1-3 One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?”
4-6 They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, “Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn’t rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?” They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.
Invite the Misfits
7-9 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honor, he said, “When someone invites you to dinner, don’t take the place of honor. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. Then he’ll come and call out in front of everybody, ‘You’re in the wrong place. The place of honor belongs to this man.’ Red-faced, you’ll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left.
10-11 “When you’re invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, ‘Friend, come up to the front.’ That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! What I’m saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face. But if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
12-14 Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”
These words are about how it is in the Kingdom of God and how God would have it be with us . With God there are no “greats”; no “ inner circles”; no “less or more important”; no social status. No game playing, pretending to be humble so we can be great.
“Half of the harm that is done in this world, is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm - but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” T. S. Elliot ”The Cocktail Party”
We live by grace not by our accomplishments. Humility is our key word.
Humility is a sigh of strength. It is a fruit of healthy ego-strength; liking myself but not hung up on myself. It comes out of the honest struggle with my weakness; and the gracious acceptance of forgiveness. It comes when I forget myself and remember who I am - a sinner - and who my God is - a gracious, loving, forgiving God. Humble people like themselves and don’t need the acclaim of others to do so. They just go about being their forgiven selves.
“True humility doesn’t consist of thinking ill of yourself but on not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you’d be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more & no less pleased when you play your own (bridge) hand well then when your opponents do.” Buechner, “Wishful Thinking”, p. 40
Humility is loosing oneself in living and not keeping score. It is letting the love of God consume us until nothing is more important then the privilege of being a servant.
It is getting lost in doing good. And letting God keep score, if God wants to, which God probably doesn’t.
“It is better to lead from behind
and to put others in front,
especially when you celebrate
victory,when nice things occur.”
Nelson Mandela
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, keep me humble so you can use me, and the gifts I have to share. And let the credit be Yours!”
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