Downward Mobility
Luke 14:1, 7-14
A sermon preached by Dr. Gregory D. Seckman at the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in York Pa, on September 1, 2013.
A sermon preached by Dr. Gregory D. Seckman at the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in York Pa, on September 1, 2013.
He told me
he was pretty nervous the first time he was called into the Oval Office to make
a report and participate in discussion about a matter related to his
department. Since he had never been there before he did not know the unspoken
protocol that determines who sits where in relation to the President. No one told him that you are supposed to take
your place according to the pecking order of rank and status. The most important person in any particular
meeting sits next to the President and the least – farthest away. Ignorant of this procedure he just walked in
a sat down in the middle of the couch.
He said the glares and sidelong glances were immediate and he knew he
had done something wrong, but didn’t know what.
Only after
the meeting was complete was he informed of his faux pas.
So, the next time he was called in he immediately went to
the chair farthest from the President, but this time the President, who was
particularly interested in his brief, called this fellow up to sit next to him
– to walk right by the Cabinet Secretary and other high ranking officials and
given this seat of honor. He said it
felt great.
Who knew
that the Oval Office operated on the same procedure Jesus described in the
Gospel of Luke? Whether or not the Oval
Office operates on the principle behind this protocol, I don’t know. I rather doubt it because it runs counter to
the very fabric of our being.
Few of us
look at life like that. Our clothes and
cars, our résumé’s, our conversation and our circle of friends are all
carefully chosen and crafted and sometimes inflated so that we can present
ourselves in the best possible light. We are all about upward mobility and
making ourselves look good. We say we’re
just putting our best foot forward because if we don’t do it – who will?
But, Jesus
said, those who follow him have to re-orient their thinking and perspective
because the nature of Christ is all about humility. That’s the very definition of the incarnation
- of God becoming a man. Jesus said, “For all who exalt themselves will be
humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”[1]
Paul
describes it this way:
“Let the
same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of
God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, taking on the form of a servant being born in human likeness.”[2]
Jesus’ goal was downward mobility
and his life indicates there’s more to this than meets the eye. Before we try to see what that might be, let
us pray:
Lord, remind us that your call is not just to the treasured
time of worship or to those peaceful moments of prayer, but, because of the
resurrection, it is to move with courage into the arenas of life where many
have not heard the Gospel’s call. Help
us to speak when it is not easy, to act when it is safer to just go along. Help us to know that in the day of Jesus
Christ, His kingdom will come. Amen.
If you had
the opportunity to invite Jesus to a dinner party – would you? You’re instinctive response would probably be
“Yes”. He’d be the most notable
dignitary you’d ever have over to your home. You could brag to all your
friends, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?”
You could have your picture taken with him and send it to the society
editor of the York Daily Record and then hang it behind your desk at work and
when people ask, “Who is that?” You could say, “Oh, that’s just me and Jesus.”
It would be great - up until the time Jesus opened his mouth.
Inviting
Jesus to your party or into your life can be a risky thing. The Gospels are
filled with hosts who had Jesus over for a pleasant dinner party, only to see
the mood shattered by something Jesus said or did. Never one for small talk,
Jesus might break the unspoken protocol of avoiding the subjects of sex,
politics, or religion. He might even criticize your guests for playing the
one-up-man-ship game of who’s more important.
That’s what
he did here. “When you are invited to a banquet, you look to sit up front; but
you take a risk if you do. For someone
more important than you may show up, and then you may be asked to give up your
seat. That would be embarrassing. Better you should sit toward the back, and if
the host calls you forward everyone will see your honor.”[3]
That makes
sense. Everyone could see how much
better that would be. Jesus’ etiquette
guide reduces the risk of humiliation, and enlarges the possibility of reward.
So, why
don’t people do that? Why don’t we willingly follow the more humble path? Deep down we’re afraid that if we don’t exalt
ourselves, no one else will. If we don’t
grab it, no one will give it. If we
don’t do it, it won’t get done.
More than that, we measure
ourselves by criteria that are ever changing, so we never have any sense that
we have arrived, that we have become what we always hoped we could be. The reason the yardstick for measuring
success is always changing is because the benchmarks we use are being carved by
the culture in which we live. And our
culture is in a constant state of flux.
In fact it is built upon it.
A free
market place economy requires change. It
demands innovation and expansion, risk and reward, investment and growth. All this has created the wealthiest people
who have ever lived. In spite of all we
have, many have a growing sense that this is not enough. One observer noted,
“We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We have higher incomes, but lower
morals. We are long on quantity but
short on quality. We’ve added years to
life, but not life to those years.”
