Humility (Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29). Yup – got that one.
I don’t think most of us feel a need to push for that place in the best seats (Luke 14:1, 7-14). If anything we may suffer from the opposite issue – always wanting to sit at the back… Not pushing yourself forward isn’t always the right choice. Sometimes God does want us to step forward and take something on. The prophets were great ones for saying, “oh no I’m not worthy, send someone else…” – and look where that got them.
But when we look at our Gospel reading today there is also a second message – not to the guests, but to the host.
Who should you be inviting to your dinner party? That’s a tough one. “Not your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors.” Invite the ones that may make you uncomfortable, that you don’t typically have in your neighborhood, that won’t have great manners or dinner table conversation – the people that you don’t gain anything by inviting.
Except you will gain everything.
Let’s be clear – Jesus is not telling us never to have dinner with friends – he did it all the time. His teaching is much deeper than that. This is about our orientation to life in general. If we approach it with a “what’s in it for me?” attitude then the answer is you’ll get whatever you get – maybe you will get the best place at the table. But Jesus wants us to come at life with the opposite attitude – “what can I give?”.
Yes we try and do that on a regular basis. We contribute to this cause and that cause, we do what we can to help those around us, sometimes even without being asked. But he’s challenging us to model ourselves on him – everything is about giving, every moment of life, to never ask or even consider what do I get from this.
Is this impossible? Of course it is! How can we possibly be like Jesus? Only because he has given us himself – because he is one with us. Will we fail? Of course we will. But that’s not the point. We set our course by the star that shines in front of us. We’ll get lost, wander off, sit down exhausted and refuse to get up. But he’ll still be with us, and when we’re ready he’ll accompany us in our journey of service. That’s the only journey worth making.