Eleventh Sunday after Trinity
“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’”
Overview
Both of today’s readings give us a lecture on table manners. Proverbs 25:6-7 reminds us to be humble and not assume a status greater than we have. But it still holds out the hope that our humility will be rewarded. It looks as though Jesus, in Luke 14:1, 7-14, is just repeating this advice, but then he begins to talk about reciprocity. Human relations are built on the idea of reciprocity: I give to you and you will, in turn, give back to me; I invite you to dinner, you invite me to dinner. Instead Jesus tells us to give without expecting reciprocity: none of us are capable of reciprocating what God offers us. In the kingdom of God none of us are hosts, we are all guests. We are invited to share that divine hospitality without favour.
FIRST READING
Proverbs 25:6-7
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.
GOSPEL READING
Luke 14:1, 7-14
‘On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’
He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