That
is what we really want – to add life to our years. Our question is how?
Jesus’
answer flips our values and beliefs upside down. From the beginning of his ministry when he
preached his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described a way of life so different
from the way we were taught that one theologian called it “counter-culture”.[4] When Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the
humble, for they shall inherit the earth”, the mouths of his audience
dropped and their eyes popped open. If
there was one thing they were pretty sure about it was that “only the strong
survive”, and “if you want it, you have to take it.” No one wants to be “the weakest link.”
Yet, Jesus
tells us, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.”[5] Those who follow Jesus then must come to
grips with this difficult pronouncement and ask themselves, “Do I really
believe this? Am I ready to follow this?”
Let’s
answer this first question first. Do I
really believe that the exalted will be humbled and the humbled will be
exalted? Well, I know the first part is
true. Anyone who watches T.V. knows that
those in our world who are exalted because of their position, power, or
prestige can see that position, power, and prestige evaporate before their
eyes.
In fact, we
kind of like it when we see the mighty fall. Our media like to build
people up, and then bring them down because it takes them down to our
level. Ask any one hit wonder in the
field of entertainment, or a forgotten sports figure if the exalted shall be
humbled, and they’ll tell you that’s true.
It happens all the time.
But, does
it work the other way. Are the humble be
exalted? Do the meek inherit the earth? Does that ever happen?
To tell you
the truth I can only think of a few examples.
Mother Theresa comes to mind, and a few others. But, for the most part humility is not
honored or rewarded much in the world in which we live. Newspaper headlines
rarely describe the work of someone who shows up every day to work in a soup
kitchen, or volunteer to work with our youth. Time magazine’s person of the
year is never adorned with a picture of an average Sunday school teacher with a
headline, “Is there every week for our kids.” You’ll not see a story on the Nightly News
about a Youth group that shovels mud out of flood damaged homes in West
Virginia.
Does that mean that
Jesus is wrong? Because our world mostly
pays attention only to those with flash and sizzle, does that mean that those
who quietly, humbly do their work, and show up every day don’t matter? Are they destined to always sit in the
back? Not always.
I close with a story that is attributed to the Chush
School for disabled children in Brooklyn, New York? At a fund-raising banquet, the father of one
of these children told this story about his son, Shay:
One afternoon, Shay
and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing
baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?"
Shay's
father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that boys would not want
him on their team. But Shay's father
understood that if his son were chosen to play it would give him a comfortable
sense of belonging.
Shay's father approached one of the boys in the field and
asked if Shay could play. The boy looked
around for guidance from his teammates.
Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are
losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try
to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay
was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's
team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored
again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run
on base. Shay was scheduled to be
up. Would the team actually let Shay bat
at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay
was given the bat.
Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay
didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shay stepped up to the plate, the
pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be
able to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and
missed. One of Shay's teammates came up
to Shay and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the
next pitch. The pitcher again took a few
steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay
and his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to
the pitcher. He could have thrown the
ball to first base and ended the game; instead he intentionally threw it way
over the head of the first baseman and into right field. Everyone shouted, “Run
Shay run!” He scampered down the
line. By this time the right fielder
could have thrown the ball to the second baseman that would tag out Shay, who
was still running. But the right fielder
understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and
far over the third baseman's head.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second."
Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled
the bases towards home. As Shay reached
second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of
third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams
ran behind him screaming, "Shay, run home." Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and all
18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit
a "grand slam" and won the game for his team. On that day, at least, the humble was
exalted. This is what Jesus calls, “the resurrection of the righteous”.[6]
God’s Word is clear. There will come a day when the humble will be
exalted. There will be a day, when God
will call you by your name, and just like Bob Barker does on the “Price is
Right.” God will say, “Bob, you have
been faithful in sharing the talents I gave you - Come on down!” “Mary, you were there every Sunday morning
for the kids, so that they might come unto me – Come on down!” “Jim, when those teenagers were struggling
over tough questions, you were there every Wednesday night – Come on Down!”
In God’s Banquet, the humble will be
exalted. God will say, “Well, done good
and faithful servant.”[7] In a few moments we will but taste of God’s
Banqueting table, so that we will be reminded, that God is with us now.
Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ, came among us in the
weakness of a child to reveal the way into your kingdom. Lead us to trust and serve you with childlike
faith and to surround your little ones with the freedom of your love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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