Pentecost 15 C - Proverbs 25:6-7

Proverbs 25:6-7

The first thing to say is that whatever we say about this proverb it was obviously written to people who had the ability to put themselves forward in the presence of the king. The closest I've come to royalty is the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and since the royal standard wasn't flying above the royal apartment the Queen was being royal somewhere else. Apparently no one told her I was coming. I don’t think I’ll be using Solomon’s sage advice anytime soon. So what can we say about two verses that have no application to those of us who are not likely to stand or sit in the place of the great? “Don’t think of yourselves more highly than you ought” is how the apostle Paul might have applied this text to his audience, the vast majority of whom would never get an audience with the king, unless of course they were being martyred in the coliseum. But it is to those white robed martyrs that the King of the universe says come up here while the kings of the earth, and queens for that matter, are put down from their thrones. I am pretty sure that is not what Solomon meant to say in this proverb, but then my guess is that he might want to follow his own advice when ushered into the presence of the KING of KINGS.