Was Jesus humble?

I just noticed that WordPress has a Word count. That’s nice – I can set a goal and just keep typing until I reach it. My goal shall be 500. Five hundred words per post sounds good. Today I would like to write about the humility and meekness of Jesus.

According to C.S. Lewis: “Christ says that He is ‘humble and meek’ and we believe him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.” -Mere Christianity (52)

It’s really quite amazing that even though people may not believe in Jesus, they still know of him, respect him, and consider him a great teacher. Followers of Islam, who believe the Prophet Mohammed, still consider Jesus to be a great prophet. Jesus himself said that he is humble and meek, and yet he claimed to be God. While he was on Earth, he claimed to forgive sins, and said that he has always existed. He said he was coming to judge the world at the end of time.

Those are not humble claims to make. By human standards, Jesus wasn’t really humble. It is only when we realize that he is God that we can truly understand the extent of his humbleness.

Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

He was God, and yet he took the position of a slave. He served others, humbled himself before the Father, and died a criminal’s death on the cross. How much more humble should we mere men be? Should we not serve others, humble ourselves before God, and be willing to die for him? Jesus did it.

When did Jesus say he was humble and meek?

Matthew 11:28-29 (NLT)

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Jesus says he is “humble and gentle at heart.” In the past, I had often taken this for granted, thinking to myself: “Jesus said he is humble, therefore he is.” I had not deeply considered the other perspective: that what Jesus did, if he were not God, could not be interpreted as humble at all!

Starting on page 51 of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explains this well:

One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toes and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did.

(If you want to learn more, I invite you to read his entire chapter entitled “The Shocking Alternative.”)

Jesus’s claims don’t make sense if he was merely a man; but they make perfect sense if he is God.