It’s the time of year here in the Northeast, when wedding season kicks into overdrive.  The heat and humidity of summer begin to ease and the colors of harvest time and emerging fall foliage paint a lovely palette for outdoor weddings.  As I imagined the wedding banquet from today’s Gospel, I thought of the last wedding I attended.  

An embodied memory from my niece’s waterfront wedding last September still lingers.  As we gathered alongside the water and a gentle breeze played with the tall wetland grasses and made dresses dance, a joyful couple exchanged vows full of hope for the future.  Family members who have gone before us were remembered and guests were given a brief glimpse of what the heavenly banquet feels like.  Maybe it was the love in the air or the Spirit in the constant, refreshing breeze from the water but what I experienced was a deep felt-sense that something more was going on here.  It was one of those days when the Holy Spirit seemed to be surrounding and accompanying us through Creation and the sacred became far more tangible than usual.

This same sense of “there’s something more going on here” is present in Luke’s Gospel.  Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee having dinner.  He notices everyone is jockeying for the best seats around the table.  Everyone wants to be near the influential host and seen as important and powerful.  Jesus speaks through a parable to reveal something more.   Jesus proposes that the guests take one of the least desirable seats – what might be seen as the cheap seats - the seats next to the least important guests. Why?  In taking these seats, guests would have a chance to hear and be enriched by a new and different perspective from their seat-mates.

Jesus goes on to talk about the host then promoting those guests to a better seat.  Again why? In moving up the social seating ladder the guests could lift up and highlight the stories of those “lowly” or unimportant people they met and share their stories with those in power at the head of the table.  There is definitely something more going on here as Jesus proposes a vision of God that is inclusive, open-minded and attentive to those deemed least important.

The second part of the Gospel about table fellowship goes a step further.   Jesus says even more explicitly to the host– don’t just think of inviting the important people - invite the poor, the disabled, the weak and the blind, so their wisdom, their stories, their value can literally be brought to the table as well.  It is a vision of God that continually uplifts those who are marginalized, outcast and most in need.

Back at my niece’s wedding.  After that beautiful ethereal outdoor ceremony, we moved inside to the banquet area for our shared meal.  Everyone passed by the wedding seating chart to see what table they were at and more significantly whom they would be seated with.  My younger son was at first dismayed that he wasn’t sitting with us -he always sat with us at these things.  But once he realized he had been promoted to the cool cousins table and that my husband & I had graduated to the old(er) aunt and uncle table, he was thrilled.  In that moment, the same desire for recognition and privilege from the Gospel surfaced a bit.

Now unless someone has had too many signature cocktails, wedding guests typically do not try to move up and crash the head table with the couple and wedding party.  Nonetheless, we can have a hesitant and gut reaction to Jesus’ words of wisdom: “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (NRSVCE)

There is something about this phrase and the whole concept of humility that makes us squirm.  In our culture of self-preservation and fierce independence we fear that if we allow someone else to move up and gain prominence or improve their status, that somehow, we will be diminished or we will lose out in the process.  This is where Jesus’ invitation to see something more in our lived understanding of humility persists.

If you have been to a wedding in the past decade, you may be familiar with the wedding hashtag trend.  Couples create a cute or funny hashtag to commemorate the day and allow a way for guests to share on social media.  So, a couple with the last name of Cruz might have a wedding hashtag of # CruzingDowntheAisle or the Park family would be #TilDeathDoUsPark.

As we reflect on the challenge of humility maybe humility needs its own modern and positive hashtag.  How about: Humility #TheGiftThatUplifts.  For in inviting us to see something more, I imagine Jesus asking us: why would lifting up another person have to diminish you?  How exactly would helping someone else or being generous take anything away from you?

Jesus’ hope for humanity turns things upside down and shifts our perspective. The way of God says:  you never lose out when you choose to uplift someone else.  In fact, when others are uplifted, you are not diminished - you are enriched as well.  When we fully see, support and respond to the needs of fellow human beings, we uplift love, tenderness, care and compassion in the world. We uplift and spread God’s dream and desire for the world that is inclusive, just and empowering for all.  

As we go forth this week, there will be daily opportunities to respond to the needs of others. Some of those needs will be global and feel overwhelming.  Some will be more practical and routine.  In all those moments, let humility be the gift that uplifts, the gift that encourages us and gives us the strength to elevate others and raise up the dignity, story and the gift of every human being.

Just as the Spirit blew across the lush grass at my niece’s wedding, the Spirit breathes on us humility as a fresh and free way of being.  It frees us to expand our image and understanding of what the banquet table, that great celebration with God, looks like here and now on earth.  May we see, know and embrace humility as the gift that has the potential to uplift each and every person.