Today we hear Luke's story of a dinner party in a prominent household. If you would sit down and read Luke's Gospel all the way through, you'd notice that Jesus is either getting ready to go to dinner, that he's already at dinner somewhere, or that he's just coming from a meal. A friend once said that Luke's is "the Meal Gospel."

Of course, much has changed in the world since the time of Jesus, but one thing seems to have remained constant: meals are still social gatherings, people enjoy eating with others, mealtime is also a time for conversation and fellowship, hospitality is a characteristic of our humanity, indeed it is one of the marks of being a Christian, as the Epistle reading today tells us. Meals - eating together with others, be they family or friends - are times best spent in unhurried enjoyment, not only of the food and drink, but of the others gathered around the table. Jesus obviously knew this, knew it not only in his head so to speak, but in his heart and in the very core of his being. In the Gospel we see him going from meal to meal. In the Gospel he proclaims the festive banquet to be the very image of heaven itself!

Jesus values the dinner table very highly. How troublesome then when the dinner table is dishonored by strife; how deeply disturbing then when the table fellowship is disfigured by scurrying after social rank, by quarreling over status.

When you hear Luke's brief description of the dinner party of today's Gospel, perhaps like me you're glad you weren't there. It could not have been pleasant for anyone; tension was thick and it seems everyone is worried about the impression he or she is making. Jesus is invited to this meal not out of the sheer anticipatory joy of having his presence. "They were watching him closely," says Luke. Here as elsewhere they were seeking some social misstep, some infraction of the law, which they could use against him. They were watching him closely. But obviously he was also watching them closely. He noticed how the guests chose the places of honor. Then Jesus goes into his teaching mode. Not a model guest, Jesus presumes to lecture the other guests. His lecture, however, is something they already know; they know it from an ancient proverb, a proverb that was even ancient at the time of Jesus: "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." (Proverbs 25:6-7) Jesus then tops off his parable with a remark, which is truly a mantra of his teaching and of his life: "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." A saying which echoes another proverb (16:18): Pride goeth before the fall.

We all know the truth of this ancient wisdom as did those who were guests at the dinner party to which Jesus had been invited. And yet, then as now, are we not continually tempted to exalt ourselves? To see ourselves as the measure of all things? To think that everything is about me, me, me? Are we not tempted to make our lives into a polished curriculum vitae in which our virtues are extolled, our accomplishments praised, and all our warts have been "air-brushed" away to create an impeccable image? If we're honest with ourselves, don't we have to admit that much in the journey of our lives has been, and is, a splendid ego trip, the trip that always trips us up and we fall?

If you can say yes to any or all of these questions, then, like me, you know that this overarching thing we call "me" is inflated all out of proportion. How liberating a little humility would be.

Today's Gospel is not really about table manners; it's about Jesus' understanding of our lives in the Kingdom. It's about how Jesus sees a new state of human affairs when people start acknowledging the sovereignty of God. Self-exaltation will cease; humility will be all-present.

Dear friends, humility is such a slippery virtue. Is humility the opposite of self- esteem? Psychologists tell us how important self-esteem and personal dignity are in a healthy life. Surely self-esteem is not the opposite of humility. Is it wrong to take pride in our accomplishments? Is pride the opposite of humility? Certainly sometimes that would seem to be the case. If it's virtuous to do a good job in whatever we undertake, then surely it's not bad to be proud of those achievements, is it? Of course, humility is not masochism. Humility is not simply letting oneself be someone else's doormat. But what then is humility? How does one acquire this slipperiest of all virtues? Can one even "try" to be humble? What happens if we become aware of our own humility? What irony it would be to take pride in being humble! How grotesque to compare my humility with your lack of it! It seems that being aware that one is humble is tantamount to not being humble at all.

Perhaps all we can say is that true humility is a grace that is given us by God and not something we can acquire on our own. It's not popular to talk about humility in a culture dominated by a prevalent narcissism. The so-called "Me-Generation" extols the virtues of independence and self-determination. Humility does not have a "good ring" for many today. Many see it as coterminous with humiliation, with servitude.

"Whoever humbles himself will be exalted," says Jesus. He not only said it, he lived it. And so, he makes humility not a virtue among other virtues, but rather the prerequisite of a life of faith, the attitude we all need if we are to live together as sisters and brothers, sons and daughters of a heavenly Father. Is not humility this: to accept oneself, the light and the shadows, as one truly is? Is not humility the resistance to the many illusions we can easily fall into? Perhaps it's only faith in a God who loves us as we are that empowers us to true humility. May it be so. Amen.