It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:1-8
I was in the 6th grade, and we were studying world history. Along the way, I learned about famous leaders such as Alexander the Great, Catherine the Great, and Cyrus the Great. The more I thought about it, being “the great” seemed like a wonderful title to have. So I put this on one of my notebooks: “Brian Lee the Great.” Obviously, I wasn’t suffering from low self-esteem.
I look back on that incident with embarrassment, but I remind myself that I was only twelve years old, and most of us can look back on our younger years and remember something we did that was foolish. But just because we may not be running around calling ourselves great, doesn’t mean that we don’t struggle with pride. Of all the vices in our lives that we need to give up, surely this should be at the top of our list.
So if pride is such a spiritually corrosive thing, why do we tend to hang onto it? In response, let me give you a working definition of pride: Pride isn’t the sense of wanting to do one’s best or to present one’s self in the positive way. Pride is when we think too highly of ourselves which results in being demeaning toward others, unwilling to tell ourselves the truth about our weaknesses, and dismissive about our need for God’s grace.
Take Peter for instance. Jesus is gathered with his disciples for the last time. He’s in the process of observing the Passover with them. Along the way, he prepares to wash his disciples feet which was a humbling and needed act of service that none of the twelve had been willing to perform. He eventually comes to Peter who defiantly refuses to allow Jesus to wash His feet. “No way. Not now. Not ever. You are not going to wash my feet.”
Why did he resist like this? It could be many things. But I suspect it centered around his unwillingness to admit that he was not better than the others in the room. In short – pride.
We are the same way. We don’t want to admit that we are wrong, have flaws, don’t always know what is right, etc. It’s too humiliating. We lose our sense of superiority. Not only that, but we want to preserve the pecking order we’ve established where we come out looking superior in some fashion. We want to remain “the great.”
Gordon MacDonald in his book, The Resilient Life put it this way, “The ego [pride] does not easily submit to regulation in most of us. It insists on having its own way and grabbing ‘space’ and recognition it does not deserve…”
It is why one pastor stated, “Pride is the dandelion of the soul.” Even a small amount left behind begins to regrow. It sinks its roots deep in the soul and seeks to take over every aspect of our being. All the while it gives the outward appearance of being a beautiful flower instead of being recognized for what it is – a soul-killing weed. So it continues to wreak havoc on our own souls while spreading its destruction to others.
In my next post we’ll explore what pride does to us in greater detail. But for now, ask yourself this question: Do I see any evidence of the dandelion of pride in my soul? If so, it’s something that needs to be given up.