Humbly Regard Others as More Important
Piety
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. Philippians 2:3-4
“…rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:13-14
Study
The admonition to “like-mindedness” and unity (Phil 2:2–5) is based on the believers’ threefold experience with Christ, God’s love, and the Spirit. The appeals to humility and obedience are rooted in Christology, specifically in a statement about Jesus and his humbling of self and obedience to the point of death. St. Paul wants us to share that same attitude and disposition as Jesus.
These steps of humility are apropos as we approach today’s Gospel which continues the banquet etiquette lessons which Jesus began in Saturday’s Liturgy of the Word. Jesus stresses that holding a party is no time for “quid pro quo” invitations. When you draw up the guest list, do not do so in hopes that your guests will return the favor by inviting you to a party as well.
All this banquet etiquette reminds of one of the parables left out of the Good News – the parable of the Long Spoons. Because the Magisterium left this out of the Synoptic Gospels, the actual citing is unknown. [i]
One day a man said to Jesus, “Rabbi, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”
Jesus took the man up a mountain and showed him a large room with two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. Jesus said, “You have seen Hell.”
Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The man said, “I don’t understand.”
Jesus smiled. It is simple, he said, Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves… [Author unknown]
Action
Sometimes, thinking solely of our personal gratification, we tend to forget our interdependence with everyone and everything around us, so much so that we stop caring about them. But, as the parable makes it clear, by doing so, not only don’t we help others overcome their suffering, but we’re also unconsciously harming ourselves since we are all connected on a very deep level.[ii]
How would social media, our politics, our nation be different if we Christians took these calls for humility, obedience, and generosity from Philippians and Luke seriously on a daily basis?
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