{"id":11141,"date":"2025-08-26T18:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T22:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=11141"},"modified":"2025-08-27T07:29:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T11:29:05","slug":"politics-humility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2025\/08\/politics-humility\/","title":{"rendered":"The Politics of Humility: When Virtue Masks Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Humility\"
Image by Canva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our reading this week is from the gospel of Luke:<\/p>\n

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\u2026 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. \u201cWhen you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, 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, \u2018Give this person your place,\u2019 and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.<\/p>\n

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This is Part 1 of <\/strong>Humility, Inclusion, Power and Privilege<\/b><\/p>\n

But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, \u2018Friend, move up higher\u2019; then you will be honored 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.\u201d He said also to the one who had invited him, \u201cWhen you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, 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.\u201d (Luke 14:1, 7-14)<\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s reading, social location matters. Our reading includes the subjects of humility, recognition, and pride. This reading is not directed toward those for whom pride means a healthy concept of one\u2019s own worth. In that sense, pride means you are worth just as much as everyone else. Our reading this week is rather about pride defined as someone feeling they are better than those around them. Not equal, but above. It is about seeking recognition and the places of highest honor above others.<\/p>\n

In our story this week, Jesus is repeating principles well known in Jewish wisdom and the Hebrew scriptures. For example, in Proverbs 25:6-7 we read, \u201cDo not put yourself forward in the king\u2019s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, \u2018Come up here,\u2019 than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.\u201d Similarly, we read in Proverbs 11:2: \u201cWhen pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.\u201d And Psalm 18:27 states: \u201cFor you deliver a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thematically, this teaching fits with Luke\u2019s gospel. Luke\u2019s version of the Jesus story began by reminding us that Luke\u2019s Jesus would liberate those in marginalized social locations on the edges and undersides of his society. As Mary sings, \u201cHe has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.\u201d (Luke 1:52-53)<\/p>\n

In our passage in Luke 14, Jesus advises his societally privileged listeners at a Sabbath meal at a Pharisee\u2019s home to choose actions that reflect humility rather than hungering for recognition when recognition means they are elevated above those around them. Again, we shouldn\u2019t confuse this with recognition that acknowledges someone\u2019s validity, value, or job well done. There is a vast difference between the basic human need to be valued and estimated as being of equitable worth with others and the unhealthy desire to be esteemed by others as better than them or of a higher social status. Humility can be used by oppressors to keep the oppressed subjugated. It can also be used by the oppressed to confront their oppressors. We\u2019ll take a look at the difference, in Part 2.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humility can be weaponized by oppressors to keep the oppressed submissive. It can also be used by the oppressed to confront their oppressors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":11144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729],"tags":[600,780,34,2720,284],"class_list":["post-11141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberation-theology","tag-humility","tag-inclusion","tag-justice","tag-lectionary-reading","tag-liberation-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Politics of Humility: When Virtue Masks Control<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Humility can be weaponized by oppressors to keep the oppressed submissive. 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