CHRIST'S EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY

 

          Some years ago I talked with a woman who was quite troubled by Christ’s words, “Why do you call me good? no one is good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:17). She seemed to think that Jesus was denying that He is God. However, nothing could be further from the truth. She was making the same mistake that many others make, the mistake of reading more into the words of Scripture than they actually say. Jesus did not say that He was not God, and nothing He did say contradicts the many passages that explicitly tell us that He is God. When we look at His words in context, we find that Jesus was dealing with a man who believed that works can make us righteous in the sight of God. Rather than confuse this man by saying, “I am righteous but no one else is,” He tried to convict this man of sin by stressing the fact that there is no one righteous “but one, that is, God” (Mark 10:18). Therefore, instead of reading unwarranted ideas into his words, we should regard Jesus’ humble and non-self-seeking approach as a good illustration of the words, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being by nature God, did not see equality with God as something to be used for self-glorification: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the nature of a servant, and was born as a man: And being found in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8).