But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that bade you come, he may say unto you, Friend, go up higher: then shall you have honor in the presence of them that sit at table with you.
Read Chapter 14
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Go and sit down in the lowest room. The master of the house usually assigned to each guest his place at the table, a duty formerly discharged by the "ruler of the feast," regard being had to each one"s age and social standing. Thus Joseph"s brethren "sat before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth" Genesis 43:33. In this verse, Christ makes evident allusion to the saying of Song of Solomon , "Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king," &c. ( Proverbs 25:6-7). Titus very justly remarks, that "a wise Prayer of Manasseh , however deserving he may be of the highest place, so little affects it, as to give it up to others of his own accord. Wherefore a mind modest and content with its own lot is a great and a glorious gift."
Then shalt thou have worship. Christ teaches that if we would acquire glory and greatness, we must fly from them and be humble; for men hate the proud and seek to humiliate them, but make much of the modest and meek; the true glory is that which is given, not that which is sought: furthermore, God has decreed by an eternal law that the humble should be exalted, but that the mighty should be put down from their seat. Wherefore, the proud, if they are wise, will humble themselves, that they may have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with them. Knowing that if they seek the most honourable places, they will excite envy, and men will strive, whether rightly or wrongly, to humiliate them.
Hear what the wise man says, "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord." ( Sirach 3:20.)
This precept of Christ, or rather this wise dogma, was recognised and taught by the Gentile philosophers. So Plutarch introduces Thales thus sharply rebuking the pride of Alexidemus, who, because he was the son of Thrasybulus had rushed from the banqueting hall at seeing others seated above him: "Fearest thou lest thy place at table shall bring thee glory or obscurity after the manner of the stars, which, as the Egyptians say, wax and wane according to the places wherein they rise or set? Thou art not so wise as the Prayer of Manasseh , who, when the leader assigned him the lowest place in a chorus, said, Thou hast done well in having discovered a means of making even a position such as this honourable. For he was of opinion that a man is not distinguished by his position, but rather the position by the man."
Honour, like the shadow cast by the body, follows him that flee from it, but flees from him that follows it.
Symbolically. Members of religious orders, according to the words of Christ, "sit down in the lowest room." For they who have kept nothing, but given up all, even their very will, have no lower place to which they can betake themselves. Here they are at rest, for their humility is not limited, like that of other men, to this or that action, but is life-long; for it is a part of their profession which embraces their whole life.
