soaked

into the scholar's robes and the scholar

got upset. But the master calmly said,

"You're like this cup so full of ideas

that nothing more will fit in. Come back

to me with an empty cup."

Too often I think that's us. Our cups

are full because we're convinced we have

things figured out. That we know what's

best for ourselves and for our

neighbors. We leave no room for the

spirit of God to create something new in

us, something beyond our own

expectations.

And that leaves us ill equipped with the

humility needed to serve and be in

mission with the people that God is

calling us to connect with.

And in a world full of political and

ideological division, humble disciples

of Christ could and should be the ones

building bridges, living out Christ's

love with everyone. We should be showing

the world what it looks like to love and

and serve beyond anyone's expectations.

But instead, we too often confirm what

the study found. Christians comfortable

in judgment, self-righteousness, and

arrogance instead of humility.

So if humility doesn't come easy to us,

if we recognize that we're missing the

mark, what do we do? How do we grow in

our capacity for humility? How do we

open our hearts and live with more

humility even when we are surrounded by

reinforcement and encouragement for just

the opposite? Well, it may seem like the

Sunday school copout answer, but what

should we always do? We look to Jesus.

We allow ourselves to have our

perspective changed by Jesus and the

work of God's grace on our lives, and we

let ourselves be transformed.

See, that's what happened for Peter. His

cup was full of assumptions about how

Jesus would teach and what Jesus's

ministry should look like. And so when

Peter tried to refuse, Jesus told him,

"You do not know what I'm doing, but

later you'll understand. Unless I wash

you, you have no share with me."

And suddenly Peter's eyes and heart were

open. He sensed this was about something

much bigger than clean feet. and he

replied,"Lord,

not only my feet, but also my hands and

my head."

He humbly turns his whole self over to

Jesus.

His perspective was transformed.

We all need that moment of

transformation that only comes from

Jesus.

You see this passage and section of

scripture is actually the start of a

really important part of the gospel of

John. Mark mentioned that in before we

read our scripture John 13 to17 is known

as the farewell discourse

between Jesus and his disciples. It's

kind of a last list of instructions and

final messages that Jesus delivers

before he's arrested and crucified. And

it all happens on Monday Thursday. the

Thursday before Easter.

Do you know what mandi Thursday or why

mandi Thursday is called mandi? Have you

ever wondered what mandi means? Well, it

comes from the Latin word mandatum which

means mandate or command. And so this

special Thursday in our calendar right

in the middle of Holy Week is all about

Jesus's commands that he gave in this

important time in scripture. And it all

begins with what he says in John 13:34.

John 13:34

And we actually looked at the same exact

scripture in Pastor Kelly's sermon last

week, too. But we're going to look at it

again because, well, for one, it's just

that important. And two, I want us to

focus on a little bit different part of

the passage. So in John 13:34, as you

John 13:34

remember, Jesus says, "A new command I

give unto you, that you are to love one

another as I have loved you."

I want you to think about that statement

for a minute. What's new about this?

Jesus said, "A new command I give you."

Is this the first time that God's people

have been told to be loving toward other

people? No, of course not. It says in

Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Proverbs

that we are to love the stranger, to

love our neighbor. That's that's old.

Now, whether God's people actually

followed through and did it is another

story in another sermon. But it's not a

new mandate. God has been telling God's

people to love for a long time. What's

new here is that Jesus says that we are

to love like Jesus loved us.

That is a different love. That's a

different mandate. So what kind of love

is that? What kind of love does Jesus

show us? Well, back in John's gospel in

verse 131, the verse finishes with this

state this with this statement. It says

he loved them to the end. The word in

Greek here in the original language that

John's gospel was written in for end is

tilos. It carries connotations of goal

or purpose, conclusion or final aim.

It's etmologically linked to the word

that Jesus will use in just a few

chapters later in chapter 19 while he

hangs on the cross in a last gasp when

he says to Telststei.

We translate it as it is finished.

He loved them to the end. Jesus's

purpose, his final aim was to love God's

people. And that's what he accomplished.

And he accomplished it in ways that we

could have never imagined or expected.

But in this last set of lessons for his

disciples, what he would leave them with

to equip them for the ministry that they

had in front of them,

Jesus knew that it wouldn't be enough

just to say it.

They needed an example that they could

follow. And so the way that he shows

them love here is by washing their feet,

by humbling himself beyond all social

norms, beyond all assumptions and

expected comfort zones, and by serving

others.

In John 13:14, Jesus finishes. After

John 13:14

Jesus finishes washing their feet and

returns to the table, he says to his

disciples, "Now that I, your Lord and

Teacher, have washed your feet,

you also should wash one another's feet.

I've set you an example that you should

do as I have done for you."

That is what love to the end looks like.

Humility.

That's the example that we follow.

That's how we follow Jesus's new

mandate.

We have to love with humility in ways

that go beyond assumptions and

expectations.

In order to be humble, in order to serve

faithfully and fully, in order to love

others with the same compassion and

heart with which Jesus loved us,

we have to be willing to put our own

assumptions and ideas aside. We have to

be curious about what God is at do is

doing in the lives of other people in

the world around us. We have to not be

judgmental.

be curious about how God is working in

the lives of people who are different

from us, people who don't believe the

same things in the exact same ways that

we do. Because that curiosity that we

are to carry with us, that's grounded in

our Wesian theology. As Methodists, we

believe in prevenient grace, which means

that we believe that God reaches out to

us with love and invites us into

relationship before we ever recognize or

respond.

And that belief has a huge impact on how

we practice our faith. Because in the

context of serving others and sharing

that love that God has given to us with

others, that prevenient grace means that

we believe that God is at work in the

lives of everyone that we engage with

before we get there.

When we go out to serve, we aren't

bringing God with us and delivering God

to someone. or when someone comes to our

church for worship or any other event

that we may be hosting, we aren't

managing access to God by unlocking the

doors.

We are joining in and participating in

the work of God's grace that's already

underway in the lives and in the

communities that we've been invited to

serve.

And if we arrive with a full cup with

assumptions about exactly how things are

supposed to go, and if we've already

decided on what God's going to do in

this situation, if we arrive without a

humble heart, two things are going to

happen. First, we're not going to be

able to recognize and be able to fully

participate in what God is doing in the

lives of others.

And second, we're not going to recognize

what God's doing and how God is working

on our own heart to make us more like

Jesus.

When we serve with humility,

God is at work in two lives. The person

we serve and our own.

Later in this service, we're going to

take the bread and the juice. We're

going to bless them. We're going to

share them just as Christ did on the

same night that he washed his disciples

feet.

We're going to follow Jesus' example

here

so that we can follow Jesus's example

out there in the world with the world

that God has asked us to serve and share

God's love with.

I invite you today to to come to this

meal with an empty cup.

come with a humble heart and let the

grace of God that is present through it

nourish you and transform you but also

allow it to send you out to live out

that transformation in humble service.

Let's pray.

Holy God, I ask that

you would transform our hearts,

that you would allow us to see the

example set for us by Jesus,

to see what humility and love looks

like,

so that we might be able to live out

that humility and love each day.

That we might be able to be your

disciples.

We pray this in Jesus name.

>> Amen.