The God of the Low Places: A Reflection on Luke 14.1,7-14

I’m not a huge fan of the theology of Martin Luther, but one thing he absolutely got right was in calling attention to two different postures off faith: what he called the ‘theology of glory’ and the ‘theology of the cross.’ The theology of glory revels in titles for God like “King” and “Lord”, and sees God’s presence in success, victory, wealth, and power. It is always a temptation but is antithetical to the Gospel. Whereas the theology of the cross sees God primarily as being revealed in the humility of the incarnation and especially in the cross of Jesus, in the last, the least, and the lost in this world. It’s not nearly as attractive to us, but is where God will genuinely be found. Today’s Gospel reading is one of the places where Jesus articulates this divine preference for humility over brute strength.

It’s a scene that is very familiar to us, since it formed the context for the Parable of the Banquet in Luke, as well as the Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son (really, Lost Sons) that follow it:

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at 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 all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 1.1, 7-14)

There are two interconnected teachings here, united in their demonstration of God’s preferential option for the last, the least, and the lost.

First, seeing his fellow guests jockey for the most honoured seats at dinner, Jesus tells them they would do better to seat themselves in the least desired seats and have the host insist they move closer rather than to seat themselves in the best spots and risk being humiliated by being asked to cede place to others. For, as he says consistently in his teaching, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

And second, he goes even further and suggests that when they themselves host parties, they shouldn’t select the guest list based on currying social capital or performing popularity or importance, but should instead invite those who cannot repay the favour, precisely those last, least, and lost so highly favoured in the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ parables.

The first teaching is about not grasping for the highest rungs of the social latter; the second smashes the ladder entirely.

I don’t have a lot to say about this, because there’s not much to say. It’s so easy for us to get caught up in the race of success, strength, and power and in their performance in the world. But Jesus’ teaching always insists there is another way. In some mysterious way, God is the God of the low places, the God of the last, the least, and the lost. As Christians, we must always reject the way of glory for the way of the cross, and inasmuch as we are involved with and receive the privileges of success and power in this world, use it to lift up those who are and do not.