Luke 14:1, 7-11

Saturday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, October 32, 2020

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus seems to have told this parable on the same occasion on which he healed the man from the dropsy.  This parable stands out from the others he has told because he gives practical advice on how to behave in a very common situation, and then uses it to teach on virtuous behavior.  First, St. Luke has us know that Jesus was watching the various Pharisees and scholars of the law deciding who should take the seats of honor at the table.  The way Luke phrases it, the picture is one of a teacher watching children squabble over who is going to stand first in line.  When they settled down, he speaks of the seating at a wedding feast.  He tells the assembled guests, “Do not recline at table in the place of honor.”  This would have taken his hearers by surprise: for some, the whole point of attending a feast was to show off one’s status.  But Jesus puts forth an excellent reason for this: “A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited” by the host, and you have to slink down to a lower position in front of everyone: “Give your place to this man.”  The way to prevent this mortifying turn of events from happening, Jesus says, is to take a lower position in the first place.  Perhaps the host will notice this and raise you to a higher one.  The point Jesus makes is that status is not self-determined, but is determined by the host of the feast.  After all, it is his feast.

The Lord quickly turns this into counsel regarding humility: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  That is, it is God’s view of us that matters, not our view of ourselves, or even our view of others.  We are then to see ourselves as lowly and undeserving, knowing in our hearts that there are bound to be more “distinguished” guests than ourselves, holier, wiser.  We ought to sit so that we can observe them and listen to them with the purpose of learning from the saints.  

This prompts us to think about how we assess ourselves.  We humans assess ourselves in different ways according to what is important to us.  Some folks pay lots of attention to their outward appearance, clothes, weight, signs of age, and to have the right look will spend great amounts of money in attempts to improve these things.  Other people work very hard at becoming the best student or the funniest entertainer or the richest person.  It is very difficult for us to assess our virtues.  We must be careful not to think too highly of ourselves or to become complacent, but also to think of ourselves as servants.  This is what Jesus will gradually teach his Apostles, that they should not be seated at the table at all, but should be serving those at table — “the poor and maimed and blind and lame”, as the Lord will explain in short order.  They are to be the stewards, the waiters, following the Lord’s own example: “even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20, 28).  

If we act as good and faithful servants to those whom the Lord gives us to serve, then, when he comes again, “he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12, 37).