Best Seats In The House

Recently my wife Kim and I were flying home from Mexico where we went on our honeymoon trip. After several days in paradise the voyage home felt bittersweet. We boarded the plane, feeling a bit like human cattle, and found our reserved spots—we were sadly not flying Southwest Airlines. Once in our seats we waited. Who would it be coming down the aisle to sit next to us?

Eventually a middle-aged woman approached the position right next to Kim. She looked disheveled and at first appeared to be talking to herself. Later we found out she was traveling with someone sitting across the row from her. On top of this, for the entire flight--from wheels up to wheels down-- this person did not stop eating. She brought an entire backpack full of pretzels, trail mix, and even some Funyons. I had never seen anything quite like it, except maybe at a hotdog eating contest. Much to my wife’s credit she casually kept her cool even when the crumbs were raining down upon her. I came off the plane thinking about our next flight, “How much would it cost to get into first class?”

We are not always so graphically filed into socioeconomic classes as when we fly on airplanes. To afford a plane ticket in the first place means that one has some means. And yet, is there a more stratified situation among those with resources than loading onto an airplane? What are we then to do?

This coming Sunday’s Gospel lesson from Luke tells the story of Jesus in an analogous situation. At a Sabbath meal in the home of a leader of the Pharisees Jesus observes how people seek out the places of honor. Using the setting of a wedding banquet the teacher warns of choosing the seats of privilege, as the host may come and move you to a lower spot to make room for someone with more prestige. It is better, Jesus tells us, to sit in the lowest spot so the host will say, “Friend, move up higher.” If only the pilot might say that to some lucky passenger sitting in row 99!

So that’s it right? Jesus is righteously angry at those who exalt themselves and praises those who humble themselves, including the poor folk who are sitting back in coach. Not exactly! While an airplane is not a universal symbol, a banquet table might be. And, what comes after Jesus’ advice (let's face it, it's not really a parable) about the wedding banquet sheds light on the importance of where we sit not just at dinner parties, but in our lives.

Humans yearn for gratification. We long to be told we are worthy. The truth is that all of us are both unworthy (compared to the Almighty One) and completely worth (because of the Almighty One) at the same time. The trouble is that some of us tend to forget this paradox and side only with the misunderstanding that me and my folk are worthy while others are unworthy. When Jesus challenged the leader of the Pharisees to give a banquet for “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” he was trying to remind the self-aggrandizing, religious elite of this Truth apparent in the Torah commandments to take care of the widow, the orphaned, and those on the margins. Still, there is more.

Jesus in this imaginary banquet for the fringe-dwellers pulled the curtain back to reveal the feast that awaits all guests who are invited into the Kingdom of God. By all invited guests I mean everyone! Sill, we must realize that some have a hard time understanding that they have been sent a personalized invitation! The first bit of this Gospel lesson serves as practical advice, but it also put into the heart of the listeners that feeling of being disgraced by being told that one is in the wrong place. And, those who are traditionally disgraced in the eyes of society (the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind) do not get told they do not belong at the banquet in the kingdom. Instead, the host tells them to come and sit in the seats of honor.

How would our churches change if we did not feel that we had to have our spot at the expense of the visiting family? How would airlines change if they did away with classes or privilege members? How would we change if we went beyond our human nature of trying to categorize and put down others so that we feel worthy of some contrived spot of honor? God calls ALL OF US to the Kingdom of God banquet. Even if we are simultaneously worthy and unworthy God calls us. Invite others to join around the table at which we all have seats of honor, even if it means giving up your own place of privilege in this life to do it.