Luke 14:1, 7-14
“Places of Honour”
This morning in the Gospel text, we encounter Jesus at a social gathering. The Gospel of Luke, in particular, tells about many times when Jesus participated in a meal with other people. You might think of the famous Last Supper that he shared with his disciples, or the other times he shared meals with his friends like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Besides that, Jesus also became known as someone who sat down to eat with unpopular or outcast people – with tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were rejected by society. And of course, there were some spectacular meals too – when Jesus took a few scraps of food and multiplied them to feed huge crowds of hungry people.
But today’s story is about a banquet that Jesus attended at the house of one of the leading Pharisees – an important religious leader. You might compare it to attending a formal event today, where you have to think carefully about what to wear, and which fork to use for which course of the meal.
The other thing that’s important to know is that in Jesus’ time, the Mediterranean world operated on a deeply ingrained honour-shame system. A person’s identity and worth were determined by their public reputation and the respect granted by their community, rather than internal feelings. Honour was the greatest pursuit and shame the greatest evil, driving social interaction and decisions in all aspects of life, from family and politics to religion and economics.
So when Jesus speaks to the guests at the dinner and offers them some advice about where to sit, he’s addressing a group of people who are deeply concerned about their reputations. Getting invited to a dinner at the leading Pharisee’s house has probably already raised their level of honour a little, but they don’t want to bring any shame upon themselves by sitting in the wrong seat.
The other guests needn’t have worried, however, because Jesus is the one guest that everyone’s watching. He’s already known as the troublesome prophet who challenges the authorities, breaks the Sabbath rules, and eats with sinners.
Jesus is not the sort of honorable person who would typically be invited to a Pharisee’s house, but he’s likely been invited so that they can look for a chance to trip him up and shame him publicly. Rather than being a joyful gathering of friends to enjoy food, friendship, and laughter, the atmosphere is tense at this dinner.
After noticing how the other guests “chose the places of honour” at the table, Jesus brazenly speaks, and he offers them a parable. It’s interesting to note that Jesus’ parable is essentially a paraphrase of the advice given in Proverbs 25:6-7, so Jesus is quoting wisdom that the Pharisee and others at the dinner would have been familiar with.
The SALT Lectionary commentary paraphrases Jesus’ words like this: “Listen – if you really want to be honoured at a dinner party like this one, don’t go for the best seat right away, since someone more honorable than you might show up and force you to give up your seat, and that’ll be embarrassing. Instead, take the lowest seat, and then your host might make a show of calling you up towards a better one. Then everyone will notice you, and you’ll be sitting pretty!”
I don’t know. Do you think that’s good advice? Pretend to be humble so that someone else can praise you and lift you up to a place of honour?
The problem is that effective jockeying for honour in a social gathering requires a certain amount of subtlety. Once it becomes obvious for everyone to see, it becomes tacky, cringeworthy, and therefore dishonourable. And the way that Jesus is openly talking about how the guests are competing for honour, he’s publicly calling them out, and he’s actually shaming them with his rebuke in the form of a friendly recommendation from Proverbs!
Jesus continues: “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I like the way the SALT Commentary unpacks Jesus words with this helpful explanation: “For his listeners (including us), this may initially sound like a straightforward call to humility – but upon reflection, in the context of the dinner party and the advice from Proverbs, this summary sentence creates a conundrum. For after all, is strategically sitting at the “lowest place” really a case of “humbling oneself”? Isn’t it just another scheme, just another attempt at being “exalted,” at shrewdly jockeying for “the places of honour”? Thus, the whole idea of honour-maneuvering is exposed as a sham and a shame.”
Jesus doesn’t stop there, however. He goes on to recommend to the host that he should consider expanding his guest list. Rather than only inviting important rich people who will invite him to their dinners as well, the host should include the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. He should invite people who can’t return the favour, and for doing so he will be blessed by God.
Now this sounds like the kind of advice that Jesus normally gives, and the way that he lived his life – happy to share social times and meals with the left out and forgotten people of society. But combined with his advice for the guests, Jesus sets up a dinner where the rich folk strategically take the “lowest place” at the table, leaving the best seats, the places of honour, to those who are usually excluded from such events altogether. Jesus has turned the social hierarchy upside down! The last shall be first!
