Saturday November 8

Luke 14:1-11

The Lowest Places at the Feast by Kazakhstan Artist Nelly Bube.

Luke tells us a story about a day when Jesus was going to a house for a meal and when Jesus noticed a man with the dropsy he healed him even though it was the Sabbath. 

Jesus noticed something else when he entered the house; all the guests chose the places of honour so Jesus told them a story about being humble. 

But what is the connection between these two stories?

I was fascinated to learn that dropsy (now known as edema) was often used in the ancient world as a metaphor for greed.  For example, Stobaeus writes in Florilegium that "Diogenes compared money-lovers to dropsies; as dropsies though filled with fluid crave drink, so money-lovers, though loaded with money, crave more of it, yet both to their demise.  For, their desires increase the more they acquire the objects of their cravings."

Or in this case, cravings for status and honour.  

What does it mean for you to follow a teacher who proclaims that "all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted"?  Or as Eugene Peterson writes in The Message, "What I (Jesus) am saying is, If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face.  But if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

Marilyn Malton