Message: “Know Yourself, Find Your Place.”
Sermon from the 22nd week of Ordinary Time by Rev. Joshua Kingsley
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Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
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Many people have noted that Jesus is often at a meal or on his way to a meal in the gospels. It’s a lot. In fact, most all stories of Jesus are meal related which is probably why his detractors accused him of being a drunk and a glutton(). There is something magical or divine happening when people eat together. It is bonding. Maybe this is why we make the worst prisoners eat by themselves. Why being removed from the table is a common punishment both in families and in schools (i.e. lunch time detention). On this flip side, being at table with friends and family is an experience of joy, fulfillment, openness, and safety that is virtually unrivaled. One need not look far to see the ‘family dinner’ as the gold standard of success and happiness in advertising and popular media
Yet, many of us have had the opposite experience. Whether at a business dinner or a tense family gathering, sometimes the table can be used as a trap. People looking to see who will use the wrong fork. Who will say something ‘goesh’ or make the joke of the evening. Anyone who has shown up inappropriately dressed has felt this feeling. Truly, for the judgmental heart and mind, dinner is a hunting ground rich with prey. For the sensitive among us, these situations can be almost too much to bear.
Jesus is at such a dinner in our reading from Luke 14. He is eating with Pharisees. Many of them don’t like Jesus and they are looking for further reasons to back up their dislike. While their emotional process might be backwards, the danger they represent is real. The Pharisees hold political and economic power. When they turn against someone, that person is socially or physically dead. Yet, like our politicians today, they are still somewhat accountable to the people. It is in this context that Jesus’ ministry exists. He appropriately tells the truth in dangerous situations. How does he stay safe? In this story, I believe it is a triangulation of humility and love that are too powerful to stop in the moment.
Jesus has a teaching on public humility. On its face, Jesus’ first instructions are quite simple (Luke 14:7-11). Be humble. Don’t maneuver for yourself. Take the lowest place as if it were the best place and allow the host to elevate you if she sees fit. This is the master’s humility. This is the humility of someone who has seen through the game of this world, who knows that bank account balances, letters before or after a name, or the size of a house mean nothing when looking for what God values. To find what God values
The second part is a little harder to follow (Luke 14:12-14). When throwing your own party, don’t invite the people you actually like to hang out with. Instead, find ways to invite the smelling, the annoyingly slow, the loud, the clumsy, the old. This kind of party is the best in the eyes of God.
Why say this at a party full of social predators? Philosopher Lao Tzu puts it best when he says,
Nothing under heaven is as yielding as water.
And yet in attacking the hard,
the unyielding,
nothing can surpass it.
Nothing can take its place.
The weak overcomes the strong,
the soft surpasses the hard. (78)
Jesus preaches humility not because it is ‘nice’ or ‘correct’. Jesus preaches humility because it is subversive. Humility is controversial. Humility is honest. Humility is the best way to strike at the core of all the hurts.
Virtues and values work best in combination rather than isolation. Humility can sometimes feel close to humiliation. Sometimes, a person who is more forceful and boisterous can seem gets the promotion at work while the quiet hard worker continues to toil away. Sometimes the selfish spouse, child, or sibling takes all the resources of the family while the giving family member languishes away in obscurity. Humiliation is not God’s will for anyone and is not the path of life. Humility is kept on life’s path through mutual love (Heb. 13:1). Not only loving others, but loving yourself that same way.
Humility with mutual love is powerful. Like an un-dammed river, a spirit of peace and healing rushes forth from a person practicing humility grounded in mutual love. This is not something that is only a character attribute, but something people practice and cultivate. For example, starting in October, we will have six classes we call “Knowing Self, Knowing God”. In these classes participants will learn more about their unique attributes, strengths into which they can lean and weaknesses they can reinforce. In short, learning about one’s self is knowing God. Knowing God is doing God’s will. Doing God’s will feels good. It does good.
I invite you to continue supporting and praying for this church and your church friends. That we have the humility that leads to curiosity and truth. That we have the mutual love that will sustain our journey. Thanks be to God.