This past weekend I gave a sermon on humility, which you can listen to here. I said if we really want to experience healing in our lives then we need to humble ourselves before our great Healer. We all have brokenness in our lives that God is willing to heal, but sometimes our pride keeps us from going to him or following the direction he gives us.
It can be difficult to humble ourselves before God, but he promises to heal and lead those who can. Maybe we can learn how to humble ourselves from some of these humble nerdy characters.
Luke Skywalker
I sometimes forget how awesome Luke Skywalker is. He’s a whiny farm boy with delusions of grandeur at the beginning of his journey. By the end he’s a Jedi, more focused on the good of the galaxy than his own desire for adventure and heroics. And it is because he humbly places the needs of the entire galaxy above his own that he becomes a hero. Like Christians, Jedi are called to die to themselves so that they can better focus on serving the needs of those around them. Luke wanted what was best for his friends and the galaxy, even if that meant confronting Darth Vader and potentially dying at the electric hands of the Emperor.
Batman
Batman is another hero who places the needs of others above his own. As a billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne wears a mask of selfishness. When he dons the cape and cowl, though, Bruce Wayne gets to be his true self: the humble hero protecting his city. All heroes need to be marked by some amount of humility. Batman wouldn’t put his life on the line for the citizens of Gotham if he didn’t value their lives more than his own. That’s why I really like Bruce Wayne/Batman as a character; he’s more his authentic self when he wears a mask. It’s when he takes off his mask that he covers up his humility and selflessness.
Spock
Spock made the ultimate sacrifice, which is the ultimate act of humility. Jesus humbled himself to death on a cross and Spock humbled himself to death by warp radiation. I like Spock’s humility because it’s simply based on logic. For Spock, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few or the one. That’s a good philosophy but we need to amend it if we want to be like Jesus. We need to see that the needs of any one person outweigh our own needs. True love and true humility, like those Jesus displayed, will always place the needs of even just one person above our own.
Humility is a tricky issue. If we don’t cultivate enough humility in our lives we might not as easily approach God and respond to him. A lack of humility can also keep us from responding to the needs of those around us. So we should look to the humble examples of Luke, Bruce and Spock but most importantly that of Jesus.
What other humble nerdy examples could we follow?
Another nice post, Scott. Of course, two of these three characters have their moments of non-humility, too. Spock was forever making cutting remarks about humans in TOS and being thankful he wasn’t a full-blooded one (“Oh, God, thank you for not making me like that Pharisee over there…”). And I don’t know how humble the Nolanverse’s Batman is when he screams in a crook’s face, “Swear to ME!” But your points are well taken and, as always, well written!