Humility and Hospitality- Luke 14
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14
Last week we dealt with Jesus healing someone on the Sabbath at a synagogue, and this made the synagogue leader upset.
In our Gospel reading today, we are with Jesus once again on the Sabbath. This time he has been invited to supper at the home of the leader of the Pharisees. …
It might look like they are extending a hand of friendship, but Luke lets us know that they were all watching him carefully. Just before our reading, but at the same dinner party, Jesus heals someone. Again, this is on the sabbath. It feels like a trap. They want to see this for themselves. So, they make sure someone who needs healing is visible on the sabbath at this dinner, and everyone at the party sees him heal the man. Jesus gives a similar teaching in the context of healing the man, saying,
“If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?”
He is essentially saying there is a category of activity that is allowed on the sabbath, why isn’t a healing like this in that category? But they don’t reply to his questions.
They seem eager to witness firsthand what the synagogue leader spoke about. This is no simple dinner invitation. This is a test. … But Jesus isn’t going to pass up this opportunity to teach, and hopefully, to draw them into his Kingdom.
In the first century, where you sat at a meal like this had a lot of significance. For us, we might attach significance to the head of the table, but generally we aren’t that formal. In Jesus’ day the closer you sat to the host signified more honour. There was a societal rank or family association that was connected to where you sat at the table. If you were seated furthest away from the host, it was a very public reminder (to you and everyone else) that you were the least important person in the room.
So, what looks like an act of hospitality, is actually driven by social positioning or political maneuvering. At that point, it loses all virtue. Hospitality is meant to build relationships between neighbours, friends, and family. But here, hospitality is just a pretext for self-aggrandizement and competition. …
Jesus watches as the guests scramble for preferred seats that match their appropriate social status (14:7). No doubt, there were some who disagreed over who outranked who, which might have resulted in some awkward sideways glances at the person who is ‘in their seat’.
It must have been an interesting sight for someone (like Jesus) who was often accused of hanging out with all the wrong people, touching the untouchables, and calling nobodies to be his disciples.
Jesus’ words about someone being removed from their seat when someone more important than them arrived might have been something people witnessed. Imagine sitting at the head table at a wedding banquet, thinking you belonged there, but then realizing that you made a drastic misjudgement about your relationship to the married couple, then embarrassingly being asked to move. Perhaps by that time the rest of the seats are full and you have to sit at the back.
Jesus’ advice is very practical. If you take the lowest place, then you will be honoured when the host notices and moves you closer.
But this advice is about more than dinner parties. This is also a lesson about the way of the Kingdom of God. Jesus says,
They seem eager to witness firsthand what the synagogue leader spoke about. This is no simple dinner invitation. This is a test. … But Jesus isn’t going to pass up this opportunity to teach, and hopefully, to draw them into his Kingdom.
In the first century, where you sat at a meal like this had a lot of significance. For us, we might attach significance to the head of the table, but generally we aren’t that formal. In Jesus’ day the closer you sat to the host signified more honour. There was a societal rank or family association that was connected to where you sat at the table. If you were seated furthest away from the host, it was a very public reminder (to you and everyone else) that you were the least important person in the room.
So, what looks like an act of hospitality, is actually driven by social positioning or political maneuvering. At that point, it loses all virtue. Hospitality is meant to build relationships between neighbours, friends, and family. But here, hospitality is just a pretext for self-aggrandizement and competition. …
Jesus watches as the guests scramble for preferred seats that match their appropriate social status (14:7). No doubt, there were some who disagreed over who outranked who, which might have resulted in some awkward sideways glances at the person who is ‘in their seat’.
It must have been an interesting sight for someone (like Jesus) who was often accused of hanging out with all the wrong people, touching the untouchables, and calling nobodies to be his disciples.
Jesus’ words about someone being removed from their seat when someone more important than them arrived might have been something people witnessed. Imagine sitting at the head table at a wedding banquet, thinking you belonged there, but then realizing that you made a drastic misjudgement about your relationship to the married couple, then embarrassingly being asked to move. Perhaps by that time the rest of the seats are full and you have to sit at the back.
Jesus’ advice is very practical. If you take the lowest place, then you will be honoured when the host notices and moves you closer.
But this advice is about more than dinner parties. This is also a lesson about the way of the Kingdom of God. Jesus says,
“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (14:11).
Kingdom virtues are built on a foundation of humility.
