Knowing Your Place

August 28, 2022

Rev. Mary Erickson

Hope Lutheran Church

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Knowing Your Place

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

A small commercial plane was carrying only four passengers: a doctor, a trial lawyer, a minister and a Boy Scout. Suddenly, one of the engines made a loud BANG and started to smoke. A few moments later, the pilot rushed into the main cabin. He had a parachute strapped on his back. He said to his four passengers, “The plane is going down. Unfortunately, there are only four parachutes and there are five of us. I have a wife and three children so I think I should get one of the chutes.”

With that, he opened the exit door and jumped out of the plane.

The doctor said, “I’m a doctor and I save lives. I need to stay alive so I can help more people.” He took one of the remaining chutes, strapped it on and jumped out of the plane.

Next, the trail lawyer said, “I’m one of the smartest people alive. I’ve won hundreds of cases and I deserve one of these chutes!” With that, he strapped a pack on his back and jumped out of the plane.

The minister turned to the young boy and said, “Son, I’ve lived a long and happy life. I know what awaits me in the life to come and I have no fear of death. You take the last chute and I’ll go down with the plane.”

The Boy Scout replied, “That’s okay, pastor, there’s still two parachutes left, one for you and one for me. The smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane wearing my backpack.”

Who’s first? Where do we fit in? We jostle for the best seats. The view is definitely better at the 50-yard line at a football match or right behind home plate at a baseball game. You’re much more into the flow of a concert in the front row than at the back of the balcony.

Where do we fit in? What’s our place? One of the big tasks for a wedding couple is to determine the table seating chart for the reception. There are certain people who need to avoid each other. You also don’t want to exclude someone from their circle of friends. Figuring who sits where and with whom can lead to gnashing of teeth and even tears. It’s very serious stuff!

I remember when I was young and my family would go to a relative’s house for a large family gathering. We small kids would be relegated to “the children’s table.” Actually, the children’s table was a lot of fun! But I also remember how proud I felt when I graduated to sitting with the grown-ups!

We hear about an episode from Jesus’ life. Jesus had been invited to the home of a leading Pharisee for the Sabbath dinner. It was a big occasion to be on the leader’s invite list! When the meal time came, Jesus watched as the various guests all jockeyed for position at the dinner table.

It would have been a large, U-shaped dining area. People reclined on pillows around very short platforms. The host reclined at the center of the U’s bottom edge. The nearer your position was to the host, the more important your status was. The least important people dined at the two far ends of the U.

As Jesus watched the guests scuttle about, elbowing for the best position, he tells a thinly-veiled parable. When you’re invited to a dinner party, he says, don’t jockey for the best seats. Just think how embarrassing it would be if someone more important than you showed up. And the host approached you and said, “Hey, I need you to move down to the far end. I have a very important person who needs to sit here.”

“How much better it would be,” Jesus says, if the reverse happened. The host sees you sitting at the far end and he says, ‘Oh! You don’t have to sit way down here! You come with me! I’ve got a spot at my table reserved just for you!’”

Jesus doesn’t tell this parable just to fill them in on proper etiquette. He isn’t playing Miss Manners. Jesus is getting at something much deeper, something that has spiritual implications.

Where is your place? Are you secure, do you feel that you belong, that you matter? Do you feel that you are a valued person, for who you are, just as you are?

There are few things as distressing as the feeling that you don’t belong, that you’re unwanted and unimportant. It cuts you to the core. It leaves you with the feeling that you’re somehow less substantial than others, that you’re less of a person. You’re somehow internally flawed.