Humility at the table
Readings: Luke 14. 1-14
What is your worth? How do you know that? And how do you get there? Questions that go right the core of our identity, questions which go right to the core of Jesus’ two little parables today.
Jesus is at the house of a leader of the Pharisees. It seems to be a friendly visit, a reminder that whilst many of the Pharisees opposed Jesus, there were some who became his disciples, or at least were interested in what he had to say. And at this dinner he’s being watched to see what he might say or do. He’s just healed a man, and healed him on the Sabbath at that, but the religious leaders have remained silent. And now the watchers become the watched as Jesus points out how they are acting.
They’ve all gone for the best seats, the places of honour, perhaps there was even a little bit of jostling as they tried to work out who should go where. And having noticed, Jesus tells them a parable, Luke tends to use that word a bit more loosely than the other Gospel writers, it’s more of a short observation and teaching, not as complex as many of the others. He points out that if you go for the best seats, and suddenly discover that someone else has been invited who is of a higher social standing than you, you’re going to be asked to move, and, with everyone else already seated, you’ll end up at the lowest spot, the spot everyone else was avoiding, because there’s little point disrupting the whole event by getting everyone to reshuffle. Better to think of yourself more humbly, to pick a lower place, and then perhaps be brought up higher because your standing is greater than you had realised.
In this culture your social standing really mattered, as Rev. Dr Ian Paul notes ‘Social status and social stratification were vital aspects of life in the ancient world; where you sat in the pecking order determined every aspect of your life—your work, your income, who you could associate with, and with whom you could intermarry—and the places around a meal, nearer or further from your host, were a tangible expression of this status’. And this was something you worked for, if you were to move up the ladder so to speak, it was through your own graft and effort. Everyone is jostling for position at the table because they all like to think, or at least hope, that they’re higher than many of the others in their social status.
And whilst in our day it’s not so much marked by where we sit at meals, we still in to this day are aware of our place in society, in the social pecking order. From the clothes we wear, to the neighbourhood or even house we live in, what we do in our free time, our education level, the brand of tech we use or the car we drive, they’re all indicators of where we sit in society. And there’s pressure in many circles to try to move up, to get to the next rung. Perhaps to make it out of our current section and into another, more desirable, circle.
And how do we do it? Graft, effort. Whether trying to climb the career ladder by working longer hours to get that promotion or to earn more. Or going into debt to fund a lifestyle we want to project to the rest of our community. Whilst the rest of the community looks on to work out where we fit in the pecking order, it’s down to us to get to the position we want to be in. And in many ways whilst on the surface its defined by stuff, it’s more about status, the stuff just indicates the status.
But what do we find in this parable? Our status, our worth, isn’t something we earn, it’s something given. We’re all jostling for position at the table but it’s the host who chooses where people are sat. It’s about their worth in the hosts eyes. And you may find yourself exalted or humbled depending on where you think you should have gone. As Jesus memorably puts it ‘For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted’. Whilst we’re busy trying to prove our worth it’s actually not something we obtain, rather it’s something given, a gift. Ultimately it’s God who defines your worth, not you.
It’s interesting that Jesus chooses as the setting for his parable a wedding feast. He’s not at one at the time, so why has he done that? Any feast would do, any meal. It’s because in setting it at a wedding he’s setting in their heads God’s Kingdom. And setting up the parable that immediately follows, a parable about God’s Kingdom, of a King who invites to his banquet anyone and everyone because the guests who were originally invited think they have better things to do.
We are invited to the feast which will bring in the fullness of God’s Kingdom. We have been called to feast with God. But it’s not because we’re so great that we deserve it. As the Bible reminds us again and again, and as we realise for ourselves if we spend more than a few minutes reflecting on our own lives, we don’t deserve it. And yet thankfully to God our worth isn’t defined by our merits and ability to improve ourselves, our worth is defined by his love for us. A love which means the Son goes to the Cross so that we can go to the feast.
We go to the banquet not because we’ve pulled ourselves up and impressed God with our greatness or goodness, we get to go to the banquet because God wants us there, has made the way for us to be there, to be adopted as his children. Our worth isn’t earned it’s given, it’s the gift of God. It’s what we call grace. God gives this gift indiscriminately, overlooking the ways we try to stratify ourselves; education, bank balance, neighbourhood. He gives to all who will accept him and once we do he assures us that he will never leave us or forsake us.
And once we’re secure in that identity. Knowing that, having turned from our sins and put our faith in Jesus, in his death and resurrection for us, knowing that we are then adopted as beloved children of God, regardless of anything else. Secure in that identity, we don’t need to rush for the places of honour, we can choose the lower places, because we don’t need to fight for status on the world stage, it’s been given by the Father who loves us, that other stuff doesn’t matter so much. It means we can stoop to serve because we’re not devaluing ourselves, thinking less of ourselves, rather secure in our identity we can be self-forgetful and serve, knowing we are still exalted in God’s sight.
It’s the bleeding effect of that coming Kingdom. Knowing that God’s Kingdom is coming, and that in that Kingdom the first are last and the last are first, we can humble ourselves now to the lowest place, knowing that we are still precious in God’s sight. It bleeds backwards to us from that future Kingdom into how we live now.
Having been invited to feast with God, an invitation we can never repay, an invitation we can never earn we can do the same. Knowing this is how God is with us, we can live out the second of Jesus’ parables we have today. Giving generously to others who cannot repay us. Not because then we’ll look better to those around us, rise up the ranks for being so generous. Not because we take pity on those who are disadvantaged so will throw them something to help in a slightly condescending way. Rather, having been spiritually poor, blind and helpless, and God brought us to his kingdom, we are to do likewise with those around us in need. Knowing that, because they cannot repay us, God will do so in that coming Kingdom. Our generosity will come full circle in the end.
My brothers and sisters your worth is not in your social standing. It’s not defined by the place you live or your level of education, your bank balance or your job, the clothes you wear or the car you drive. Your worth is not earned, it’s given. Your identity not pieced together by you, but granted by our Father in heaven. When you place your faith and trust in Jesus you are at once God’s beloved child, irrespective of anything else. And no-one can take that away from you. So secure in that identity we choose to serve, to choose the lower places, to help anyone who is poor, or struggling, or excluded. For God has done the same for us. In our race for the bottom we will find Jesus there, who stooped to the lowest place, and was raised to the highest heights. So in his name, let us do the same.
Amen.