The Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (2025)
“Humility” is a word that isn’t regarded too kindly in our world today. In fact, when I’m working with adult groups in retreats and faith formation settings, I will often hear some grumbling when I talk about how humility is not optional for us who are followers of Jesus. Unfortunately, this is because when many people hear words like “humility” and “humble,” they immediately think of “humiliation” or of becoming a doormat to be walked on by someone else. That’s really unfortunate, because, as Saint John Cassian observed, “Humility is the mother of all the virtues.”
So, what is humility?
Humility comes from the Latin word humus which simply means “earth.” And, in a sense, this tells us all that we need to know about humility: to be humble means that we remain “grounded” as we remember our “earthiness.”
To say it another way, humility means that are able to honestly accept and admit who and what we are.
The Book of Genesis tells us that when God made Adam, God formed him from the dust of the ground (see Genesis 2:7). And while Adam recognized God as his Creator, God loved Adam and saw him as “good.” This reminds us that humility isn’t about being down on ourselves. In fact, to be humble means that we recognize that each of us is God’s beloved creation—daughters and sons—and that we rely on God’s sustaining goodness and mercy every moment of every day as we journey through life. With that, however, true humility also means that we have to admit that we are—each of us—also a work in progress!
Humility reminds us that each of us is made up of a diversity of gifts, talents, graces, and virtues, but that each of us is also in need of forgiveness and mercy. It is what enables us to recognize that we are equal in the sight of God, who loves each of us and continuously invites us into a deeper and richer relationship.
It is this understanding of humility that is at the core of this Sunday’s Gospel, as Jesus tells us about two men—a Pharisee and a tax collector—praying in the temple.
Jesus’ audience would have immediately understood what these two characters represented and anticipated who would be the hero of this tale.
The Pharisees were respected and known for their piety, and the Pharisee in Jesus’ story is man who fasts and tithes above and beyond what is required by religious law and custom. And yet, in a brilliant play on words, Jesus observes that the Pharisee “took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I man not like the rest of humanity.” His prayer—offered to himself and not to the God who created and sustained him—was a tribute to his self-righteousness and also showed that he had no understanding of humility.
He isn’t thanking God for God’s blessings and the gifts he has received, but praising himself for being superior to everyone else.
The tax collector on the other hand, is a public sinner and would have been a social pariah, looked down on and reviled by those in his community. And yet, Jesus tells us that this man “stood off a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven… and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”
Unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector has no illusions about who he is or about his life and work. His prayer is focused on God, and it expresses the need for that mercy which has the power to transform.
His prayer is this is the prayer of those who are able to turn to God in their need… the prayer of those who trust that God will be their strength. Remember, the broken, the lowly, the oppressed, and the poor are not closer to God simply because they are broken, lowly, oppressed, and poor. Rather, it is because, in their straits, they discover the freedom to turn to God rather than to rely on themselves. God is merciful and they experience mercy when they pray for it. God becomes the source of strength, and they are strong when they turn to God.
This Sunday, Jesus is inviting us to reflect on how we see ourselves and to be open and honest about our relationship with God and with others. That honesty is, as we’ve seen, at the heart of humility and it is what allows the tax collector—the one who was seen as the sinner—to be in right relationship with God. The challenge for us is to recognize those times in our lives when we close ourselves off to grace and try to “go it alone,” forgetting that each of us is blessed and gifted, even as we also stand in need of God’s healing and redeeming love.
In the end, it as the spiritual writer Henri Nouwen reminds us: “We belong to the humus, the soil, and it is in this belonging that we can find the deepest reason for gratitude. Our prayer must be, ‘Thank you, God, that I am worthy to be part of your creation. Be merciful to me a sinner.’ Through this prayer we will be justified, that is, find our just place in God’s Kingdom.”
Almighty ever-living God,
increase our faith, hope and charity,
and make us love what you command,
so that we may merit what you promise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Homily prepared for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
