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One Sunday morning following the divine worship, the pastor
greeted his parishioners at the door and accepted comments on his
sermon. He had preached a searching sermon on the sin of pride.
One particular woman had obviously hung back in order to confess
her sin. When all the others had left, she told him that because
of his sermon she realized what a sin she had committed during
the past week. The minister

asked her what the sin was. She replied, "My sin is pride. I sat
in front of the mirror for one hour the day before yesterday and
admired my beauty." "Oh," responded the pastor, "that isn't a sin
of pride, that is the sin of imagination."
All of us realize that both conditions exist in the minds and
lives of people. Jesus knew the paralyzing effect of pride and
the terrible damage it could inflict upon the people's spirits.
Of all the deadly sins, pride is perhaps the deadliest. When
someone is filled with pride, he cannot experience spiritual
growth. Some call pride "stiff kneed." A person with pride can
never kneel to pray. Jesus had an image, a picture of what a
person looked like, and how he acted when he was filled with
pride.
In some ways it seems strange that Jesus zeroed in on the
religious community with specific reference to the scribes. These
were among Israel's finest. They were the epitome of a good
example, and mothers cherished the hope that their sons would be
like them. But Jesus said that men who despise manual labor, who
court recognition with a passion, and who always expect the seat
of honor at feast and worship while forcing the poor to their
knees are a sad lot and filled with pride. These are the ones who
pray loud and long. Such pride not only destroys, but also
separates.
In Dickens' work, Dombey and Son, the effect of pride upon the
human soul is described devastatingly. Dombey's whole life
centered on his business until the birth of his son, Paul. The
firm then became Dombey and Son and seemed to be more than
compensation for the death of the mother in childbirth. But the
father was not satisfied with normal progress and he drove his
son toward excellence with such ferocity that the boy sickened
and died. To overcome his grief, he married a beautiful and proud
woman. When he tried to control her through means of humiliation,
she humiliated him by running off with one of his clerks.
Eventually the result of pride returns to where it all began with
the failure of Dombey and Son. That night as he walked from room
to room througoh his house with candle in hand, he came to the
room where his son had slept and studied. He hurt, and he cried,
but his pride was

such still that if a man would have offered a hand, or a woman a
tear of sympathy, he would have turned away in silence.
Our pride is not only self-destructive, but it is one of the
nails that punctured the flesh of Jesus and held him to the
cross. The torture and pain inflicted upon Jesus by our thinking
we are better than we are is barbaric.
Jesus was stinging with his comments about the religious who
survived on false pride. There were few who were not reached by
his comparison of the Pharisee with the publican. "God be
merciful to me, a sinner," is not only the insight of one man,
but the key to salvation for us all. Any person who doesn't
believe that he is in need of an overwhelming and undeserved love
is unaware of his soul's trouble. The book of Proverbs declares
to us that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall. It is better to be a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud."
This day marks the beginning of Lent, the time when we
concentrate upon our shortcomings, and the grace of God showed to
us through the sacrificial death of the Christ. The key to Lent
is penitence, a change of heart that allows God to work beneath
the skin surface and rid us of our false egos.
Which of us cherishes the name hypocrite, or likes being the
professionally religious? Not one of us. Yet with mallet or
hammer in hand, we put the nail in place and ram it home with
arrogance into the flesh of Christ.
Pride, such a large sin, takes such small steps. Pride in
Sunday school and worship attendance, memorization of scriptures,
election to boards of leadership, donations given to good causes,
friendships with influential people, et cetera. What can we do so
that we attend worship, read and learn our Bibles, serve in
positions of trust, give generously and befriend all without
sinning with pride?
We must always know the extent of our personal stature when it
is compared with God Almighty. We must understand, too, that we
do this all in response to God's love and his generosity to us.
When we are serving, we know the true meaning of humility.

Tonight we see the placement of the first nail which hanged
Christ on a cross. Its name is Pride, and it is deadly. Jesus
died with one of these nails in his flesh, and we put it there.
But hope always abounds for the penitent and humble, and this is
the direction that the Spirit of God takes us.
Perhaps you would like to reappraise your life as you stand at
the foot of the cross. Do you feel like you have a hammer in your
hand, or do you weep in harmony with the humble who believe that
he dies for all?