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From: Luke 14:1, 7-14

[1] One Sabbath when He (Jesus) went to dine at the house of a ruler who
belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching Him.

A Lesson About Humility

[7] Now He told a parable to those who were invited, when He marked how
they chose the places of honor, saying to them, [8] “When you are invited
by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a
more eminent man than you be invited by him; [9] and he who invited you
both will come and say to you, `Give place to this man’ and then you will
begin with shame to take the lowest place. [10] But when you are invited,
go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say
to you, `Friend, go up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of
all who sit at table with you. [11] For every one who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Attitude to the Poor

[12] He (Jesus) said to the man who had invited Him, “When you give a
dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your
kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be
repaid. [13] But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the
lame, the blind, [14] and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay
you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

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Commentary:

11. Humility is necessary for salvation that Jesus takes every opportunity to
stress its importance. Here He uses the attitudes of people at banquet to
remind us again that it is God who assigns the places at the Heavenly banquet.
“Together with humility, the realization of the greatness of man’s dignity—and
of the overwhelming fact that, by grace, we are made children of God—forms a
single attitude. It is not our own efforts that save us and gives us life; it is the
grace of God. This is a truth which must never be forgotten” ([St] J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 133).

14. A Christian acts in the world in the same way anyone else does; but his
dealings with his colleagues and others should not be based on pursuit of
reward or vainglory: the first think he should seek is God’s glory, desiring
Heaven as his only reward (cf. Luke 6:32-34).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

the mediator who brings a new covenant and a blood for purification which pleads more insistently than Abel’s

My favorite verse from the hymn “Glory be to Jesus” in red:

“Glory be to Jesus”
Italian, 18th Century
Translated by Edward Caswall, 1814-1878

1. Glory be to Jesus,
Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the life-blood
From His sacred veins!

2. Grace and life eternal
In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind!

3. Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream
Which from endless torments
Did the world redeem!

4. Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.

5. Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts rejoicing
Make their glad reply.

6. Lift we, then, our voices,
Swell the mighty flood,
Louder still and louder
Praise the precious blood!

The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #158
Text: 1 Pet. 1:19
Author: Italian, 18th Century, cento
Translated by: Edward Caswall, 1857
Titled: “Viva! viva! Gesu”
Composer: Friedrich Filitz, 1847
Tune: “Wem in Leidenstagen”