12 Pentecost/Year C – August 31, 2025
Track 2 Scriptures: Sirach 10:12-18; Psalm 112; Luke 14:1, 7-14
Rev Julie Platson
Opening Prayer: (Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion)
Holy God, you alone are worthy of honor and praise. Open our eyes to see the world as you see it. Give us the wisdom to witness your presence in all people. Transform us in love, grow us in our faith, call us to love with a full heart and to share your promises with all people. Amen.
It is interesting to note that our gospel reading begins today with what Jesus was doing on the Sabbath. Just last week, our first verse began in this way…Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
Listen again to the opening verses from the gospel reading today:
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
Jesus was being watched again, just as he was last week, when he was teaching in the synagogue. Last week the leaders were criticizing him for curing someone on the Sabbath…
Today’s Sabbath story takes us to the house of a leader of the Pharisees, where Jesus goes to eat a meal. Jesus is also doing some watching in today’s gospel reading, just as he was watching and noticing what was going on around him in last week’s gospel and noticing the crippled woman among them and healing her.
Today, Jesus takes notice of how the other guests in attendance are choosing their places of honor. And once again Jesus uses the opportunity to offer a teaching story…another parable…
A parable about a wedding banquet… and the value and importance of humility as a way of engaging with others in the world, through the eyes of God’s heart…
The guests at the wedding were probably busying themselves with thoughts of who is the most important, perhaps rallying with each other and striving to capture the most coveted place at the table. Perhaps they were concerning themselves with what everyone else would think about them, if they weren’t in those most important places at the table that were traditionally set aside for certain persons and honorable guests.
Perhaps they were being meticulous about all the proper hand-washing rituals…the proper table blessings…the proper attire…
Often, as I listen to Jesus’ parables, children’s stories come to mind… When I think of the scene that Jesus is observing in today’s gospel…I recall a beloved children’s story for all ages called Cinderella, which involved the stepsisters fighting among themselves to be noticed, to be seen as the best and the prettiest…
I remember the shocking looks of the guests in attendance at the ball…as they watched the prince dance with Cinderella, the girl in the beautiful gown and wearing glass slippers…trying to figure out who this mysterious woman was…and even more shocking and angry were the wicked stepsisters and stepmother in discovering that Cinderella, the one who was usually dressed in rags and did all the household chores, was the person that the prince had fallen in love with that night!
How could that be? she did not look or act like someone who should become royalty…she wasn’t anyone worth paying attention to…she was just a lowly and humble servant…
It’s not long before we find out that it is the humblest person among them, who catches the prince’s attention…she was not necessarily the prettiest, the one who was the most powerful, she was not the one people expected, she was not the one that hung out with royalty and snubbed others….no…she was a humble servant…with a heart full of love…while others were concerned with outer appearances and the proper way to go about life and seeking to acquire power and status for oneself, neglecting the needs of the others around them…she was concerned only with one thing…the matters of the heart…her heart was good, kind, humble, open and loving…all values that matter, when engaging in the world with others, through the eyes of God’s heart…
Bishop Mark shared a teachable lesson on humility this week, too, referencing this verse from today’s gospel: "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Luke 14: 11.
He writes:
“Being humble is often misunderstood. It is common these days to confuse being humble with being humiliated: a pushover; weak; or of little importance, dignity or esteem. But these are a pretty limited understanding of what it means to be humble. To the contrary, there is great strength and dignity in being humble.
My favorite lesson on the strength and dignity of being humble comes from E.B. White's wonderful book: "Charlotte's Web." For those not familiar, it is a great read. Described as a children's book, it is every bit worthy of any age group. It is a story of a pig named Wilbur who is confronted with the terrible reality that he is destined for the farmer's table. His friend, Charlotte, a spider, trying to save Wilbur from this fate, attempts to convince the farmer that Wilbur is worth saving, by writing messages in her web to describe Wilbur in the most positive light (sort of like an eight-legged PR Officer). Charlotte offers 4 different words in her web: "Some Pig," "Terrific," "Radiant," and, finally, "Humble."
When questioned about the use of the word humble to describe Wilbur, Charlotte reflects that the word not only means 'not proud,' but, in its truest form, humble means 'close to the ground.' To be humble is to live close to the ground--to be grounded. Which isn't at all like being humiliated, weak, a pushover, or of little esteem.
To be humble is to know we are of the earth--dust. To be humble also means to know that our life and the life of the entire earth are a gift of the loving God who created everything. To be humble is to know that you and all things belong to God and are held in God's hands.
And THAT is exalted humility. God exalts us when we are humble, humble enough to recognize that we, like all things, are of the earth, God's creation. To be humble is to understand that we are because of God's love. God's love alone exalts humble dust.”
As you keep informed of the national and local news, and as we celebrate Labor Day, and the start of the season of creation tomorrow, I invite you to take some time this week to reflect more on the value and importance of humility as a way of engaging with others and all of creation, through the eyes of God’s heart… How might this renewed understanding of humility inspire and influence your focus and actions this week to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
Let us pray: (Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion)
Faithful God, in Jesus you show us the way of humility and hospitality with power to transform our world. Give us the vision and the grace to love those things that please you and the courage to live them to your glory. Amen.
HYMN: Be thou my vision (H) #488