In the past weeks, we have become acquainted with many of Jesus’s parables, and we have learned that parables were one of Jesus’s favorite ways of teaching. Instead of telling people what to think, what to believe and what to do, Jesus offered stories with many layers of meaning so people could reflect on their own lives in the light of the reality of the Kingdom of God. Based on what they understood from the story, they could adjust their behavior, change their ways, or as the tradition puts it, they could “repent” from something bad to something better.
It is to be noticed that in our passage today, Luke tells us explicitly that again, Jesus is telling people “a parable”, and yet it’s a bit surprising because what we hear does not sound like a parable. Indeed, we see that Jesus is attending a dinner party and he starts telling the guests that when they are invited, they shouldn’t pick the place of honor, just in case someone more important may show up and it would be very embarrassing for them to have to give up their seat. It does not look like a made up story. In fact, Luke tells us that what Jesus describes is what Jesus had been observing in the guests’ behavior. In the meantime though, Luke does not say that Jesus is giving people a piece of advice, a bit of wisdom, Luke does not even say that Jesus is quoting this passage of the Proverbs we have just heard, two short verses that seems to capture it all: “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told “come up here” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble”.
My guess is that maybe Luke tells us it’s a parable as a clue to understand that there is more to it than just etiquette. It’s not about politeness. Another clue Luke gives us is that Jesus does not speak about what the guests should do at a “dinner party” (which was the kind of meal he was attending on that day), rather Jesus alludes to a certain “wedding banquet”, and for those well versed in the Scriptures, the wedding banquet is very often used as an image for the heavenly banquet. So here we are: Jesus uses the occasion of the dinner party and the way people behave in society to make them reflect on their attitude towards God and their spiritual dispositions. For all we know, Jesus cared very little about good manners, but he is interested in the fact that people’s behavior reveals what’s going on inside their hearts. As the guests move forward to be acknowledged by the Master of the house, Jesus knows that some pharisees feel entitled to God’s presence, they do believe they will have priority in the kingdom, leaving behind all sorts of people they believe are less deserving than they are. That’s why we are indeed listening to a parable: Jesus tells all those pious people to be careful, he uses an image to say: As the Master of the house can ask you to yield your seat, maybe God will ask you to yield your seat on the last day.
Now, how can we understand that today? It seems to me that we don’t really believe anymore that in heaven there are first and last seats and we probably wouldn’t use our piety as way to obtain prestige and power (although it can still be true for some spiritual leaders). What I hear though, or actually what comes back to my mind as I listen to the story, are these words of a Saint: “What pleases men often displeases God”. Men and women spend their lives “working their way up” but Jesus says that if we want to be righteous in the eyes of God, we should go back at the end of the lane and yield our turn. And Jesus says that because it’s exactly what his life was all about. As Paul puts it in the Letter to the Philippians: “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but (…) He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” Jesus, who was entitled to the place of honor, took the last seat. And he teaches the Pharisees, as well as us, that this humility is the only key to have access to God and this how humility looks like:
1 – According to the parable, and contrarily to what we generally think, humility is not something that is abstract, in our heads. Humility isn’t thinking little about ourselves, or even feeling bad about ourselves. The story tells us that true humility is about thinking less about ourselves and prioritizing others. In this sense, the way we act, even in small things, reveals what we truly believe about ourselves. What all those religious people reveal with their behavior at the dinner party is that, although they professed to seek holiness, in real life they only thought about crushing the less powerful.
2 – Humility indeed is about renouncing our power. Now there is a misunderstanding about that. Renouncing power for Jesus is certainly not about renouncing self respect, personal agency, inner strength and resilience, it’s about renouncing to have power on others – and it is not about renouncing leadership, or even guidance or parenthood, it’s about renouncing to use power on others to meet our own ends, to use others to our own advantage – literally stepping on people to work our way up to the first seat. They are countless ways in everyday life we may use people to meet our own ends, “putting people down” to lift ourselves up (would it be only in our own eyes). How often do we do that, if not in our words, at least in our thoughts?
3 – There is hope though the humility is within our reach since Jesus seems to think that by acting differently in every day life (at the dinner party) we may make ourselves ready for eternal life (the wedding banquet). If we change the way we behave, we will also change our inner disposition. To become humble, you don’t have to beat yourself up, you just have to practice acts of humility. I can’t help smiling when I read this passage thinking that maybe the Pharisees were inviting Jesus expecting to have some in depths spiritual conversations, discussing the Law or the end of times – how surprised they should have been that Jesus gave them such down to earth teaching! And yet it’s in everyday life that we practice spirituality. It’s in those practices that we come closer to God, or not.
Because coming closer to God, to God’s seat, this is what it’s all about isn’t it? The story is told for those who want to be with the Master. The point of the story isn’t Jesus putting the Pharisees down because he is frustrated with their arrogance. Well, he probably was. But he does not just “teach them a lesson”, he shows them a better way. The way of humility is not the way of humiliation, the shame Jesus seems to want to spare even those who think too much of themselves and may need to step back in the end, but again humility is the way. And that’s the second story Jesus tells on that day. He says: Don’t just struggle to be part of the party, throw your own party and invite everyone, even those you have no affinity with. It’s about how we can move from being guest to become the host and receive joyfully all sort of people. Practicing humility, acceptance and openness, we will become truly loving people and doing so we will grow closer to everyone and closer to God, being like God who invites all to the wedding banquet.
And that is the reward those Pharisees so desperately seek.
Maybe you have noticed that it’s an important theme in Luke, the reward, the treasure in heaven and so on. We dropped this idea in our churches, as if it was a bad thing to be looking for a reward, and maybe indeed it’s the sign of a mixed intention when we practice acts of charity. Yet it’s also sad not to believe in reward anymore, because we don’t really understand why we would need to be Christian. It seems enough to be good people, and have expectations about joy and happiness in this life, even if we know we’ll often be disappointed.
Jesus does not promise any reward on earth, and indeed in this passage he asks us to act towards people who cannot give anything back, yet Jesus asks us to also believe that we will have a reward in heaven. This reward though has nothing to do with a reward as we understand it in this world. It has nothing to do with good points, material advantages or a greater status. God is not going to “give us things” and we’re not going to “become somebody”, rather, by performing pure acts of love for the pure motive of loving, this how we will be able to receive what matters most, that is God’s love. In the parable, the Master does not only move the humble to the first place, what he does is to draw the person in his presence, he calls them “friend”, and this is what heaven is about: Living in friendship with God and with all the people we have loved. For this reason, the more we learn to love on earth, the more our cup will be filled in heaven. But what are our expectations for the Resurrection? And how do we prepare our hearts to receive this joy God wants to give us?