Episodes
Sunday Sep 01, 2013
Traffic Flow
Sunday Sep 01, 2013
Sunday Sep 01, 2013
Rev. Dean Snyder
Luke 14:1, 7–14
When we moved to Washington, a friend warned me: “Driving is a competitive sport in Washington.”
Three or four months later when I ran into him I said: Driving is competitive in Washington but it is not a sport. There is nothing sporting about it. It is just raw competition. The name for this is not sport but war.
Driving in the DC area is war.
Jesus could have told the parable we heard this morning this way:
When you are diving in the District of Columbia, and you think it is your turn to merge into a slow moving line of traffic, don’t try to force your way in. Others may just decide that it isn’t your turn yet and that you are being too pushy and they will just force you to wait even longer. You will be frustrated and embarrassed; they will be frustrated and angry.
Instead just sit in your car with a big friendly smile on your face trying to make eye contact with each driver in line until one of the cars voluntarily stops and invites you to merge in. This way both you and the other driver will feel good and be happy.
The parable Jesus actually told went this way: When you are invited to a banquet, don’t take the seat of highest honor. Someone more honorable may show up and you will be asked to move so he or she can have your seat. You’ll be embarrassed and you’ll have to take whatever seat is left. Instead sit in last place and the host will invite you higher.
Now the thing to notice is that this is a parable. Luke 14:7 says “When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.” This is a parable.
A parable is a simple story meant to communicate profound truth.
So Jesus’s teaching here is not really about party etiquette. He is not playing the role of a Henry Higgins teaching people proper social behavior.
As soon as Luke uses the word parable he wants us to understand that there is a profounder truth here than meets the eye.
Just as when Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed, he was not teaching a lesson in agriculture … (Luke 8:5f)
Just as when he told the parable of mixing yeast and the flour to make a loaf of bread, he was not teaching a lesson in the culinary arts … (Luke 13:21f)
Just so, this is not just a lesson about how to act at a banquet.
This parable is about how to live life. If we can understand it, it should have within it truth that we can apply to every aspect of our lives: not just social etiquette but truth that we can apply to how we live as family members; how we treat our spouses and partners; how we parent; how we conduct ourselves at work; what kind of neighbors we are; how we conduct business; how we relate to the homeless; how we conduct our spiritual lives; and even how we drive in the district.
What is the deeper truth Jesus is trying to teach here?
Here is what I think Jesus was teaching us –
First, that recognition is important. Being recognized and honored for who we are, our gifts, abilities and achievements is important. Everybody deserves and needs to be recognized.
Christianity sometimes has strange ideas about humility. We think it means never getting credit for who we are and what we do … that it means giving all of the honor and glory to God and not receiving any honor or glory ourselves.
A pastor I know in a branch of the Christian church where this is emphasized tells me that in his church there was a singer with a very strong voice. Whenever she sang a solo and someone complemented her on the solo after church, she would say, “It wasn’t me; it was Jesus. Just give Jesus the honor.”
He said that when she would say that to him, “It wasn’t me, it was Jesus,” he started replying, “Oh, no, it wasn’t that good. It was very good, but if it had been Jesus it would have been way, way much better. “
We all need and deserve recognition for our being, our abilities, our work.
It is also often why we strive to do well in what we do; why we strive to excel. So that who we are might be recognized and be honored.
It is an awful thing when people, even groups of people, are not recognized and honored for their contribution to the greater whole … when a group of people are diminished.
This is why a group of people who have been diminished rather than honored will march on Washington. It is a way of saying, ”stop ignoring us, stop diminishing our importance, recognize us, honor us.”
This is why a group of people will have a pride parade. Stop ignoring us, stop diminishing our importance, recognize us, honor us.
This is sometimes why a child will act out in school or an employee will act out at work. Stop ignoring me, stop diminishing my importance, recognize me, honor me.
Martin Luther King, Jr. called it the drum major instinct. “We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade,” Dr. King said.
In telling this parable, Jesus recognizes the need within all of us for recognition. We all want to be honored.
But he also gives a warning.
Like any other good thing, like food, like drink, like work, like money, like sex, we can become addicted to recognition and honor.
We all need it but we can come to need it too much. We can come to need more and more recognition and honor.
So Jesus’ advice is to come to the banquet and take a lesser seat until the host notices you and invites you forward.
Smile and try to make eye contact with every driver until someone lets you in line.
This is what the March on Washington was … smiling and making eye contact. This is what a pride parade is: Smiling and making eye contact.
This is what somebody asking you for money on the sidewalk might be. What may be at stake is not money but recognition. Just recognize my existence. Just honor my being.
Communion is a ritual of recognition and honor. Everyone is invited; everyone is served. Everyone receives. We all take our turn. Those who consecrate receive after everyone else has been included.
Communion reminds us that there is a place at the table for each and every one.
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.