Luke 14:1 NIV
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." 12 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Table Manners
The best seat in the house! It’s what everybody’s looking for. Let’s say you have been invited to a Football game by the owner of a team… where are “HIS” seats? [skybox]. Suppose you want to buy the best seats for a Football game for yourself, where do you want them? [50 yard line] Suppose you are going to a baseball game, are the best seats up in the nosebleads? [behind home plate] How about a boxing match? [Ring side] How about at a play or a concert? [front row center]
People will beg, borrow, and steal to get those seats… won’t they? And when you have tickets for those seats… do you keep it quiet? “Hey, check out where I’ll be sitting for the Bears game this weekend.” To get those seats… is special. To have those seats… means we are somewhat important. Perhaps we are powerful, perhaps we are rich, perhaps we know the right people… doesn’t matter… we are important!
But let’s not stop there. This isn’t JUST for special occasions. What happens in a crowded parking lot when a parking spot opens up RIGHT next to the entrance? Do you ever see anyone fighting for the parking spot furthest away from the entrance? Young and old alike; women… men… will drive around and around and around to get the spot they deserve.
Did you know… we even have a best seat in our church… one people fight over! [The back pew] I assume that’s because that’s the easiest place to take a nap without being noticed.
We want the best seat. No… we deserve the best seat. Who else… really… deserves those seats more than me? Haven’t we really earned the privilege of having those special spots?
In our scripture text today, we have our own little version of parking lot bumper cars going in inside of a very important man’s living room. It’s lunchtime after the worship service, and following tradition… the visiting speaker (that would be Jesus who just got done teaching in the synagogue) has been invited to the nicest house to sit with the most important people and have lunch. And scripture says… he was being carefully watched. In this room of who’s who’s… Jesus is the one they all have their eyes on. This, is the time to really impress Jesus. So, when the time came to sit… everyone began fighting for the BEST seat. Now, where was the best seat in at a Jewish feast?
Let’s look at Mark 10. In Mark 10:36, James and John go up to Jesus and have a special request. Jesus replies to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And they said to Him, "Grant that we may sit in Your glory, one on Your right, and one on Your left." You see… they didn’t have Ticketmaster back then… you had to know somebody. The best seats were to the right and left to the host, to the right and the left of the man in charge! In fact… the closer you were to this spot… the more important you were. Even second seat on the left was pretty awesome!
So, with all eyes on Jesus… dinner was about to begin… and this (what I imagine to be) funny little dance begins as these proud and prestigious men begin dancing around each other and weaseling their way closer to “the best seat.” After all… we have to look important in front of Jesus. How “important” do you think these men looked throwing elbows and stretching out arms to reserve “their” seat?
It doesn’t actually say Jesus laughed… but I’m thinking he was having a jolly good time. I’m thinking that while he laughed… he was thinking, “Yeah… you guys really are special!” They don’t even make it to the first course when Jesus feels the need to stop this charade and lay down some truth for them.
Every single on of you looks like a fool! Do you know that? Trying to make yourself look so very important… you are making yourself look so very small. Let’s take a wedding feast for example… says Jesus. Suppose you take the best seat in the house. Now suppose someone MORE important than you is invited to the wedding… what happens. You get moved.
Have any of you ever had to “moved.” It’s gotta be the worst feeling ever! It’s like social suicide. Even if you are in a room with complete strangers, and you are sitting somewhere you are not supposed to, and someone… usually someone very UNIMPORTANT… has to come and guide you away from the prized seat. And that walk of shame is a very long walk indeed! Jesus says, have I got the solution for you! If you were smart at all… which seat… SHOULD you be fighting over? The one farthest away! So that when the guest finds you in the nosebleed section, he will come over himself and lead you to a better seat. Guess what that walk feels like?
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." When you strive for the very top, where is there for you to go? When you humble yourself to the bottom, where is there for you to go? Come with humility and God will life you up. Come in with arrogance and pride… and you get knocked down a few pegs.
It’s obvious that what Jesus is teaching here is the opposite of nearly everything we hear today about success. And it’s not easy advice easy to follow, because according to Jesus, the best seat in the house is the last seat. The best seat in the house is the worst seat. The best seat in the house is the least important seat. The best seat in the house is where you can’t see… where you can’t hear… where you don’t get the best experience. Nobody wants that seat. We… deserve… better!
An admirer once asked the famous orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein what was the most difficult instrument to play. He said, "Second fiddle.” He said, “I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm or second French horn or second flute, now that’s a problem. And yet if no one plays second, we have no harmony."
During the American Revolution, the story is told of a group of new recruits busy repairing a break in a rampart. The work was really too heavy for the size of group working on it. Their commander stood up high, and was shouting instructions, but he made no attempt to help them. A man in civilian clothes rode past and he asked why the leader of the group wasn’t helping the others. He replied with great dignity, "Sir, I am a Corporal!" The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers himself. When the job was finished, he turned to the corporal and said "Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this, and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and he will help you again." The officer in plain clothes was General Washington.
Most people think like that corporal. They don’t want to humble themselves. Like the guests at the wedding feast Jesus is describing, they would rather emphasize their rank over others and be noticed for it. They want to push themselves as high as they can, even if it means stepping on others to do it. It’s the law of the jungle. It’s survival of the fittest. It’s eat or be eaten. But it’s not what Jesus is teaching.
Luke doesn’t mention it here, but where do you suppose Jesus was sitting as he was telling this parable? I guarantee you he wasn’t in the middle of those men pushing each other to get the best seats. That wasn’t His way! The most important person in the room… was probably already seated in the worst possible seat. And that’s the seat we should strive for.
Let me ask a few… final questions. Who is the most respected person on a football field? [quarterback] Who is the least respected person on a football field? [kicker] And yet… who holds the ball for the kicker when it comes time to make that kick? [quarterback]
John Brodie, former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, was once asked why a million-dollar player like him should have to hold the ball for field goals and extra points after the touchdown. "Well," said Brodie, "if I didn’t, the ball would fall over."
As Christ’s followers… we serve a very important purpose in this world. While others grab for the seat of honor, Christ wants his followers to be jockeying for the worst seat! When others are too good for the job, he wants us to get down in the dirt and grime bellow our position to help others out… he wants us to play second fiddle so that we can be the beautiful harmony… he wants us to help out the least important person on our team, even if we are the most important… so that we can be a team!
I don’t care which image you leave here with this morning that makes a bigger impression: just remember what we are called to do. Don’t be among those who fight for the first seat. Head for the last seat in the house and let God move you up!
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
