I want to read again two short excerpts from today's scriptures . . . listen and see if you discern a pattern. From Luke's gospel - Jesus said, "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

And from the book of Ecclesiasticus, or The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach, chapter 10, verses 14 and 15: "The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers and enthrones the lowly in their place. The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations and plants the humble in their place."

There seem to be two things going on here. The first is an exploration of the dynamics of Pride and Humility. It's a very old story, as old as the prideful rebellion of Lucifer, the light bearer, the most beautiful and powerful of God's angels, who began to believe his own press clippings and fell from heaven into the deepest disgrace. In contrast, we have the example of Jesus, who "did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death . . . Therefore God highly exalted him. (Philippians 2:6-9)

And it is a story as fresh as the headlines. You know what bothered me more than anything else about the recent problems of Senator Larry Craig? For the moment, he has the presumption of innocence, so any apparent discrepancy between his public positions and his private behavior is out of bounds for discussion. What bothered me most was what happened the moment the Senator was placed under arrest, when he produced his U.S. Senate business card and challenged the arresting officer, saying,"What do you think about that?"

Here's what one online blogger thinks about that; "[Using] the business card as some kind of 'get out of jail free' card adds a fatal dose of hubris . . . " Hubris -what a great word. We use it today to speak of overbearing pride, a pride so great that it inevitably brings us to grief. But the ancient Greek concept of hubris was not simply about prideful arrogance. Hubris was not an attitude - it was an action and it was actually considered a crime.

What made hubris so bad was that it involved the deliberate humiliation of another person, in order to feel superior. It's the beach bully kicking sand in the skinny guy's face. It's the football player who beats his opponent on a play and then taunts him on the field. In The Illiad, it's not enough that Achilles defeats Hector in battle; he's not happy until he desecrates the corpse. In the tragic drama, Oedipus The King, Oedipus commits the first road rage murder when he pridefully refuses to yield the right of way to another traveler.

So, somewhere at the root of Pride is a need to humiliate others in order to feel good about oneself. Why is it that we human beings are so prone to this behavior? We've all heard the saying, "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18). That makes considerable sense. Listen to the opening words from Sirach this morning; "The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker." How can we expect to remain upright when we turn our back the one who made us what we are, when we withdraw from the source of whatever gifts or talents that make us so proud of ourselves?

Elsewhere in Proverbs, we hear "When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble." (Proverbs 11:2)

In the Hebrew, the word "pride" includes the sense of being swollen, an unnatural and unhealthy state. The proud are so full of themselves there is no room for anything else. The supernaturally gifted athlete proves to be uncoachable; the hyperintelligent student proves unteachable.

Humility, on the other hand, involves self-emptying . . . which leaves room for wisdom to abide with us, to flourish. If that is so, then can we not also say that Pride leaves no room for wisdom? One of my clinical pastoral supervisors defined "grandiosity" as thinking far too much and far to little of one's self simultaneously. When we exhibit Pride, are we not covering up some deep insecurity, some anxiety? Pride is not attitude problem, it is a spiritual problem of those who forget who God is and who they are before God. Driven by this inner conflict, lacking in wisdom, alienated from the only One who can help resolve the conflict, Pride leads eventually to collapse and humiliation.

In the King James translation, when Jesus says that the ones who exalt themselves shall be humbled, the word used means "abased", humiliated. And there is a very big difference between humility and humiliation. But those who humble themselves, empty themselves, will be exalted.

Which brings us to a classic biblical theme, the so-called "reversal of fortunes". Jesus spoke of it in Matthew's gospel: "The last shall be first and the first shall be last." (Matthew 20:16) It is a hope expressed by the Old Testament prophets and the Psalmist, that God will give those who oppress Israel their just desserts and raise Israel to its rightful place. The reversal of fortunes, we might even say, is a theme that underlies all of salvation history; the righting of wrongs, the humiliation of those in prideful rebellion, the delivery and restoration of those who love God.

Jesus makes it clear that this dynamic applies to ordinary people, when he addresses the prideful behavior of real people he sees at a dinner party. Sirach makes clear that it applies especially to those in the seats of power. "The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers and enthrones the lowly in their place. The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations and plants the humble in their place."

Reading these words this morning, we are challenged, are we not, to consider how we fit into this dynamic. To what extent are we driven by pride, as a consequence of our own alienation from God, from one another, and from ourselves? To what extent has this condition cut us off from wisdom, limited our success or contributed to our failure?

To what extent do we court disaster as a people through our prideful boasting about our superior culture, economy and political system? Is there an element of hubris in our militarism and the triumphal names we give our operations, such as "shock and awe", or in such places as Abu Graib and Guantanamo where the systematic humiliation of others is more than a ugly distortion of our humanity, but rises to the level of a survival strategy?

To the extent that we discover elements of the biblical story in our story, we are challenged by a central question of faith; are we ready to have God do something about it, to work a change within us? Or, are we prepared to resist correction and let things take their course, in which case, another question arises; what will it mean for us as individuals and as a people to be plucked up by the roots? And who are the humble who will be planted in our place?

AMEN