As a young friar in Ken Follett's epic novel The Pillars of the Earth, Philip struggles between pride and meekness in his aspirations as a man of God. He is counseled by a wise monastic brother, "When you're thinking, please remember this: excessive pride is a familiar sin, but a man may just as easily frustrate the will of God through excessive humility." Never can it be said Jesus was not humble. No greater king had ever appeared before more sacred precincts than those at Jerusalem, yet, this king rides to his awe-full destiny on a donkey's colt. Protected by no weapons, attended by no security, bearing no symbols of conquest, Jesus is carried by a lowly beast of burden. Relatives of burros and mules convey no majesty. Here is acute meekness. No, there is no danger of presumption here. Yet, Jesus does not hush the disciples. Laud and praise for Him is loud and prolonged. Already from the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron vale to the city gate, Jesus is extolled and exalted, "Blessed is the King ... glory in the highest." The refrain is cried a thousand times. Joyful liturgy of the Advent King resounds across the valley and echoes in the hills. "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" and to it comes the jubilant response, "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Here is perfect royalty. No, there is no danger of timidity here. Jesus will neither sin by false humility nor by lofty mendacity. He is, in truth, the King who comes in the name of the Lord, speaking the Lord's Word and doing the Lord's work of accomplishing our salvation. He is the fulfillment of all Messianic promises, rejoicing for which must eternally resound and rise to new heights with every breath. Yet, Jesus is also scorned and shamed. Beneath scourings, beneath even contempt, Jesus is the nadir of indignity, the Scum-in-Chief. Soon he is not even good enough for a jackass but becomes a beast of burden himself who must heave his own cross to the place of execution. What beast of burden is this? The Lamb of God who carries the sin of the world! This-- not by any disobedience or even one minuscule flaw of his own but because He comes for you. Therefore, when you find yourself showing off as a hedge against bent moral inferiority or when you congratulate conceit within yourself behind a coy exterior, know you have fatally tipped the scales one way or the other against yourself and frustrated the will of God. Yet Christ came to free you. Jesus came to Jerusalem in favor of you. His advent was not in false modesty or swollen superiority. His greatness was in humility; his strength was in his weakness. Now our living is in His dying and all of our receiving is through His giving. Remember this during Advent and you'll find yourself singing not once or twice, but unendingly, "Blessed is the King ... glory in the highest. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
