The norms during banquets: Lessons in humility

Today’s gospel is a very interesting one as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches his disciples on how to conduct themselves when they are invited to a banquet and when they are before their host, which a few of us do not realize is important to God. Actually these are lessons in humility, something that our Lord wants us to practice. You can read it in Luke 14: 1, 7-14.

1 On a Sabbath [Jesus] went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. 7 He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.

10 Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 Then he said to the host who invited him, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

As always, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us something difficult to do or comprehend… something that wasn’t even practiced during his time and is still not in practice today. Whenever someone holds a party or a banquet, it is only natural that we invite our family and relatives and our closest of friends, or those whom we want to become our friends with. But instead, Jesus says, we must also invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind because they have nothing on their own, nor can they even hold a party, hence they do not need to repay you with a reciprocal invitation. Thus, it is God you repays you at the resurrection of the righteous. That means your repayment will be in your next life.

This teaching sort of makes you ask, do we commit a sin in holding a banquet with my friends and relatives only without inviting the poor? I don’t think so, but somehow our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us how things are done in the kingdom of heaven, which is so much far different from the usual norms of humanity. But it doesn’t stop you from holding a party, while giving alms to the poor as a way of putting some balance in your life.

In this gospel, our Lord teaches us about humility something very few people embrace or accepts because people mistakenly believe that being humble is being weak. As we all know, the opposite of humility is pride, which we know is one of the first deadly sins. Hence, Jesus is teaching us the ways of the humble as he is the example of humility himself, after all he is the second person in the Holy Trinity and yet he allowed himself to become one of us in everything except in sin. Then the sinless one died for our sins.

In this gospel narrative, our Lord also teaches us that when we are in a party, it is far better not to sit in a table reserve for people of high rank because when that visitor comes, your host might ask you that this spot is reserve for the special guests and you would end up embarrassingly looking for another seat elsewhere. I’m sure this has happened in many parties or banquets even in today’s times and I myself have seen this happen, when people who think that they are so big in the community (call them swell headed) would enter the room and sit in the place reserved for the monsignors or government officials. When the very important guest arrives the host would have to tell his lesser guest to move to the table reserve for him.

This is why on certain occasions like a wedding, there is no head table and the tables on the floor are round so that everyone feels equally important and nobody gets embarrassed. But those embarrassing moments can be prevented if you are humble. Being humble isn’t easy, hence there is a prayer for humility we should pray before the Blessed Sacrament but since it’s quite lengthy, so allow me to print only the last portion.

“That others may be loved more than I, O Jesus grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, that in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease. That others may be chosen and I set aside. That others may be praised and I unnoticed. That others may be preferred to me in everything. That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should. O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.”

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.