Lesson 8: Humility shown in Lowly Service
By G.R. Balleine
[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views and language reflect many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]
PASSAGE TO BE READ : St. John xiii. 1-15.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT : " God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble " (St. Jas. iv. 6).
HYMNS : " Ye servants of the Lord," and " Forth in Thy Name,"
COLLECTS for First Sunday after Epiphany and Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity.
Aim : To teach the shame of shirking our share of tasks that win no special glory.
I. " INFRA DIG."
(a) An old fairy-tale tells how a company of young knights vowed to ride through the land succouring damsels in distress. Before long they met a ragged beggar-girl trying to drive an obstinate little pig to market. She was in great distress. The pig would not go the right way, and she was crying with weariness and vexation. Those knights were supposed to be looking for distressed damsels ; but to drive a pig to market was far beneath their dignity. They looked the other way, and rode on, all but the last, who remembered his vow, dismounted, and drove that pig right through the city streets, to find in the market-place a rich reward and the highest honours waiting for whatever knight arrived with the pig. It was the test of character appointed by the King.
(b) Some schoolboys have a foolish expression. They say that things are " infra dig," meaning " beneath their dignity " ; and unfortunately it is the most useful things that they generally consider infra dig. A necessary part of our education is to learn that nothing is beneath our dignity, except sin.
(c) Knights of old had to learn this. Before they were knights, they had to be for seven years pages ; and a page had to wait at table, to clean out kennels and hawk-pens, and to do all sorts of undignified tasks ; and, though he might be the king's son, he was not let off these. Then for seven years more he was a squire, and squires had to make the beds, clean the armour, and groom the horses. Only after fourteen years of humble service might he hope to be knighted.
(d) When Sir Gareth went to King Arthur's court, he was sent to the kitchen to peel potatoes and to clean pots, and only after a year of that kind of work did he get a chance of proving that he could also do great exploits.
(a) The richest nobles and statesmen of England have had to pass through the same discipline ; for fagging is an old tradition of the great public schools. When he arrived, the boy was perhaps a pampered little beast, who had always been waited on by nurses and footmen. But now as a fag he had to clean some big boy's boots, sweep out the big boy's study, fetch the coals, clean the grate, cook his sausages, wash up his cups and plates. Part of his training was to do acts which he had been accustomed to regard as beneath his dignity. [Editor's note: this practice was often used by older boys to bully younger ones and hopefully has now ceased]
(f) Christians have recognized that something of the same kind of training is necessary for us all. St. Philip Neri was once sent by the Pope to investigate the case of a nun whose friends claimed that she was a saint, and urged her appointment as Head of a great Order. Before entering the convent he tied his bootlace in a tight knot. He then knocked as a stranger, and asked for food. The nun in question came to him. " Sister," he said, " my feet are tired, and I would fain remove this boot, but my old fingers cannot untie this knot. Will you help me ? " The nun drew back in disgust, and passed haughtily on. It was beneath her dignity to stoop to tasks like that. St. Philip reported : " She is quite unsuited for the post, for she has no humility."
II. TRUE GOODNESS THINKS NOTHING " INFRA DIG."
(a) Even the heathen have recognized that true goodness will never think itself too great to stoop. An Indian holy man, devoted to the service of the god Krishna, spent his life in copying sacred writings about the god. Every day, so the legend says, a strange lad brought him a basket of food. He would give no name, but merely said, " It is from a friend." One day he was copying the words, " They who depend on me, if they need anything, I myself will carry it to them." He paused, and pondered on this verse, and at last said, " This cannot be true. Krishna is too great to carry anything " ; and he scratched out the word " carry " and wrote " send " instead. That night, when the lad brought the basket, his breast was gashed and bleeding. The saint asked who had wounded him. He replied, " You did it with your pen." Then he knew that the messenger had been Krishna himself. He was wounded to think that his friend imagined him too proud to carry things.
(b) The Jews had a legend also that taught the same lesson. They said that God summoned the great archangels, Gabriel and Raphael. Gabriel was sent to Jerusalem to save King Solomon from committing a sin that would utterly have destroyed his kingdom. Raphael was sent to Mount Ararat to encourage a little ant that had grown weary of collecting corn, and so would perish of hunger in winter. And ',both archangels departed with equal eagerness. Raphael's task was as important in his eyes as Gabriel's.
(c) Christians do not have to trust to legends to teach them this lesson. They look back to the example of our Lord. Think of the years that He spent in the village carpenter's shop, making doors and tables and yokes for the people of Nazareth.
(d) Think of the day when He washed His disciples' feet. No one in Palestine wore shoes and stockings. They had bare legs and sandals, so by the end of a journey their feet were covered with dust. They took their sandals off at the house door, and then the next thing was always to wash their feet. This was generally the work of a servant, but Jesus and His disciples had no servant. One evening they arrived at a house where they were to have supper. Not one of the disciples would stoop to fetch the water for the others. " I'm not your servant." " I'm not going to wait on you." Our Lord saw the quarrel going on, and tied a towel round His waist, and fetched the water, and began to wash their feet. Read Passage. " If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you."
