22nd Sunday (Luke 14:11 ff.) He is naked

Humility is a virtue that is much misunderstood.  Most would say that it is about refusing to brag about our accomplishments.  A better definition is that a person has an accurate assessment of self.  

Jesus did not have a high degree of tolerance for certain sins. He hated hypocrisy for example.  If a religious leader pointed out someone else’s faults when they had the same faults, Jesus became upset about that.  Another thing Jesus disliked was arrogance.  

In the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches about the sin of arrogance versus the virtue of humility, in several ways.  But there is a common thread.  The connection in the teaching of Jesus, in this instance, is the experience of going to a banquet.  At the beginning of the chapter Jesus is invited to a banquet at a Pharisee’s house.  Other Pharisees were there.  Pharisees, as we know, were teachers of the law of God.  If someone wasn’t obeying the law of God, they would quickly point it out. 

The Pharisees tried to ascertain if Jesus was a legitimate teacher of the law, so they were watching Jesus’ every move at dinner.  The day Jesus went to the meal was a Sabbath day.  During the meal, a man was brought to Jesus who has dropsy. Today, we would describe the man’s condition as retaining fluids.  We have all seen people with excess fluid in their legs.  Quite often this has to do with heart failure, maybe it is symptomatic of an infection. Whatever the cause, the condition is very uncomfortable, even life threatening. The question that everyone asked at the meal was whether Jesus would heal the sick man on the Sabbath.  Healing was considered work.  Work on the sabbath was against the religious law.  Jesus heals the man while pointing out that anyone who is offended by this has lost their sense of compassion.   

 As Jesus watches the dynamics of the banquet he is attending, he follows up with two parables.  He tells the story of a man who goes to a banquet who chooses to sit with the “unimportant people.”  The person in question is asked to leave his lower place to sit with the honorees at the dinner.  Jesus follows that story with another which tells of a man who throws a wedding banquet.  He invites influential people who refuse to come.  He then invites the outcasts of society to come. He fills his banquet hall with them.  All these stories teach lessons about humility.  We are left to wonder if the people Jesus was teaching got the message.  Pompous people often don’t. 

A story was written by Hans Christian Anderson in the 18th century which teaches about humility in another way.  Once there was an emperor who wanted a new set of clothes. Two traveling tailors offered him a mystical wardrobe that they said would be the most beautiful attire ever.  The emperor hired them to make him this set of clothes. The tailors began work asking for looms as well as sewing machines.  But their work was very strange.  No one could see the fabric they made.  No one could see the clothes they stitched except them.  While they sewed, they talked to each other about how beautiful their work was. The emperor fitted his clothes.  The weavers told the emperor how handsome he looked. The emperor wouldn’t admit that he could not see the new clothes.  His courtiers, advisors, family, household servants couldn’t see the new set of clothes, but they were used to telling the emperor lies that made him happy, so they told him how handsome he looked in his new attire. 

When the tailors were done, they fitted the emperor with his clothes. The emperor decided to march down the street in the middle of the day wearing his new suit.  The tailors meanwhile slipped out of town with their pay. 

The emperor paraded down the street, but no one had the courage to tell him he was naked.  Finally, an innocent child called out asking, “Why is that man naked?”  The crowds gathered in the street could not help but laugh.  The emperor ran back to his palace completely humiliated.   

 Pomposity is a dangerous fault. Do we have an accurate picture of who we are?  People can be arrogant.  Churches can be.  Nations can be.  We need to see things for what they are. Authentically holy people want to know the truth about themselves.  Saintly people are those in touch with reality. The primary task in spirituality is to know ourselves well, to accept what we learn about ourselves and finally to love who we are, warts and all.