Being Proud of Our Humility?

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Gospel reading for today comes  Luke Chapter 14 verses 1 to 7 and verse 11  ( Click here to read  ).  In the time of Jesus, there was a definite protocol that was followed at weddings.  In many houses, especially in those of the monied class, the feast was held in a room with two levels.  The higher level was reserved for the guests of honor, the wedding party, the rabbi, people of higher civil rank and the like.  It was the place to be seen at the wedding.  The lower section was for those of lesser importance, the riff-raff, and more common people. The Pharisee and the Sadducee always aspired to the upper level because they saw themselves as men that were worthy of respect.  So, if you were a Pharisee or a Sadducee you always felt compelled to be at the top of the feast rather at the bottom.  What Jesus was saying is that what would happen if you sat down at the upper level and began to enjoy yourself when someone more important than you arrived.  The host would see that the choice spots were all taken and then he would see you sitting there where the host felt that you did not belong.  He would approach and tell you to give up your space to the man that had just arrived. If you looked insulted of if you did not look like you were going to go, he would probably tell a servant to "assist you" to a different place. Then, you would stand up and with a red face join the great unwashed on the lower level.  On the other hand, if you started on the lower level the host might see you and realize that you were certainly an honored guest and he would immediately ask you to join him in the VIP lounge.  As you walked to your new space others would look at you in awe. and yes, maybe they would be just a little bit jealous.  

Jesus is telling us to be humble.  This is something that we in the twenty-first century do not understand.  We are taught from early age to be assertive and to take our rightful place in the world.  This is good advice except we should always consider others as better than ourselves. We have as an example Jesus, Himself.  He did not descend to earth with trumpeting angels announcing His arrival to all.  Quite the contrary.  We are told that angels announced His birth to shepherds abiding in the field.  Being a shepherd was not considered to be a cool occupation.  This is because your work kept you in the field, read away from the temple, and you were more or less considered a bad Hebrew, even chronically ritually unclean.  Yet these poor shepherds were the first in Israel to hear the Good News and they came to the stable and found the Child not in a cradle of gold but in a common manger, a place where cattle ate and did the other things that cattle do after eating.  They found the Messiah in humble surroundings. 

Jesus is the poster boy for humility.  He washed the feet of his followers, a dirty job usually given to the lowliest servant in a household.  For us, he assumed the most humble role of all, becoming the Bread of Life, which is Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the guise of bread and wine to nourish both body and soul.  God can give no greater example of humility than that. 

So, practice humility in all you do.  Sometimes giving up your "rightful place" will be a good thing to do and you may be surprised when after doing so you are asked to come up to the higher level.