Places of Honor

Gospel: Luke 14: 1, 7-11

The Gospels report exactly two places where people vie for position, honor, and power.  The first is here in the house of the Pharisee.  It is a dinner party where people are struggling among themselves for seats of honor and status.  Here, Jesus instructs them to seek the lowly place, and at first glance it appears to be social advice, though a much deeper lesson exists here.  Jesus insists on the position of humility not as a means of obtaining a higher position, but as the place of honor itself in the kingdom of God.

The other place in the Gospels where people vie for position, honor, and power is among Jesus' own disciples.  They repeatedly argue, then as now, over who is more important and who will sit at Jesus' right and left.  Here again Jesus instructs them in the way of humility, the narrow doorway into the kingdom that demands few possessions rather than the wide road that accommodates wealth and prestige.  Again, the humble place is the preferred place in the mind of Jesus.

While we disciples love to regard the Pharisees as rivals, how often is it the case that we resemble them in action and attitude!  We have merely replaced the synagogue and Temple with church and cathedral, but the striving for seats of power and influence is the same.  But the way of Jesus is the way of humble service and care for others where no seats are available, where kneeling to wash the feet of another is the proper place in the kingdom.