The Simple Truth That Saves

From the dawn of history, people have longed to lift themselves up. We built towers to reach the heavens, temples to show our devotion, monuments to prove our greatness. Yet the story of Scripture runs in the opposite direction: it is not the exalted who are remembered, but the humble. The God of Israel listens to the widow and the orphan. The psalmist sings that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. Paul, at the end of his life, writes not of triumph but of endurance—of having “fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith.” And Jesus, in today’s Gospel, drives it home with stark simplicity: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 18:14).

We live in a culture where too many celebrate the Pharisee: the self-promoter, the one who stands tall and lists accomplishments for the world to hear. But the Gospel tells us that it is not the Pharisee who goes…