III. LOWLY SERVICE.
(a) The life of every great Christian is full of acts of lowly service. Popes, bishops and kings for centuries made a practice on certain days of washing beggars' feet. This often became a mere formality, but not always. St. Louis, King of France, was a great soldier and a man with a hot and fiery temper. One day the feet of one beggar were so filthy that no ordinary washing could remove the dirt. At last the King gave up in despair. But the beggar, a surly and impudent fellow, called him back, and said, " If you are going to do the job at all, why don't you do it properly ? " The courtiers looked for an explosion of the King's wrath ; but the King conquered his temper, sent for more hot water and soap, and knelt down, and washed again, until the feet were clean. The French regarded this as such an example of humility that hundreds of churches have pictures or windows of the King washing the insolent beggar's feet.
(b) George Washington, who secured the independence of the United States, once saw a small company of soldiers loading a cart. A corporal stood grumbling and shouting at them. Washington, who was not in uniform, stepped up and lent a hand. When the work was done, he asked the corporal why he had not helped. " Can't you see," was the indignant reply, " that I am a non-commissioned officer ? " " All right," said the General, " next time you want help, send again for the Commander-in-Chief."
(c) Lowly service is of immense importance, because there are in life so many more little things that need doing than big things. Sir Christopher Wren could draw the plans of St. Paul's Cathedral by himself, but it needed scores of men in the limestone quarries, and scores of men shaping and hewing the blocks, and scores of men carrying mortar up ladders, before the Cathedral could be built.
(d) Therefore God lays the greatest stress on the way we do little things. Cinderella is one of the oldest stories in the world, old as the time of Pharaoh ; it may have been told by Jacob to Benjamin and Joseph : the story of how the Prince, when he wanted a bride, chose, not the proud sisters, but the girl who worked among the cinders. This is 'always God's choice. " He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and bath exalted the humble and meek " (Magnificat). Let the whole class repeat to-day's Text. This text is one that comes three times over in the Bible. It was written first in the Book of Proverbs (iii. 34 Gk.). St. James quoted it. St. Peter quoted it also, adding words which showed that he remembered the day when our Lord girded Himself with the towel : " All of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble " (1 Pet. v. 5, R.V.).
(e) Let the class suggest definite forms of lowly service which they themselves can tackle.
By G.R. Balleine
[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views and language reflect many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]
PASSAGE TO BE READ : St. John xiii. 1-15.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT : " God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble " (St. Jas. iv. 6).
HYMNS : " Ye servants of the Lord," and " Forth in Thy Name,"
COLLECTS for First Sunday after Epiphany and Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity.
Aim : To teach the shame of shirking our share of tasks that win no special glory.
I. " INFRA DIG."
(a) An old fairy-tale tells how a company of young knights vowed to ride through the land succouring damsels in distress. Before long they met a ragged beggar-girl trying to drive an obstinate little pig to market. She was in great distress. The pig would not go the right way, and she was crying with weariness and vexation. Those knights were supposed to be looking for distressed damsels ; but to drive a pig to market was far beneath their dignity. They looked the other way, and rode on, all but the last, who remembered his vow, dismounted, and drove that pig right through the city streets, to find in the market-place a rich reward and the highest honours waiting for whatever knight arrived with the pig. It was the test of character appointed by the King.
(b) Some schoolboys have a foolish expression. They say that things are " infra dig," meaning " beneath their dignity " ; and unfortunately it is the most useful things that they generally consider infra dig. A necessary part of our education is to learn that nothing is beneath our dignity, except sin.
(c) Knights of old had to learn this. Before they were knights, they had to be for seven years pages ; and a page had to wait at table, to clean out kennels and hawk-pens, and to do all sorts of undignified tasks ; and, though he might be the king's son, he was not let off these. Then for seven years more he was a squire, and squires had to make the beds, clean the armour, and groom the horses. Only after fourteen years of humble service might he hope to be knighted.
(d) When Sir Gareth went to King Arthur's court, he was sent to the kitchen to peel potatoes and to clean pots, and only after a year of that kind of work did he get a chance of proving that he could also do great exploits.
(a) The richest nobles and statesmen of England have had to pass through the same discipline ; for fagging is an old tradition of the great public schools. When he arrived, the boy was perhaps a pampered little beast, who had always been waited on by nurses and footmen. But now as a fag he had to clean some big boy's boots, sweep out the big boy's study, fetch the coals, clean the grate, cook his sausages, wash up his cups and plates. Part of his training was to do acts which he had been accustomed to regard as beneath his dignity. [Editor's note: this practice was often used by older boys to bully younger ones and hopefully has now ceased]
(f) Christians have recognized that something of the same kind of training is necessary for us all. St. Philip Neri was once sent by the Pope to investigate the case of a nun whose friends claimed that she was a saint, and urged her appointment as Head of a great Order. Before entering the convent he tied his bootlace in a tight knot. He then knocked as a stranger, and asked for food. The nun in question came to him. " Sister," he said, " my feet are tired, and I would fain remove this boot, but my old fingers cannot untie this knot. Will you help me ? " The nun drew back in disgust, and passed haughtily on. It was beneath her dignity to stoop to tasks like that. St. Philip reported : " She is quite unsuited for the post, for she has no humility."
