Today's readings have a very clear theme, humility. The key message could be summarized in these words of our Lord: "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.".
We begin by focusing on the behavior of the Pharisees, in whom we see various sins in action. "They spied" to Jesus to engage him. And then we learn that "they chose the first positions".
Their pride is ridiculous, even childish. They begin by trying to detect another's faults, blind to their own, and then seek their own glorification. These sins often come in pairs: proudly blind to our own shortcomings and vainly exalting ourselves, we focus on the shortcomings of others and seek to bring them down.
In reality, Jesus speaks to them on their own level, giving them a uniquely human reason for occupying the lowest seat at a banquet: because the host will see you there and take you to a higher place, for your own (earthly) glory. Whereas if you aspire to the highest place, you might find yourself displaced to the seat below, should someone more important than you arrive, to your shame. Jesus is not encouraging the pursuit of human glory. In fact, he is turning this episode into a parable to tell us about the pursuit of eternal glory.
The deeper lesson is that if we try to exalt ourselves we will sink. Pride brings us down. But by humbling ourselves, by seeking the lowest place, God will lift us up. And what is the lowest place? What is the company we should keep? Who should we invite to our party? Jesus says: "to the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; and you will be blessed, for they cannot repay you; they will repay you at the resurrection of the just.".
We should not serve the poor in the mere hope of one day enjoying heavenly glory in some proud way. That would be a rather twisted way of thinking: "I will accept earthly humiliation so that one day everyone in Heaven will see how great I am.". Our service to the poor should be a necessity of our heart, a joy, a spiritual feast. We want to be with the humble of the world and share their lives. In fact, we are convinced that we deserve no better. This is true humility and humble service, and then, even if we do not seek it, God will exalt us.
