Sermon on Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Many people seem to think of humility as a virtue required in human relationships, such as “not being arrogant or pushy, being humble, and first listening to others.” One Japanese dictionary explains it as “considering oneself lowly and adopting a modest attitude toward others.” But is “humility” really just that?

Humility is the first necessary state of mind for those who are serious about becoming Christians. That is why the Gospel read on the first Sunday of Lent Preparation Week—which precedes Great Lent, a time when bodies and minds prepare for Easter—teaches us about this.

It teaches us that the one who was blessed and exalted by God was not the Pharisee who “exalted himself,” puffing up his pride in his own righteousness, but the tax collector who “humbled himself.” He simply beat his chest and prayed:

“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Can the humility so strongly emphasized by the Church really be something so minor—merely being polite, reserved, or modest? Even people who are not Christians possess such “virtues” in abundance in this world.

This is not a question of moral virtue.

One of the verses most familiar to Orthodox believers goes like this:

The original meaning of the word translated “contrite” here is “broken.” Humility, the result of being broken, cannot be a well-behaved virtue. And we must not forget that a “contrite and humble heart” is the greatest offering to God, an offering acceptable to God.

Humility is not a “virtue sought in relationships with others,” but a state of mind required in a relationship with God.

When the hard “armor of the heart” is shattered and we throw ourselves before God as we are, God’s joy flows into our hearts, and that joy overflows as “my” prayer: “God, have mercy on me.”

Neither contriteness nor humility means trembling in fear of God. It is certainly not a bitter humiliation. It is the gateway and goal to a loving communion with God, which Orthodoxy believes is the purpose of human life.

Every time the heart is broken, the door to the joy of God and ever deepening prayer continues to open endlessly.