Banquet etiquette – or something more?
Proverbs 25: 6-7 Luke 14: 1, 7-14 I have a confession to make. (don’t get over-excited, it’s not the sort of thing you can use to blackmail someone). Before this week I hadn’t realised that Jesus’ words of advice to a guest at a banquet – don’t assume you should have a top spot and get demoted, but take a humble place so that someone will say ‘come up higher!’ – were based on a little snippet from Proverbs. “ Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” Jesus is giving good practical advice about not thinking too highly of yourself & not being embarrassed as a result. But since when did the Son of God come to dispense good social advice? Just last week the lectionary reading from Luke’s gospel told us the story of the woman bent double – a ‘daughter of Abraham’, healed on the Sabbath. If you turn over a