Luke 14:1, 7-14
Humility. This is the theme that showed up in many of the commentaries I read this week about the Gospel story. It’s not something that’s at the top of our usual topics at the dinner table – unless we are complaining that someone doesn’t have it.
… Jesus is at a sabbath meal and notices how the men jostle for the best places in the house. They demonstrate their positions of power, and seek to talk to other powerful men to do business deals. As long as they are there together, they might as well take advantage of the situation. – even though it’s the sabbath!
Jesus calls them on this practice and challenges them to
think differently. Instead of inviting the people you see all the time, why not
invite the outsiders, the invisible folks – the poor, the disabled? Offer this
wonderful food to those who are hungry. We remember that Luke’s version of the
Beatitudes reads: blessed are the hungry, for they will be fed. But, of course, the wealthy folks in this
parable, and at this meal, don’t want to hear what Jesus has to say.
… It would be easy to make a long list of people who appear to lack humility. We remember reading about Uriah Heep, a law clerk in the novel David Copperfield, who was very proud of his humility ('umility).
In this week’s news there are a couple pastors who have
turned a congregation into a cult, demanding that parishioners pay large donations.
These donations supported a lavish lifestyle for the pastors, and fear in the
hearts of the folks. While the pastors were anything but humble, the
parishioners were forced to be so.
I think most of us are sure we are humble – that we have humility. We claim that we are all equal in God’s eyes. Reality demonstrates that women, people of color, and people who are different in any way, are required to be more humble than white men. In recent years this is changing for the better, but there is still a long way to go.
For example, I was a young woman, with a college education,
and in my first job after having two children. I worked for Don, the owner of
Don Shoes, a traditional shoe store where we used the Brannock device to measure
feet, and went into the tunnels to get the shoes for the customer. Many women
came to me because I worked hard to find the right shoe for them.
When Don hired me, he told me that I could only sell women’s
shoes, not men’s. John was a coworker, hired after me, a young man, and a newlywed.
John could sell men’s and women’s shoes, and was in charge of the window
display as well. Don told me that John got more hours and more responsibility –
and probably more pay – because he was married and had to support his wife.
… I also think most of us aren’t aware of our blind spots. I enjoy the radio show This American Life, which is also available as a podcast so I can listen to the ones I missed. A recent episode was called: “Suddenly: A Mirror!”
This radio show tells stories about regular people having
encounters with other people or events that change their lives. Here’s a
summary of one story.
Aviva tells the story about when she was 11, her sister was
14, and their cousin was 16. They decided to go swimming. In the community
pool. At midnight. Of course, they had to climb the chain-link fence because
the pool was closed. As soon as they were poolside, the alarms sounded, and the
police cars were arriving.
Aviva describes what happened next: … So we panic. And my
cousin, he is the oldest and tallest. And he just runs to the fence, hops over
it, clears it no problem, takes off running. And then my sister is next. And
she hops up on the fence, but then she kind of falls down. She doesn't quite make
it over.
And then she hops up again, and she was just moving so
slowly, in my mind. It was probably 15 seconds, actually. And what I did in my
panic, is, she was up about 2 feet off the ground, holding on to the fence. And
I grabbed her waist, and I ripped her off the fence. And I climbed over myself.
And then she describes what she saw in the mirror as she reflected
on her actions that night. … But for me, this is the first moment that I
remember thinking, I have been shown what kind of person I am, and I am a very
bad person. Or there is a part of me that is deeply selfish or capable of deep
selfishness.
… We all have those things we have done, or continue to do, that bring us shame when we see them in the mirror. These events, these attitudes, these behaviors describe or define ways in which we have not been, or are not today, humble.
We may not be pushing our way to the best seats in the house,
or climbing the fence around the community pool at midnight, but there are
always ways in which we seek to have our own way. Jesus cautions us against being
so concerned about our own needs that we ignore the needs of others. We don’t always
show others the respect they are due as siblings in Christ, children of a
loving God, just like us.
When we are faced with the truth about ourselves, we can
deny we are not perfect. Or we can admit it, confess it, and seek forgiveness.
If we have harmed some person, we can apologize and, hopefully, receive
forgiveness. If we have offended God, we can confess, and know that we are
loved and forgiven, despite our offences.
… This week, I hope you will consider ways in which you may not see the whole truth about yourself. Where are your blind spots? When have others helped you see yourself in the mirror and shown you something you didn’t like about yourself? Don’t be afraid of what you see. Know that God loves you and forgives you, no matter what! Amen
