Last weekend, I attended Palm Sunday and the pastor speaking gave us a lesson on pride and humility. What a great message leading up to and encompassing Easter.

Some of what this young pastor taught us is that pride can be seen all the way back to the Book of Genesis when the devil used pride as the avenue by which to seduce Adam and Eve. We all know how that story unfolded with Satan vainly contradicting God’s command to not eat of the tree of knowledge and boldly stating that God was lying and he was not to be trusted.

This clever ploy was aimed at undermining her confidence in the goodness and love of God and arousing the desire to become as God.

The desire to lift up and exalt ourselves beyond our place in the eyes of God lies at the heart of pride. As Eve — in her now shaken and troubled state of mind — considers the possibility to become Godlike. She began to look at the forbidden fruit in a new way, as something allowed and far from prohibited. As her desire to be like God increased, her will to resist and say no ebbed.

Pride is a universal human problem. Everyone suffers from it to some degree. When we have raised ourselves in pride, God seeks to put us on the right track through forgiveness and restoration.

Jesus Christ is the master of many things but in this lesson, He was truly the master of humility. I mean, here is the Son of God entering the City of Jerusalem — not on a grand steed or a mighty chariot — but on a simple donkey! 

What an example! What a virtue!

Or, how about during the Last Supper gathering:

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas (another example of pride), 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. - John 13:2-5.

This was a momentous display of Jesus’ humility and His servant hood. Walking in sandals on the filthy roads of Israel in the first century made it imperative that feet be washed before a communal meal, especially since people reclined at a low table and feet were very much in evidence. When Jesus rose from the table and began to wash the feet of the disciples, He was doing the work of the lowliest of servants. This came moments after His followers had recently been arguing among themselves as to which of them was the greatest (more pride). The disciples must have been stunned at this act of humility and condescension, that Christ, their Lord and master, should wash the feet of His disciples, when it was their proper work to have washed His.

Philippians 2:5-11 tells us more about the humility of Jesus. Jesus was God and yet, out of His great love for us, He chose to come to earth as a human. Jesus even chose to obey God the Father to the point of dying an embarrassing and painful death on the cross for our sins. Jesus is the perfect example of humility, and we are called to follow His example.

This Easter, my prayer is that we all look into our hearts and ask God to bless us with humility. Let’s get back to being the kind of servants God calls us to be. Forget your status amongst your friends, your coworkers or your family. Take your pride and nail it to the cross. Hop on your donkey and go wash some feet.