II. TRUE GOODNESS THINKS NOTHING " INFRA DIG."
(a) Even the heathen have recognized that true goodness will never think itself too great to stoop. An Indian holy man, devoted to the service of the god Krishna, spent his life in copying sacred writings about the god. Every day, so the legend says, a strange lad brought him a basket of food. He would give no name, but merely said, " It is from a friend." One day he was copying the words, " They who depend on me, if they need anything, I myself will carry it to them." He paused, and pondered on this verse, and at last said, " This cannot be true. Krishna is too great to carry anything " ; and he scratched out the word " carry " and wrote " send " instead. That night, when the lad brought the basket, his breast was gashed and bleeding. The saint asked who had wounded him. He replied, " You did it with your pen." Then he knew that the messenger had been Krishna himself. He was wounded to think that his friend imagined him too proud to carry things.
(b) The Jews had a legend also that taught the same lesson. They said that God summoned the great archangels, Gabriel and Raphael. Gabriel was sent to Jerusalem to save King Solomon from committing a sin that would utterly have destroyed his kingdom. Raphael was sent to Mount Ararat to encourage a little ant that had grown weary of collecting corn, and so would perish of hunger in winter. And ',both archangels departed with equal eagerness. Raphael's task was as important in his eyes as Gabriel's.
(c) Christians do not have to trust to legends to teach them this lesson. They look back to the example of our Lord. Think of the years that He spent in the village carpenter's shop, making doors and tables and yokes for the people of Nazareth.
(d) Think of the day when He washed His disciples' feet. No one in Palestine wore shoes and stockings. They had bare legs and sandals, so by the end of a journey their feet were covered with dust. They took their sandals off at the house door, and then the next thing was always to wash their feet. This was generally the work of a servant, but Jesus and His disciples had no servant. One evening they arrived at a house where they were to have supper. Not one of the disciples would stoop to fetch the water for the others. " I'm not your servant." " I'm not going to wait on you." Our Lord saw the quarrel going on, and tied a towel round His waist, and fetched the water, and began to wash their feet. Read Passage. " If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you."
III. LOWLY SERVICE.
(a) The life of every great Christian is full of acts of lowly service. Popes, bishops and kings for centuries made a practice on certain days of washing beggars' feet. This often became a mere formality, but not always. St. Louis, King of France, was a great soldier and a man with a hot and fiery temper. One day the feet of one beggar were so filthy that no ordinary washing could remove the dirt. At last the King gave up in despair. But the beggar, a surly and impudent fellow, called him back, and said, " If you are going to do the job at all, why don't you do it properly ? " The courtiers looked for an explosion of the King's wrath ; but the King conquered his temper, sent for more hot water and soap, and knelt down, and washed again, until the feet were clean. The French regarded this as such an example of humility that hundreds of churches have pictures or windows of the King washing the insolent beggar's feet.
(b) George Washington, who secured the independence of the United States, once saw a small company of soldiers loading a cart. A corporal stood grumbling and shouting at them. Washington, who was not in uniform, stepped up and lent a hand. When the work was done, he asked the corporal why he had not helped. " Can't you see," was the indignant reply, " that I am a non-commissioned officer ? " " All right," said the General, " next time you want help, send again for the Commander-in-Chief."
(c) Lowly service is of immense importance, because there are in life so many more little things that need doing than big things. Sir Christopher Wren could draw the plans of St. Paul's Cathedral by himself, but it needed scores of men in the limestone quarries, and scores of men shaping and hewing the blocks, and scores of men carrying mortar up ladders, before the Cathedral could be built.
(d) Therefore God lays the greatest stress on the way we do little things. Cinderella is one of the oldest stories in the world, old as the time of Pharaoh ; it may have been told by Jacob to Benjamin and Joseph : the story of how the Prince, when he wanted a bride, chose, not the proud sisters, but the girl who worked among the cinders. This is 'always God's choice. " He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and bath exalted the humble and meek " (Magnificat). Let the whole class repeat to-day's Text. This text is one that comes three times over in the Bible. It was written first in the Book of Proverbs (iii. 34 Gk.). St. James quoted it. St. Peter quoted it also, adding words which showed that he remembered the day when our Lord girded Himself with the towel : " All of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another, for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble " (1 Pet. v. 5, R.V.).
(e) Let the class suggest definite forms of lowly service which they themselves can tackle.
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