For anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
(Luke 14:11)
In this account, Lord, you have just healed the man with dropsy and reminded the Pharisees that rescuing a person, or even an animal, is more important than heeding all the prohibitions they have set up regarding your commandments. Now, their attention turns to the feast.
How important it is to these guests to be seated “above the salt,” as the elite used to say. I picture them, loud, boisterous, jostling for position, greeting those of higher status while ignoring the rest. What must they think when you rebuke them?
We are quick to judge the Pharisees, but the faults we see in others are the very faults they notice in us. Do we not seek attention and validation from those who are important and popular? Do we not shout to be heard and push to be seen?
In the Novitiate, we used to joke, “I’m so proud of my humility.” It is so hard to be invisible, and if we do manage to put others first, we tend to congratulate ourselves. The only way we can empty ourselves is to be filled with you.
I like to think there were some among the crowd who saw through to your divine Truth and heeded your instruction. I’d like to think that I might have been one of them.
If I want to know my failings, I don’t ask my friends. Instead, I must listen to those who are ignored and despised. If I can see your will through them, they are more valuable than the most loyal and loving companions.
Please show me, Lord, how to “not let my left hand see what the right hand is doing” when I give of myself. Never, never let me be condescending. I promise to seize whatever opportunities you provide for me to humble myself today, and to rejoice if I am one of those ignored and despised. Only by your grace can I do this, and you will grant it if I am centered In you.