Humility and Taste Buds

Luke 14:7-11
"When he [Jesus] noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:  'When somone 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 man 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 your fellow guests.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"

I love that Jesus uses a wedding feast to describe what real humility looks like.  Feasts are where you find the choicest foods--the thought of the tender-loins and steamed vegatables, succulent sauces gently washed by the smoothest of wines, cause my taste-buds to quiver!  The imagery is so appropriately associated with humility, as there are few character traits that are so attractive to me, and so valued by God.

To live humbly is to exhibit one of the most courageous human activities.  It is the personification of openness and care.  Humility is the active "invitation" to all those around you, because you are clearly telling them they are important and they are welcome.  To be humble is to live as the incarnation of the fragrance of God--it is so appealing and beautiful.

No wonder Jesus was the epitome of humility.

There has been a bit of tempest in my spirit recently as I think about the Church and the things we spend so much time clarifying and defending.  Sometimes, it seems to me, that we are motivated more by fear than humility: fear in that we worry that if we somehow "get it wrong" then we will slide off track, so we re-double our efforts to clarify "what we believe".  Humility strikes me more as a position of trust where we are more able to receive and in so doing express a childlike ability to say "I don't know everything, but I know Who does and He loves me."

There's something so tasty about humility!

Humility before God has this indescribable ability to keep us on track.  And I received a good example of this just today:
There is a group of "dissidents" that are part of a movement called "solid ground" that are taking their stand against the ELCIC institutional church body.  The reason for this is that the ELCIC has lost its ability to humbly trust God's Word.  Out of a 5 page document by the dissidents one particular passage struck me:

"The human mind has a great way of messing things up.  Humans can rationalize anything.  Luther knew that and cautioned about 'die Hure des Verstandes,' the whore of reason.  Unfortunately many of our brothers and sisters in our ELCIC have decided to follow the wisdom of the world.  God is not an object that can be studied objectively.  Theology must approach the Word of God with humility and respect and stand under the Word and not over it.  The wisdom of this world must not take control of Holy Scriptures. . . . .We are totally dependant upon Holy Scriptures to know anything about God."

We must approach ourselves, the world, and God with great humility in order that we might stay on track.  But that means that we must sometimes say "I don't know--and that's OK."

Preparing a great feast is much like living humbly: it's not the exact precision of the amount of each ingredient that matters most, it is how everything comes together as a whole that really counts.

Are we courageous enough to find our identity in Jesus and allow everything else to be second?

Oh, what tasty bunch we will become. . . . .

BT