This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, August 29, 2010.
Proper 17: Ecclesiasticus 10:7–18; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1–8; Luke 14:1,7–14
“King of the hill, or bottom of the heap?”
This familiar saying seems to be a good way to distill Jesus’ teaching, heard in our gospel text today, down to its essentials.
Here before us this morning we have an incident that happened while Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. (Remember with me that most of our recent gospel texts from Luke have involved Jesus’ teaching, which was offered in response to a question that was asked Him by someone in the crowd.)
Jesus has a teaching for the Pharisees, who jockey for position around the banquet table. But Jesus also has a teaching for the host of the party.
And Jesus has a teaching for us, as well.
So, let’s look at this dinner party, at the behavior of the guests, and at the behavior of the host.
Then, let’s look at the implications for you and me, as 21st century believers, for Jesus’ teaching has a forward-looking aspect to it. Jesus’ teaching always has a forward-looking dimension.
First, we begin with the behavior of the Pharisees.
Of course, just the mention of the word “Pharisee” brings to mind all sorts of connotations, doesn’t it, and none of the connotations are positive, are they?
In truth, Holy Scripture paints a pretty sorry picture of these Pharisees. In Matthew’s gospel account, for example, we hear Jesus’ words as He says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do….They do all their deeds to be seen by men, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men.”
It seems like the Pharisees thought pretty highly of themselves, and thought that others ought to think highly of them, as well.
Self-made, self-assessed men: these were the Pharisees. They were proud of their accomplishments, and proud to be children of Abraham. They were proud of their knowledge of the Law of Moses and proud that they could apply that law to every aspect of life.
They had, through their own efforts, managed to climb to the top of the pile. They were “king of the hill.”
So it was only natural that they should choose the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets.
But Jesus, observing this behavior, makes some excellent observations. Let’s see what those observations are:
- Let others be the judge of your place, your worth, and your standing. At least that’s what I make out of Jesus’ statement when He says, “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher’.”
- Take the lowest place, that others might take the higher place. Here, Jesus counters the behavior of the Pharisees, mirroring their choice of the best seats in the opposite direction.
- No one of us can accurately assess our own standing: I think, in this regard, of my experience in the military….The military is a stratified, hierarchical organization. It has to be, because of the need for command and control of the people involved in it. But no one in the military holds their rank by virtue of their own promotion. Others have to assess an individual’s worth and fitness to be promoted to a higher rank. No one can do that for themselves. If we look at the Pharisees’ behavior from this point-of-view, the ridiculous nature of their actions becomes quite clear: They were promoting themselves! But none of us can see ourselves with the objective clarity that is required to make an assessment of our own position in life, or in God’s eyes. We must depend on others – and on God - to make that assessment.
- Keep others’ needs and welfare in mind: The passage cited from Matthew a little earlier, and from our gospel text for today, both point to an attitude that says, “I am the best, I am king of the hill!” We could add to those two statements this one, as well: “I matter, you don’t.” Pretty soon, that sort of attitude corrodes the unity of the body of Christ, doesn’t it, as each person jockeys for position.
This forward-looking aspect can be seen in the final part of our gospel text, in which Jesus says, “But when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your neighbors, or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Here, Jesus breaks the self-serving, self-congratulating circle that seemed to characterize the world of the Pharisees.
No longer would there be a superior class of spiritual men, self-made and self-promoting leaders.
No longer would the many have the purpose of serving the few, the high and the mighty.
Jesus turns the ways of the world, in which all of these things are common, on its head.
Jesus says that the ways of God are to seek out those who are at the bottom of the pile, and to place oneself there, among them.
And here is the paradox: to place oneself with the lowly, the meek, and those at the bottom of the pile, is the way to find oneself as “king of the hill” in God’s estimation.
So, to recap what we’ve said, we can summarize the lessons to be gained from this morning’s gospel text by saying:
- We can see the kingdom of God at work when those who are in the kingdom do not seek to advance themselves, but are willing to give the places of honor to others.
- The kingdom of God does not seek the welfare of those who are in it already. The kingdom seeks out those who are not yet in it.
- Those who are the meek and the lowly – at least by human standards - will often be the very ones who will make up the kingdom.
AMEN.
