7 When Jesus noticed how the guests sought out the best seats at the table, he told them a parable. 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding celebration, don’t take your seat in the place of honor. Someone more highly regarded than you could have been invited by your host. 9 The host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give your seat to this other person.’ Embarrassed, you will take your seat in the least important place. 10 Instead, when you receive an invitation, go and sit in the least important place. When your host approaches you, he will say, ‘Friend, move up here to a better seat.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”
If you come to dinner in our home, we want you to be as
comfortable around our table as you are around your own. When we have overnight guests, we give them a
room that is every bit as comfortable as our own, with fresh sheets and towels
for their use. All of these
accommodations are part of the practice we call “hospitality.” Hospitality is really more of an art than a
science, and it includes all the measures we take to make other people,
particularly our guests, feel comfortable and at home. Showing hospitality to our guests lets them
know that we welcome them, we value them, we are glad and honored to have them
with us.
We are in a series of
messages on “The Character of Christ.”
Each week, we’re taking a look at a different aspect of Jesus’
character, as we try to put those pieces together to gain a better picture of
who Jesus is, what he’s about, and how we who follow him can try on those
character traits for ourselves. Today’s
character trait is “Humble Hospitality;” Jesus practiced humble hospitality,
and we are called to do the same. May we pray.
At dinner, the seating arrangement can be as important as the
menu. A bad seating arrangement can set
the stage for World War III, or at the very least, an unpleasant dining
experience. You try to keep in mind who
is left-handed so you can put them on the corner, who can squeeze in to the
chairs on the other side of the table, who has kids who need assistance, and so
on.
As the event gets bigger,
it gets more complicated – which members of the family aren’t on speaking terms
this year, which uncle loves to talk about politics and assumes everyone is as
staunchly whatever he is, and what IS
the name of your cousin’s current husband, anyway?
There’s also this tricky
issue of a social hierarchy, and a ranking, if you will, of seats. Some people aren’t bothered by that at all,
for others, it’s a very big deal. The
reality is, however, that SOMEBODY is going to be seated at the back of the
room. SOMEBODY is going to be closest to
the bar. SOMEBODY is going to be seated
near the kitchen. SOMEBODY has to sit
next to Crazy Uncle Charlie, and SOMEBODY gets to sit next to sweet Aunt Edna.
When we attend a wedding
as family or friends, we get seated with people in the same category of
relationships – the “cousins” table or the “college friends” table or so
on. But when we show up to a wedding
reception as pastor, however, we’re a bit more of an unknown variable. Many times, the couple or their family are
the only people who know us, and then we are sort of this wildcard in the seating
chart. We often end up at table of
strangers, all of whom know each other because they’re either family or friends
already, but who don’t know us.
Typically, as we approach the table, there’s a look of panic on the
faces of the people already seated, that you can translate as something along
the lines of, “Oh no! The pastor is
sitting with us! There goes our chances
for fun at this party!”
Jesus loved to gather
around the table and share a meal, according to the Gospel of Luke. Throughout the Gospel you’ll find him at many
different tables, sharing many meals with many people. He eats with his disciples and close friends
and with great crowds of strangers. He
eats with tax collectors and sinners and with scribes and Pharisees. Given that one of the images of the kingdom
of God is of a great banquet, that makes a lot of sense. A potluck supper may very well be practice
for heaven, because a good meal is a foretaste of the kingdom of God.
In our text for today from the 14th Chapter
of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is at a dinner party, and based on what he observes, he
offers some advice to both the host and the guests – showing honor and respect
to our guests and to one another, in other words, about hospitality.
Growing up, everyone in
the family had assigned seats around the dinner table. I don’t know that they were ever actually
assigned, but we always sat in the same seat.
Dad at the head of the table, then moving clockwise was my Mom, my
little brother, me, and my two older sisters.
About the time I turned
12, we were about to sit down to dinner one night, and Mom and Dad announced a
new seating arrangement – my oldest sister and I were to trade places, because
apparently my appetite had grown to adolescent proportions, and by the time the
food was passed to my sisters, they were not, in their opinion, getting enough to
eat. Never mind the breakfast cereal
issue we talked about a few weeks ago, where my sisters always got to breakfast
first and left me with only crumbs of my favorite cereals – and no I don’t want
to talk about it – but the seating arrangement was changed to make sure
everyone got enough.
Jesus was at a banquet,
where he observed the guests jockeying for the best places around the table. Into a world where everyone is trying to
secure the best spots for themselves, Jesus says, “Hey, try something different. Don’t take the best spot for yourself. Take the place of least honor, least
privilege, least convenience. Make room,
the best room, for someone else.”
