A Totally New Way of Looking at Yourself (part 2)

‘But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend move up higher.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (14:10-11)
 

Last week I wrote that the gospel of Jesus Christ gives you a totally new self-image; not so much that it changes how others look at you, but it changes how you look at you. Jesus’ parable of not taking the top seat but humbling yourself and taking the lowest seat teaches us to stop thinking of life as revolving around ‘me’ and to start thinking of others first.

A way to get what you want?
As sports players we’re often very good at getting what we want. People speak well of us and value our sporting ability, and being sociable often comes quite easily; all in all we’re considered to have ‘something about us’ that means we stand out from the crowd. So we use all this to grease the social wheels and to get on in life.

In these verses it looks like Jesus is giving a great social tip to get what we really want and end up in the top-seat: ‘Go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend move up higher’.’

‘Fantastic!’ we think, ‘the way avoid the embarrassment of being kicked out of the top seat is to feign humility and then in time everyone will speak well of us. Right?’
Wrong. If that’s what you think this parable is teaching then you’re very much mistaken.

You can’t fake it
Jesus does teach that if you sit in the lowest seat then you’ll be exalted. However, just as the top seat was a symbol of pride and self-exaltation, so the lowest seat is a symbol of humility. It’s not feigned humility, but genuine humility, which is why Jesus summarises ‘he who humbles himself will be exalted’.

What is humility?
Humility is about how you view yourself with regards to two groups of people, the host and the other guests. It’s the host’s banquet and so sitting in the lowest seat is a recognition that you’re just blessed to be invited but that you have no rights beyond that. Similarly there are others at the banquet that you think of before yourself and so you want them to have a better seat than you. This isn’t self-loathing it’s other person centred love. So humility is about a right self-image before the host God and a right self-image regarding others.

The writer C S Lewis once wrote, ‘As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.’

This self-image is so radical in our world of sport, which is so often about exalting yourself at the expense of others. It’s become so common that some coaches will even tell players that they need to be ‘more arrogant’ if they want to really make it. Not so with Jesus. He doesn’t want you to doubt your ability, far from it, any ability you have is a gift from him. But if it’s all a gift from him then what have you got to be proud about?

So be radical in the world of sport and exhibit a radical new self-image. Think of yourself with sober judgement knowing that ‘he who humbles himself will be exalted’.

Pete