These days of long work hours, commutes and children’s after-school activities really put a strain on a parent’s responsibility to put a meal on the dinner table. Whether we have families, or live alone, after a busy week, don’t you just love being invited to someone’s home where you can sit down to dinner with family or friends at a meal you don’t have to prepare or grab at a carry-out on your way home?
Earlier in Luke (9-51) Jesus resolved to go to Jerusalem. Since then he has been busy choosing and training new disciples, curing, teaching and facing opposition from his religious opponents. At the beginning of today’s reading we learn that he is dining at the table of a leading Pharisee. The Pharisees were the devout, whose lives were an example to other Jews of how upright you should behave in society, at home and in the synagogue. The Sabbath is a day of rest for observant Jews and this would have been a chance for Jesus to come to a stop in his busy life and recline at table for a good meal and companionship.
That was not to be, for Luke tells us, “They were observing him carefully.” Even on the Sabbath and at table, Jesus is being scrutinized. He was often criticized for eating with sinners by the respectable religious leaders. But though he was being observed, he was also doing some observation of his own. Meals were important settings for Jesus’ teaching and so at table today Jesus challenges the Pharisee and his invited guests.
When someone walks into a busy office or workplace they might ask, “Who’s in charge here?” If we were at the dinner table at the important Pharisee’s home and had asked our dinner companions that question, they would have answered, “Why our host the Pharisee, of course.” But we who hear Luke’s account today would have a different response, “Jesus is in charge, of course!” That’s clear when Jesus speaks his challenging illustration towards those at table.
Jesus addresses the Pharisee and his distinguished guests by using an unusual illustration. At first it sounds like a social strategy for getting the best seats at table and public recognition from one’s peers. Jesus notices the guests choosing “the places of honor at the table.” He suggests choosing the lowest place hoping for recognition by the host and then an offer of a higher place: “My friend, move up to a higher position.” What could be better than that: getting public credit for being humble and also receiving a higher position at table? Is Jesus suggesting a shrewd table etiquette to gain stature among one’s peers — a false humility underlined by pride? That wasn’t what his whole life and example taught. Instead, we get the basic message: a disciple is to have humility and simplicity.
Jesus certainly isn’t telling us modern disciples to intentionally get poor grades in school, a stagnant position at our jobs, or turn down compliments for a task well done. Instead, he is challenging our basic motivations as we pursue our goals in life. God has gifted us with skills and talents to be used for doing good in our world, not for gaining status and acclaim from those at table, or at work with us. There is much disciples must do in the world to address enormous needs, especially of those who are in the lowest places at our societal tables. It is up to God, and not humans, to pass on to us the honor we might deserve. As for how we think of ourselves as we serve the Lord, Micah advises that we are to say, “We are useless servants, we have done no more than our duty” (17:10).
As if that weren’t enough, Jesus goes even further in his challenge to the guests at table. Apparently they were of a social class that could throw a banquet for their friends and associates. He tells them not to invite their wealthy friends and family to those banquets, expecting them to return the favor. Instead they are to invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”
Does this mean we shouldn’t have festive celebrations with family and friends? No, Jesus himself was a guest in the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. But we get the point of his strong teaching: we are not to neglect the poor, hungry, sick and those in need. Those who receive the least attention in our society are to receive the most by Jesus’ followers.
Just one of the effects of the Sequester, the harsh congressional cuts, is that the Head Start Program for poor children is being severely cut: 60,000 pre-schoolers will be dropped from the program. In addition, the hours for other children are being shortened, along with reductions in medical, dental and nutritional aid. With shortened hours their parents will struggle to find help caring for the children while they are at work. We can see who gets to sit at the head of the table in our society and who gets the lowest places and the least recognition.
Disciples with education and social standing will have to find ways to leave the places of honor at table and sit with those at the “lowest places,” to observe their circumstances, hear their stories and advocate with them on their behalf. Jesus was criticized for sitting at table with sinners, the sick and the disreputable — people who would not only be excluded from banquet tables but from the synagogue. Where was Jesus to be found? — At the low end of the table where he can still be found.
Here we are again today at the banquet of the Lord. We are his honored guests. Jesus is our host and offers us the best food and drink. This is a table of reverses; sinners and the least are welcomed here. We eat and drink with one another in humility and gratitude. Then, when we are well fed we must leave this place to practice what we have heard and seen here: the hungry are fed and sinners are forgiven.
Our Sirach reading today prepares us for the gospel. Sirach is part of the Wisdom tradition. Today’s passage is also addressed to those who have status in their community. “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are and you will find favor with God.” Like the gospel, the sage’s advice to a student (“my child”) is not how to achieve recognition among one’s peers, but to find favor with God.
Sirach suggests humility is a virtue that expresses trust, not in what we can achieve for ourselves, but in God. God sees — God finds favor — God rewards. Where does true greatness come from? Not from ourselves, but from God. As the prophet Micah reminds us, we are “to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God” (6:8).