Humility, Honor & Jesus’ Table Manners

Luke 14:1, 7-14 “Humility, Honor & Jesus’ Table Manners”
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this person your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." 12 Then Jesus said to his 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. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

In Jesus’ day, honor was one of the most important things in culture. I first learned about honor as a cultural power when I was a kid and watched Karate Kid 2, where Daniel had to fight through the whole movie because of a strange system of honor in Japan he had offended without knowing how. Honor is a big thing for us today, though we describe it differently with words like ‘popular’ or ‘stylish’ or ‘successful’ or ‘cool.’ Thinking of it this way, and contrasting it with Jesus’ talk about being humble, how do we live our lives today in ways that seek to glorify ourselves and how could we make changes to be more like the people Jesus describes and more mindful of others?