In today's pericope starting at the beginning of Luke's fourteenth chapter, the tables are turned on Jesus Instead of hosting his street ministry, he is a guest at a banquet thrown by a Pharisee. In Graeco-Roman times, people ate reclining on couches and propped by pillows. Da Vinci's own depiction of the Last Supper is erroneous, retrojecting mediaeval dining practice into our minds. Couches accomodated three persons and were usually arranged in a rectangular fashion, with the serving table in the centre space. Those on the middle couch were the most wealthy, powerful, and prestigious.
In this context, Jesus counsels people to fly low. Come in to the party with the humility appropriate to the Christian servant. If you enter all big and bad and take a prestigious place, you may get kicked downstairs, if 'superior' sorts arrive after you. Christianity is not, after all, about winning at musical chairs. It is servanthood.
Jesus goes on to talk about the importance of doing good to those in need, without expect any reciprocation or reward: invite to your party the poor, crippled, lame and blame. Your reward will follow in the world to come. Judaism has always taught that giving anonymously to those in need, so as to avoid compensation, is the highest form of tzedakah, righteousness There is no quid pro quo in the Kingdom of God where our actions as Christians mirror our personal experience of the unearned and undeserved love of God. We don't busy ourselves in games of balance and survival; rather, we strive to bring in the Kingdom here and now.
In our former lectionary, the Jewish reading for today was from Sirach, beginning with the wonderful line, "Arrogance is hateful to God and to people" and going on to remind us that the truly humble person is satisfied with his lot in life. St. Paul told us that, in whatever state he found himself, he strove to be content. Jesus tells us to strive for the Kingdom and trust God with the rest.
Unfortunately, these messages do not jibe with our greedy, dog-eat-dog, consumerist, imperialist, megacapitalist culture. In the secular world, self-reliance, naked ambition and aggressiveness are the way to go. Take care of Number One. But surely the awful mess we are in should tell us that we are moving farther and farther in the wrong direction, away from the divine values taught and lived out by Jesus.
The lesson: Be humble and satisfied with what you have. Be focussed on serving others -- especially the least, the last, and the lost -- without conditions, or expectations beyond living in God's grace. Show the world what God's way of life looks like. And fly low.
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