But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he who
sets himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall
be set up? What has it to do with the text? It has everything to do
with the text. If people really believed that they were God's
subjects and children in God's kingdom, they would not need to ask
that question long.
If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone
setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those
who set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their
high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God is
really the King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up,
and not they themselves. Look again at the parable. The man who
asks the guests to dine with him has surely a right to place each of
them where he likes. The house is his, the dinner is his. He has a
right to invite whom he likes; and he has a right to settle where
they shall sit. If they choose their own places--if any guest takes
upon himself to seat himself at the head of the table, because he
thinks it his right, he offends against all rules of right feeling
and propriety toward the man who has invited him. All he has a right
to expect is, that his host will not put him in the wrong place, that
he will settle all places at his table according to people's real
rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put "the worthiest man
in the highest room.
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