Humble Pie

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “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. 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.  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.  For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11)

          “Humble” is another of those words with a bad reputation. Some seem to believe that the humble person sees himself/herself as a worm in the dust, unworthy, incapable, insignificant, useless, hopeless. A sycophant. C.S. Lewis said that a humble person doesn’t think himself less, he thinks of himself less. Gary Chapman describes it as “a peacefulness that allows you to stand aside in order to affirm the value of someone else.” He also points out that some people say, “Look at how (fill in the impressive positive) I am.” Others say, “Look at how (fill in the impressive negative) I am.” Neither is humble.

          But what happens if you love someone or something? It seems to me that when someone or something matters to me, I spend my time, money, effort on it. If I were going to the wedding feast described above, and I took someone I loved, who happened to be friends with the bride or groom, I’d try to get that loved one as close to the bride and groom as possible, even if it meant sitting out in the back, in the ”overflow” area. OK, to be honest, I might do it especially if it meant sitting in the “overflow” area, but I’m not a party person. We make sacrifices for those we love.

      The other this story tells us about being humble is that whether we are proud or humble, when our seat gets changed, we’re likely to either be humiliated or honored. If you’re going to set yourself up for one or the other, wouldn’t you rather set yourself up to be honors? Humble pie can be sweet, if you make it  yourself.