Friend, go higher!

One of the odd things that has happened since the gospel, is that some of the things Jesus said have been quoted and misquoted so often, it is sometimes hard to work out what he originally meant.

In this Sunday’s gospel for instance, he appeals to our sense of embarrassment. We all know what it is like to be asked, for instance to get out of our railway seat because the person who reserved it has just turned up after all! Jesus is suggesting that aiming high, e.g. aiming at the seat of honour at a banquet, is usually a prelude to public embarrassment. Or, as we often say, pride comes before a fall.

This is not really a piece of social advice. He is not giving us tips on how to avoid getting embarrassed in public situations - and anyway, not many of us are daft enough to imagine that the seat next to the Lord Mayor must be for us! So what is he saying?

Well, although we are usually clever enough not to assume we are the guest of honour, we are not wise enough to avoid making similar mistakes in spiritual matters. It is really quite easy for us to imagine that we are the one person in the discussion who has the whole truth, or the one person ordained by fate to criticise and offer correction. We find it comparatively easy to imagine that we are so sinless we no longer need to bother with Confession, or that for us, uniquely, there will be no judgment. Or we like to think of ourselves as too special ever to be invited to share in Our Lord’s sufferings. Or we think that when we come to church, we are doing God a favour and hope he remembers it! Our pride shows in our reluctance to pray, or to say sorry, or to serve others.

The saints were different. When St Theresa of Avila discovered St John of the Cross sweeping the floor, she asked him, amazed: “Father, what has become of your dignity?” No Spanish priest of that period would have been seen doing menial chores. He replied: “Mother, I curse the day I ever had any.” For the holy ones of God, worldly pride is the biggest obstacle to experiencing the love of God, and the wonder of neighbour. It is the winter of the soul.

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