What’s In A Name?

“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”  Matthew 23:12

When Jesus made the above statement, He was in the house of one of the chief Pharisees and had noticed how those guests of the religious leaders, let’s call them “the elites”, who were invited there, were picking out the choicest seats for themselves.  Because Jesus had witnessed the scribes and Pharisees as they carried out their snobby and prideful acts, His condemnation of their behavior was based on facts and not just hearsay.  They were guilty as charged of not being humble servants of the people as leaders are supposed to be, but rather big shots who thought they were to be served.  They basically thought that they were better than all the “common” folks.

These self-righteous leaders also enjoyed being greeted in the marketplace with calls of “Rabbi, rabbi”.  The term “rabbi” means “master” or “teacher”.  (Just as a side note, I have always heard “rabbi” pronounced “ra’bi”–with a long “i”, but the correct Hebrew pronunciation is “hrab-bee'” with the accent on the second syllable).  When the common folks called them “rabbi”, it gave them a feeling of superiority.  According to Matthew Henry’s Commentary, the practice of calling the Pharisees “rabbi” was begun shortly before Christ’s time on earth.  It was the religious leaders who designated themselves with this honorable title, and they would become indignant if others failed to use this title on them.

Titles are important to people.  I can understand that when someone has worked very hard to earn whatever title they have received, he or she is proud of it.  However, some folks let it go to their head.  For example, several years ago, my husband and I were in Big Lots, and I saw one of the teachers that I had in college when I attended in the early nineties.  I spoke to him and said, “I think you were one of my teachers at my college several years ago.”  He puffed up and said, “Yes, I am one of the PROFESSORS there.”  He said it as if being a “teacher” was demeaning.  His title was very important to him.  I suppose I could have topped him by stating that “I am a child of the King of the universe”, but he probably would have mocked me for I remember him being an ultra liberal, not that a liberal can’t be a believer in Christ, but from what I have heard and seen of the liberal/leftist doctrine, it doesn’t seem to fit in very well with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To me, one of the most revealing characteristics of a person is humility.  I would rather hang out with a person who is humble and not full of himself or herself.  Snobs must be miserable people deep down inside.  It could be that they try to hide feelings of inferiority by acting superior to everyone, rather than just being a “down-to-earth” person who usually can get along with almost everyone.  For those who exalt themselves, it must, as they say, get lonely at the top.  Many folks envy famous celebrities, but how often do we hear of their outrageous behavior to get attention, or their reliance upon drugs and alcohol or even suicide?  God did not create men and women to become objects of worship.  He created us to have a personal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ.  When we humble ourselves, repent of sin, and place our trust in Him, we go from a virtual nobody by the world’s standards to having the title of “child of the King”.