The “Rule of Benedict” addresses how Christians can best live in the world. Perhaps the most well-known section in Benedict’s Rule is his teaching on humility. He pictured it as a ladder with 12 rungs. We’re briefly exploring each rung on Benedict’s ladder as a series of steps we can take toward being safe people and laying the basis for right relationships in life (some translations are from Humility Rules by J. Augustine Wetta).
Rung #2: Do not be in love with your own will, but put into practice that word of the Lord which says, “I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 6:38).
The key to thriving is asking, “What does God want when it comes to this person/ group?” rather than “What do I want when it comes to this person/ group?” Jesus saw himself as “sent”–”the will of him who sent me.” That is, he was here for a purpose, for a mission. What if we learned to see that every interaction we have with people is one into which we’ve been “sent,” rather than just assuming it’s a random interaction? And what if we believed that in these sent-circumstances, we had a singular purpose/ mission–to fulfill God’s will for that person/ group?
Benedict quotes from John 6 with this second rung, a text which, in its larger context, says this:
37 The Father gives me my people. Every one of them will come to me. I will always accept them. 38 I came down from heaven to do what God wants, not what I want. 39 I must not lose anyone God has given me. (Jn. 6:37-39 ERV)
Can you imagine how our interactions with people would be transformed if we embraced this worldview? What if we believed every person/ group was one the Father had given to us so that we might enact His purposes for them? What if we determined not to “lose anyone God has given me”? This is language of inclusion and belonging, valuing and treasuring.
The power and prejudices we carry into human interactions often lead us to 1) preference our own will in that interaction and 2) have a will that is harmful to that person/ group. The passionate desire to preserve our own place on the social ladder moves us to push others down that ladder. So, Benedict urges us to get off that ladder altogether and to climb the ladder of humility. It’s only when we ponder and pursue God’s dreams for others rather than our own dreams for others that we as a human race experience the union for which we were created.