I know a lot of people who
have a really hard time with this particular teaching, especially those who
have worked hard and climbed higher and done well for themselves in this
life. Rank has its privileges, after
all, and why would I want to give those up?
Because that’s part of
following Jesus. Jesus tells us what
life is like in his kingdom, where, “The
last shall be first and the first shall be last” (Matthew 20:16), and “the
greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11), right down to the
concluding verse of today’s text: “All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and
those who make themselves low will be lifted up” (Luke 14:11). The
life of faith involves coming to believe and practice these very things.
I guarantee we cannot
practice hospitality without humility.
It means letting go of what we feel we’ve earned or deserve or are
entitled to and giving that up so someone else can have it. Humble hospitality is a character trait of
Jesus, and of those who follow him – it involves making room for others, and
not just any room, the best room!
One of the best, most
concrete ways a church can practice hospitality is in our parking lot. Robert Schuller was once asked, “What is
absolutely essential for a church to grow?” and he responded, “A good parking
lot.” And that’s true. A church can have outstanding preaching,
great music, wonderful programs, a heart for missions, and warm fellowship, but
if people can’t even find a spot in the lot, they’re never going to get out of
the car, walk in the building, and experience what we have to offer. Hospitality starts before anyone ever walks
through the door.
That’s why we added visitor parking back in the fall. Other than the handicap spots, our visitor
parking are the best spots in the lot – closest to the door, least amount of
walking required, straight shot in whether to the fellowship hall for 9 am
worship or the sanctuary for 10:55. We
have taken the best spots we have and handed them over to our guests. We’re saying, “Those aren’t for us anymore,
those are for our guests.”
If you are a guest here,
from the very moment you pull in the parking lot, we want you to know that
room, the best room, has been specially prepared just for you. Our members care so much about you that they
are willing to sacrifice a little of their own convenience so you can have the
best spot.
Hospitality goes beyond
designated visitor parking. We’re starting to have a really good problem around
here – more and more Sundays, we’re running short on parking. I’ll take that problem every day of the week
and twice on Sundays, which works out well for our schedule!
Last Sunday, someone came
in and told me, “We got the very last spot in the very back of the lot!” And that’s great, but I couldn’t help but
think about the folks who pulled in after they did, the ones who didn’t get the
last parking space, the ones who didn’t come in and join us in worship, the
ones whom God loves very much and who need to be welcomed into a loving
community like ours, yet who turned around and went back home, thinking, “I
guess they don’t have room for me.”
Friends, that’s a
problem. One that needs to be
solved. As far as the city is concerned,
we’ve already built more facility and parking on these 2.5 acres than they
would let us get away with now. It’s a
problem that’s going to get worse as we continue to grow. It’s a problem that’s going to get worse when
Horse Pen Creek Road is widened and we lose a dozen parking spaces.
Capacity isn’t determined
by the size of the building. It’s
determined by the availability of parking.
We will run out of parking spaces long before we run out of seats. Would you believe that parking could be the
thing that limits our growth?
But there’s an easy
solution. One that doesn’t cost us
anything, that doesn’t require us to build or buy anything at this time. There are over 400 parking spots next door at
the YMCA, and yes, though the Y is open and there is a church that meets there,
they are nowhere near “full” on Sunday morning.
There’s even a sidewalk that connects the two properties. I park over there every Sunday – rain, snow,
or shine – one less car in our lot means one more space for someone else.
So here’s my challenge to
you, should you choose to accept it: join me over there. Especially if you are physically able, take a
place of less honor and convenience for yourself, and make room, the best room,
for someone else. Instead of that person
finding the lot full and turning around thinking, “I guess they don’t have room
for me,” let them know that we do.
It’s good for us to
remember whose church this is. Not mine
as the pastor, not the District Superintendent’s or the Bishop’s, nor the
members. This church is Christ’s church,
and our aim here is to do what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus already told us what that is – to go
and make disciples.
It’s why we need to keep
making room. The Gospel is about making room – God making room for all of humanity
in God’s family, everyone ending up with a better room than we deserve. Jesus made room for us when we had done
nothing to deserve that spot – amazing grace, indeed – and the Gospel continues
when we make a place, the best place, for someone
else to be welcomed into the family.
You see, in the kingdom of
God, the best seats are the cheap seats.
Jesus is telling us to leave our ego-centric seats of man-made honor and
privilege. Jesus is asking us to give
up our seats – our self-important seats, our judgment seats, and move to a
better place, a godly place, a more honorable place.
Jesus invites us down to
the place where he so often puts himself: in the seat of the servant. It’ll be a new perspective, but I guarantee
it’s one that will bring the kingdom of God a little closer. Jesus said, “All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make
themselves low will be lifted up.”
If you really want to see
Jesus, you can’t beat the view from the cheap seats.
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