OYB for April 11th

One Year Bible Blog: April 11th readings

The passage that struck me today was Luke 14:7-11, where Jesus uses the illustration of places at a dinner party to encourage his followers to humble themselves. I'm familiar with the passage, of course, but it always bothered me. It seemed to me that Jesus was advocating a false modesty, for the purpose of being manipulative. Being modest for the specific purpose of being exalted.

I read it differently today.

Instead of reading it as advocating humility as a means to an end, I'm now seeing it as an honest acknowledgement of who is actually in charge. Go to the "end of the line," not with the expectation of being raised up, but with the attitute that the "host of the dinner" may have other, more important uses for those "better" positions. Going to the back gives control to the host. Jumping to the front is an attempt to usurp the authority of the host.