Have you read Revelation
lately? Do you get a sense that God receives
a lot of honor in heaven? How about Leviticus
when God lays out the protocol to human peons
for worshipping Him? God is a God of honor.
Jesus was always focused on glorifying God.
There was no greater way of being than to glorify
God His Father.
No doubt that God deserves, desires and demands our honor. Does it ever make
you wonder why He would be so willing to dishonor Himself by human standards?
If you have ever imagined Jesus on the cross you have seen God dishonor Himself
for love. If you have ever purposely disobeyed a direct command from God and
been received back through forgiveness, you yourself have dishonored God.
This idea of God being willing to be dishonored was pointed out to me by Father
Thomas Keating as he explained the Parable of the Feast in a whole new way. The
parable, found in Luke 14:15-24, is a metaphor of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb
and explains who was invited and who will actually come. It also reveals the
high priority God places on love more than honor.
In the story, a rich man is giving a wedding feast for his son. He invites his
neighbors—the other rich men, the elite of society—to the special
occasion—his banquet. Rather than acceptance he receives three rejections,
which is complete humiliation in that culture. After the Feast Giver is dishonored
by his friends, he becomes angry because of the dishonor they have shown Him.
In response he decides to invite the poor, crippled and blind to His feast. After
his servants carried out the task they explained that these have come, but there
is still room. The Master then invites anyone both near and far away who will
come, and they do. The door is closed and the feast goes on. When the initially-invited
guests show up after the door is locked, they are told it is too late.
Keating points out that the Feast Giver lost his honor among the elite who refused
his invitation, but he lost it more by being willing to eat with the sinners.
When you sit down to eat in that culture, you identify with whom you are eating.
The parable shows us that God is willing to be dishonored in this way because
man-created honor is not the honor He cares about. God cares about love, and
our love for Him honors Him.
God has dishonored Himself to show the depths of His love for you. Will you honor
Him by loving Him back?
