yet you look with favor upon the one wearing the splendid clothing and say: ‘You take this seat here in a fine place,’ and you say to the poor one: ‘You keep standing,’ or: ‘Take that seat there under my footstool,’

If a wealthy man came to one of their meetings, they would make special efforts to welcome him and to conduct him to a fine, comfortable seat. However, when a poor man in ragged clothing attended a meeting, he was virtually snubbed. He was told in effect: ‘Just stand where you are. Or, if you prefer to sit, seat yourself on the floor.’ The one saying this had such little regard for the poor man that he thought nothing about the man’s having to stand or his sitting on a level lower than a footstool.