The Key is Humility

We live in a society that is constantly comparing itself to others and we are not immune. We sit at work and compare our coworkers. We compare our neighbors. We even compare our brothers in sisters in the pews on Sunday. Some say our society is the best on the planet. Some say we are the best. The problem with comparing is, we are often mistaken.

When we compare ourselves to others, we forget we don’t know the whole story. Let’s face it. We rarely rank ourselves below others. We always deserve more credit, more benefit, more praise. We are often mistaken. Take a moment and read today’s Gospel lesson.

The Lord said this parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 20.1-16

Christ is warning us not to compare ourselves to others because we never know the entire story. If we are deserving of more, trust me, God will provide more. In the Parable of the Talents, more is given to those who produce more. The issue today isn’t whether we deserve more, but the danger of comparing ourselves against others.

“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to Me?” Christ is asking us this question every time we compare ourselves to others. What doesn’t belong to God? If someone else has more musical talent that we have, isn’t that God’s prerogative? We need to focus on what God has given us, and make the most of it.

Now take a moment and read today’s Epistle reading from Saint Paul below. Here again, we are being warning about caring more about ourselves than others. There are still those in the Church who refuse to consider the benefit of others.

Brethren, love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unless some one interprets, so that the church may be edified.

1^st Corinthians 13.4-13, 14.1-5

What I pray you take away from today is this. Stop focusing on yourself, whether it be in prayer or in the workplace. Trust that God knows what He is doing. If He wants you to have more, then you will surely receive more. If He wants others to benefit from your effort, or as Saint Paul says, “may be edified,” then focus your efforts on helping others.

This can only be done with a sense of humility. Only when we stop comparing ourselves to others can we truly love them enough to do what edified them. The next time you are tempted to compare yourself to anyone else, take a moment and think. If you are not edifying them, you are only hurting yourself.