As much as Jesus’ teachings have been convoluted by institutional religion, I still consider Jesus to be my teacher, and find profound guidance and wisdom in his words – especially when understood through the lenses of scholarship and Love.

Scholarship provides us with knowledge of the times in which Jesus was living, the social and political environment in which he found himself, and the context in which the authors of scripture were writing. We cannot even begin to understand scripture without sound scholarship.

Love, as we understand it here, is our Source, our Cause, our Purpose, and our Mission – that which some have called God. When we allow ourselves to be fully open to Source/Love, we can see beyond the human constructs and conditioning that have turned Jesus’ words into the cause of division, prejudice, hatred, and pride.

The author of the Book of Proverbs was correct in acknowledging that “pride goeth before the fall (Prov 16:18).”  It has been said that pride is the cause of our separation from God. More accurately, perhaps, we can understand pride as being that which has caused us to forget that we are Love, and in this forgetting, perceiving ourselves as being separate/rejected/forgotten by God. We might also understand pride as being the natural consequence of choosing the human condition and that it is out of pride that our original core spiritual wound arises, and it is out of that wound that all of our fears have arisen (See Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy for a deeper discussion on this).

Regardless of how we understand pride and its origin, the consequence remains the same. Pride is an obstacle to our knowledge and embodiment of Love.

Jesus spoke often of pride as an obstacle. Over and over and over, he admonished those in positions of perceived authority for their prideful behaviors. He called them out for drawing attention to themselves, lauding their religious or charitable actions, taking the seats of honor at banquets, putting themselves ahead of or over others, and for all the ways in which they made themselves appear special or better than others.

In contrast to Jesus’ warnings against prideful behaviors, he celebrated humility and acknowledged it as the greatest of human virtues. Over and over again, Jesus notes that “the last will be first,” meaning that it will be the humble who will remember their true nature, live as Love, and experience the contentment, peace, and joy that comes with that knowledge.

Jesus didn’t just preach humility. He embodied it. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians:

Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
Being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself,

and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.

Phil: 2: 6-8

Through Jesus’ spiritual journey, he came to understand himself as One with God and sought to support his companions in coming to understand the same truth. Remembering this Oneness is the “source of eternal life” and the “Kingdom of God” as Jesus explained.  

Equality with God, however, was NOT something Jesus considered of himself, neither did he lead anyone down a path through which they might consider themselves equal to God. Instead, Jesus preached humility – the characteristics of which he described in detail through his teachings and provided by his example – echoed here by St. Paul.

Therefore, if Love is our intention, then humility must be our action.