Sean Boisen
References: Hebrews 13:1–8, 15–16, Luke 14:1, 7–14
Today’s lectionary passages in Hebrews 13 starts with what might seem like a collection of general exhortations. But these exhortations actually tie together with some common themes, and I’d like to bring in the Gospel passage from Luke 14 to focus on two of them: imitation, and humility.
Let me start with verses 7 and 8. “ Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
The author of Hebrews is writing to Christians who have suffered severe persecution, to encourage them and exhort them to continue in their faith.
- Earlier in “the faith chapter” of Hebrews 11, the author lists many heroes of the faith from the Old Testament: Abel, Noah, Abraham, and others, who all lived by faith, without seeing the outcomes God had promised.
The importance of imitation
The author’s exhortation is to “remember your leaders; consider the outcome of their way of life; and imitate their faith.”
- The imitation envisioned here is deliberately following another’s example: not just learning doctrines, not mimicking personality traits, but learning patterns of life and behavior. This is the essence of Christian discipleship.
- This is what Jesus taught when he said in Matt 11:28 “take my yoke upon you and learn from me”. We are to imitate what Jesus did.
- He made that explicit when he washed the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper: John 13:15 says “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”. Imitation.
- The Apostle Paul echoes the same idea in 1 Cor 11:1 when he says “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”.
This exhortation to imitation shows the connection between verses 7 and 8. Because Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever, he is forever relevant as a model for us to imitate.
Imitation
Imitation is a fundamental characteristic of human behavior. Rene Girard is a contemporary anthropologist and theologian who has written extensively about his theory of mimesis, which is essentially imitation.
- We tend to think we’re autonomous individuals making our own choices in what we desire. But in reality, our wants are strongly shaped by what others perceive and want.
- Unredeemed, this kind of imitation leads to envy and rivalry: we want what others want, and compete with them to get it.
- The key is to redeem imitation and harness it for our growth in God’s kingdom.
- This means being aware of how our culture and those around us shape our desires, and then choosing deliberately to live differently.
- In the words of chapter 11, those earlier heroes of faith lived as “foreigners and strangers on earth”. They were “longing for a better country–a heavenly one”.
- Imitation can work both ways, and so it also has a negative side. In 1 Cor 15:33, Paul quotes some common wisdom from the Greek poet Menander: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
- Because we tend to adopt the attitudes and values of those that we spend the most time with, we should choose our influences wisely, because imitation can happen naturally.
Imitation begins with attention.
- Our attention is one of the most important things we can actually say we own. Our possessions can be lost: but we can control what we pay attention to.
- We live in a culture that is constantly trying to direct our attention to other purposes, and so we should carefully guard our attention.
- The author exhorts us to “remember your leaders”, and to consider, or pay attention, to the outcome of their way of life.
- We should direct our attention to those who live godly lives, those who have set an example of Christ-likeness for us.
The call to imitation in Hebrews invites us to pay attention to those who have walked in faith before us. The kind of faith we should attend to and imitate is the kind of faith Jesus exhibited: humble, and self-giving.
Paul describes it this way in Phil 2:5-8
- In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: (note this is a call to imitation)
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
The Gospel passage
Here we turn to Luke’s Gospel, and the practical example Jesus taught there of humility.
What is Christian humility?
We can sometimes confuse humility with humiliation, or with self-deprecation. It is neither of those things.
True Christian humility comes from
- seeing God as He truly is
- seeing ourselves as we truly are
- and seeing others as Jesus sees them.
Pastor Tim Keller put it this way: “ The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”
Looking into Luke 14
In our passage from Luke 14, Jesus, being carefully watched by the Pharisees, then watches them in turn.
- “Notice” in our translation is perhaps a little too casual: he’s really watching, observing, and paying attention to what they do.
- In this culture, proximity to the host–the “places of honor”, or literally the “first positions”–reflected your own status, and everyone present would pay attention to where you were seated as a signal of your importance.
- The most important guests, the VIPs, might arrive “fashionably late”, perhaps so that more people could witness their entrance.
- So you might not know your relative importance until all the guests have arrived. And the host had the last word about the importance of the guests and their seating arrangements.
- Elsewhere, Jesus characterizes the Pharisees as those who “love the places of honor” and the “most important seats”.
