Presumption

People pay top dollar to attend gatherings with celebrities and politicians. Plebes line the entryway to get a glimpse or get a selfie. Fans spend thousands for front row seats and more for VIP backstage access. Many of us have a desire to be close to greatness or fame. We naturally want to be in the entourage, most especially the right hand man. It’s good to be clutch, to be needed by someone great. It’s not wise to strive for the appearance of glory by jockeying for position, hoping some of the spotlight falls on us.

The wise person is the humble person who does not seek the spotlight, and whatever honors and recognitions come are bestowed on them by others. If we presume a level of self-importance, grasping for glory, we can only be demoted. But if we do right for its own sake, thinking nothing of it, we may be celebrated.

At the foot of the table

⁷ And [Jesus] began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. ¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luke 14

A Humble Savior

Consider the example of Nicholas Winton who saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children without seeking adulation for himself.

A stockbroker named Nicholas Winton saved the lives of 669 Czechoslovakian children, most of them Jewish, by taking them to England. He never told his wife what he had done. He refused to take credit until his wife found a scrapbook of the children that he saved and gave it to… pic.twitter.com/OHxw6IQdBI
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) June 5, 2023

Reflection

Are there faithful servants in my life who I can honor for their work?
Do I want to be essential, or merely to appear important?
What are some characters that embody this kind of thankless humility instead of self-importance? (Perhaps Samwise Gamgee, Sherlock Holmes’ partner Watson, Chewbacca, Diana Ross’ Supremes).