Word to the Wise
Saturday, October 30, 2010 - Saturday in the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
[Philippians 1:18b-26 and Luke 14:1, 7-11]For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. [Luke]
This line comes at the end of today's parable about places of honor at wedding banquets! It could be almost any kind of banquet, I suppose. I've known hosts and hostesses to agonize about who to put with whom! I've noticed little place cards being surreptitiously moved by individuals who want to be seated next to someone else! In the case of the culture in which Jesus lived, the closer one was seated (or reclined) to the host, the more status ("honor") one had. What Jesus noted on this occasion was the "jockeying" for those positions. It could be risky, as he points out. The host might decide on a different arrangement and cause some embarrassment! Honor and "face" (status) can be powerful values, especially in group-oriented cultures like the Middle East and Far East. I see these values at work in our own culture as well. Just notice who is present when the President of the United States signs an important piece of legislation, and where they are standing! The scene is very carefully "choreographed" by a Chief of Protocol! Recall, elsewhere in the gospels, how the mother of James and John begs Jesus to give her two sons the places of honor in the kingdom! [Matt. 20:20-27] The parable today offers an opportunity to ask about how important "status" is to us! In what context do we expect to be "honored" by others? How much does it mean to us simply to be invited? Are we concerned about who else may have been invited before we accept the invitation? When it is a matter of the Kingdom of God, how does that change our attitude? AMEN
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