26th March: Hosea 5.16—6.6; Psalm 50; Luke 18.9-14
To be humble is to be united to the humus, to the earth. [cf Genesis 3.19] Humility is an honest acknowledgement of who we are. But if dust is our origin, it is not our destiny. As the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, ‘Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul.’ God creates us by calling us out: calling us to leave the dust that inexorably dissipates and to allow God to fill us with God’s own Spirit. [Genesis 2.7]
Lent begins with a statement of our mortality, of the hopelessness of the human (from humus) condition. But that hopelessness is never the last word about us. If we come before God asserting our accomplishments, perhaps most especially our spiritual successes, we will soon be shown to be foolish. ‘Pride goeth before a fall’ the Proverb [16.18] reminds us. If, on the other hand, we come before God with humility, the God who called us into existence will renew that call and restore in us his Holy Spirit. [Psalm 50(51).11]