25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
R. Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.
Written by Anonymous
From the Magnificat, to the Beatitudes, to today’s Psalm response. It seems, no matter where you look, God has been preaching a message of lowliness. And to be honest, why wouldn’t He? He is, after all, the creator of the known Universe…Yet, here people are, acting as if they don’t need help. Acting as if they themselves are smart enough, strong enough, wise enough to handle this world on their own.
Here's a question: If a red ant tried to bow up on you, would you give it any attention? Sure, it can bite you, and red ants can be a bit scary; but seriously, if an ant walked up to you, flexed his little ant muscles, and said, “come at me!” would you take it seriously? In that you can flick it away with your pinky finger, I’m not too sure you’d give the little guy any credence.
But here’s the thing: the difference in stature, intelligence, and intellect between a human being and an ant is truly nothing when we compare our stature, intelligence, and intellect to that of God’s. He’s the Alpha. He’s the Omega. He’s the Bruce almighty. So why do we lowly humans continually think we can handle things on our own? Why do we continually take the world’s advice and think it’s on us to do everything, when there’s clearly a better source of nourishment?
You see, when the scriptures refer to lowliness, they are referring to the idea that when we are low, we are allowing Him to lift us up. How can He (or anyone) pick up something when it’s in a high place of its own? The scriptures are therefore referring to the idea that, in order to get to His Kingdom, we have to rely on His grace to get there. And, the best way to rely on Him is to see ourselves as the lowly ants that we are.
Now, it should be stated that this passage shouldn’t be taken as a license to be lazy and/or sinful. Far from it! I’m not saying you should stop brushing your teeth (you shouldn’t), nor am I saying you shouldn’t read a good book after riding your Peloton (you should!). This isn’t what we’re referring to when we speak of ‘lowliness.’ Instead, we’re speaking of revoking a mindset that revolves around relying on those humanly things (smarts, books, etc.) as a medium to obtain the Kingdom. Unfortunately, it’s far too often that we think we have to be “perfect” in order to get to his Kingdom. We say to ourselves, “I have to do x, y, and z – and do them perfectly, without sinning - in order to be good enough for God.” But the problem with this mindset is that it leads one into self-reliability. It leads one into leaning on the self, rather than leaning on God. And, just in case you forgot, and I’m really sorry to tell you this, but… psstt, you’re a sinner…and kind of a big one at that (whisper voice). And yet even when we recognize this, we keep on trying to do things on our own, rather than relying on His Grace.
In coming back to our little ant friend, we can ask ourselves this: would it do any good if that little ant became the ant-world’s best bodybuilder? …I don’t think it would change anything in terms of how we view that ant. So what good does it do us if we are trying to rely our strengths to get through this world?
Relying on His grace (rather than our own deeds) is a way of living. BUT we can only do that if we stop thinking we are completely self-sustaining individuals. Instead, we should understand our lowliness in order to have Him lift us up. We can then come back to the beatitudes – “blessed are the meek”; we can then come back to the Magnificat – “for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of the Almighty’s servant”; and we can then come back to the Psalm – “Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor”. We come back to these things knowing that in being lowly, we are in turn, solely relying on He who is the most high.
Pray with today’s psalm.