Turning from the guests, Jesus then has a lesson for the host. Jesus connects humility and hospitality. True hospitality involves setting aside our ego in order to make the other feel welcome. It’s about making someone else feel seen and respected. When you are not focused on yourself, you can be more attentive to your guest. Hospitality isn’t about showing off. It’s about helping someone else feel comfortable. So, true hospitality requires humility.
But, Just as we can misuse other spiritual practices, so someone might use “hospitality” to elevate their social standing. Maybe they invite the elite among their neighbours hoping to work their way into the upper echelons of society. In that case, hospitality is really being used for self-aggrandizement. It is an elevating of the ego.
Jesus says to the host,
Turning from the guests, Jesus then has a lesson for the host. Jesus connects humility and hospitality. True hospitality involves setting aside our ego in order to make the other feel welcome. It’s about making someone else feel seen and respected. When you are not focused on yourself, you can be more attentive to your guest. Hospitality isn’t about showing off. It’s about helping someone else feel comfortable. So, true hospitality requires humility.
But, Just as we can misuse other spiritual practices, so someone might use “hospitality” to elevate their social standing. Maybe they invite the elite among their neighbours hoping to work their way into the upper echelons of society. In that case, hospitality is really being used for self-aggrandizement. It is an elevating of the ego.
Jesus says to the host,
“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (14:12-14).If we are really trying to practice hospitality as a spiritual practice, in a way that is not about climbing the social ladder, then there will be an element of non-partiality. … When little David is chosen to be king, we read,
“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
We should also remember our reading from Hebrews,
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2).
We should be careful about letting the outward image of a person deceive us.
Jesus teaches over and over that the first will be last and the last will be first (Lk 13:30, 14:11; Matt 19:30, 20:16; Mk 10:31). Mary proclaims in the Magnificat,
Jesus teaches over and over that the first will be last and the last will be first (Lk 13:30, 14:11; Matt 19:30, 20:16; Mk 10:31). Mary proclaims in the Magnificat,
“He has brought down rulers from their thrones / but has lifted up the humble. / He has filled the hungry with good things / but has sent the rich away empty “ (Lk 1:52-53).
Jesus wants us to imitate our Heavenly Father, by seeing the worth of a person the way He does. It’s not about inviting people over who can be on ‘our side’ in the latest family drama, or those with influence (hoping to gain favour or status). … Jesus speaks about who we should invite (with a bit of hyperbole, perhaps) telling us not to invite our friends and family or the wealthy, rather we should invite the marginalized. He’s making a point about what they are really doing when they are having a dinner party.
But his point might even be stronger here. He lived in a world of villages with small populations. When he speaks about the poor, crippled, lame, and blind, these are people they knew. While inviting the influential might help one climb the social ladder, Jesus says that God will repay the host who invites the marginalized to their dinner party. … In a similar way, he says to the sheep on his right hand at the Judgement,
“’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matt 25:24-40).
There seems to be this principle in the kingdom where we are expected to give to others what we hope to receive.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7).
We are taught to pray,
“forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12).
Perhaps we are seeing a similar principal here- That as we show hospitality to the marginalized, we will be shown hospitality in God’s Kingdom.
So, as we leave this scene at the Pharisee’s table, we’re reminded that the Kingdom of God doesn’t operate by the rules that we often see active in the world around us- about climbing social ladders and shmoozing at dinner parties to gain influence. … The Kingdom is a place where the humble are lifted up, where the forgotten are remembered, and where invitations are issued based on the heart rather than the outward appearance. … Jesus invites us to practice a hospitality that reflects the heart of God—a hospitality that sees beyond status and welcomes the stranger, the overlooked, and the broken. And in doing so, we don’t just host a meal—we participate in the very life of the Kingdom. May we be people who take the lower seat, who open our homes and hearts to those who cannot repay us, and who trust that in God’s economy, such love will never go unnoticed. AMEN
So, as we leave this scene at the Pharisee’s table, we’re reminded that the Kingdom of God doesn’t operate by the rules that we often see active in the world around us- about climbing social ladders and shmoozing at dinner parties to gain influence. … The Kingdom is a place where the humble are lifted up, where the forgotten are remembered, and where invitations are issued based on the heart rather than the outward appearance. … Jesus invites us to practice a hospitality that reflects the heart of God—a hospitality that sees beyond status and welcomes the stranger, the overlooked, and the broken. And in doing so, we don’t just host a meal—we participate in the very life of the Kingdom. May we be people who take the lower seat, who open our homes and hearts to those who cannot repay us, and who trust that in God’s economy, such love will never go unnoticed. AMEN
Comments
Post a Comment