- Jesus’ surprising counsel here is to intentionally choose the least important seats.
Why is this a parable?
Why does Luke call this a parable? It looks more like ethical teaching than other parables Jesus taught.
- Yes, we should do as Jesus said in the literal sense.
- But ultimately, this parable is not just practical advice about banquets, but a picture of the kingdom of God.
- Our attitude toward seating at a banquet is ultimately how we should think about God’s great banquet in his kingdom (as Jesus goes on to teach in the next passage, which strongly parallels this one).
- This explains the broadness of the closing saying, which occurs multiple times in the Gospels. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
- God is the one who will one day exalt those who choose to imitate Jesus and humble themselves.
- In God’s great reversal, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
- Jesus is not here recommending a false modesty or a hypocritical attitude of pretending to be lower in rank.
- That kind of cynical strategy is really just another kind of self-exaltation, and Jesus says those who exalt themselves can expect to be humbled.
- Likewise this is not about our earning merit. We are all guests, invited to God’s banquet, not earned or provided by our own means, but by God’s gracious invitation.
Application
How can we apply these insights about the imitation of humility more broadly?
In thinking about imitation and our life as disciples of Christ, we have to think about practicing our faith in everyday situations.
- A golfer who only imagines the ball traveling down the fairway and landing in the hole, and thinks about how wonderful that would be, isn’t likely to improve his or her score. Better golf, like better discipleship, comes from practice and training.
So now we know how Jesus expects us to respond when invited to a wedding feast without assigned seating. But I suspect this isn’t a common circumstance for most of us. So let me suggest a few other ways we can imitate Jesus’ model of humility. I’d encourage you to reflect on these passages and ask the Holy Spirit to bring others to mind for your own life.
The discipleship of driving.
First of all, I’d like to mention the discipleship of driving.
- We sometimes chuckle in recognition of the fact that the stress of driving can bring out a side of our personalities that is better controlled in other circumstances.
- It may seem trivial or “unspiritual”, but for some of us driving is a frequent opportunity for us to practice humility, if we take it seriously.
- For example, when driving, we are regularly faced with opportunities to quite literally “take a lower place” and let someone go ahead of us.
- I often find a competitive spirit rears its head when I’m driving, imitating others around me who are driving aggressively and trying to get ahead.
- So for me, driving can be an opportunity to practice humility by renouncing that competitiveness and drive to get ahead of others, and instead yield to them, and let them go first.
Humility in conversations
Another area where we have regular opportunities to humble ourselves and exalt others is in our conversations.
- Sometimes pride shows up in very small ways. Have you ever been at a coffee hour or family gathering where someone always steers the conversation back to themselves? My experiences, my children, my aches and pains.
- Humility listens instead of always talking about itself. It asks questions. It makes room for another person’s story and puts their interests first.
Being humble in our opinions
One more thought about how to practice humility.
Those of you who aren’t my wife may be surprised to learn that I often–perhaps usually–think I’m right!
- My opinion is informed by my experience or by facts.
- My perspective is broader, or less emotional and more logical.
and as such, my opinion belongs at the head of the conversational table.
I might not say as much out loud, but part of my discipleship as a husband has been learning to trust my wife’s opinions–she is very often right.
I’m also learning that I don’t have to have the loudest voice in a discussion, or the last word in a meeting. For me that’s a concrete way to humble myself, and exalt others by listening to, and giving “first place” to, their opinions.
Putting others’ opinions first is akin to letting others take the choice seats at the table.
Conclusion
Those are a few ideas: but I want to encourage you to practice your own discipleship, this afternoon, or sometime this week, by reflecting on these passages, and simply asking the Holy Spirit to bring to mind ways in which you can practice humility.
- This takes time, and–here’s that word again–attention to hear what the Spirit might be saying to you.
- But let me reassure you, with the words of our passage from Hebrews 13.
- God has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
- So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”
- God is committed to us — not our false, proud shadow selves that seek to be first, but the true selves we are becoming through God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit.
- We don’t need to be in the spotlight, or have the best seat at the table, or the loudest voice in a room.
- Instead, we can choose to humble ourselves, imitating Jesus as his disciples, and trust that, in his own way and his own time, he will indeed exalt us. Amen.