And that, as we know, is what the kin-dom of God is like. It’s not just an ideal that Jesus spoke about 2000 years ago as he criticized his local culture of privilege. But it’s a way of being together in the world that is God’s intention for us, and a way of being together in community that the church is called to work towards.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the General Council of The United Church of Canada that was meeting in Calgary. It’s similar to our denomination’s General Assembly, except that the United Church only meets in person once every three years. I was there as an honoured guest, representing The Canadian Council of Churches, and part of a fairly large group of ecumenical, interfaith, and global partners who were invited to participate in all aspects of the meeting.
As honoured guests, we were welcomed with great hospitality including a special dinner with the Moderator and the Calgary tradition of participating in a “white hat ceremony.” But rather than having special seating for us, we were scattered throughout the crowd of United Church commissioners, seated at tables and participating in discussion groups along with everyone else.
Although we didn’t have a vote on the decisions being made, I was amazed at how much they welcomed my contributions – my questions, my Presbyterian perspectives, and my interest in the ecumenical implications of their deliberations.
But more than being impressed by how the UCC welcomed their ecumenical guests – people with titles and roles that are considered important and honourable – I was impressed by their commitment and determination to include and raise up all the diverse voices and perspectives of the wide array of participants.
They had an Equity Team working throughout the meeting to do their best to remove barriers to people’s full participation. Could everyone see? Could everyone hear? Could everyone access the technology required to vote or to speak at a microphone? They monitored and adjusted the speakers’ list to ensure that we weren’t always hearing from the same voices – so that diversity of age, gender, language, ethnicity, ability, and geography was valued.
And in our discussion groups, leaders and participants were trained and encouraged to make sure that a few strong voices would not dominate, that everyone had a chance to ask questions and offer their perspective. At one point, a young person commented that she was struggling to share her opinion because she didn’t have all the background of church history and polity. And I noticed that after that, several people became more intentional about sharing more information and checking to see if she had any questions.
It wasn’t perfect, of course, and the Equity Team seemed to be constantly responding to concerns and continuing inequities. And I expect that some of the people who were quite used to speaking confidently and authoritatively in church meetings had to adjust to getting a little less air time – doing more listening than they would have done in the past.
But I think the church was moving in a direction that Jesus would have respected – with some folks taking a “lower seat,” not so that they would get moved up, but so that they could hear and honour others who normally don’t get the “places of honour.”
These are important things to consider, not only in the courts of the church – the formal decision-making structures like Sessions, Presbyteries, and General Assemblies. But also in our congregational life – making space for the diverse gifts, ideas, and inspirations that are given to all the people of our church family.
As we move into the call of an additional minister at First Church, this passage challenges me to think about how I will invite other voices into this pulpit and how I will share leadership with others in a way that is authentic, rather than authoritarian or paternalistic.
I think that the decision to invest more deeply in our ministry with youth and families is already a sign that our church wants to raise up the members of our community who are perhaps the least involved in the decision-making tables. It’s a sign that we want to grow and that we are willing to change, as we give priority to the needs of younger generations.
I wonder… Can we also be intentional about including and hearing all the voices as we imagine possibilities and make plans for our church building going forward? Can we make space and welcome diverse people into leadership roles as we move into the second century of our ministry together?
As I think about that mis-guided striving after “places of honour,” I can’t help but think about the wisdom of Indigenous communities. In particular, I’m thinking of the way that they use talking and sharing circles to build community and move towards shared decisions.
The circle can easily expand to make space for more people, and no seat is better than another. Each person has an opportunity to speak, and everyone spends more time listening to others.
Rather than seeking out the “places of honour” or strategizing to be recognized and lifted up, Jesus invites us into a way of being in community in which “being exalted” isn’t the goal at all. He invites us all – rich and poor, old and young, with our diverse cultures, languages, and experiences – to join the circle of God’s love, to listen and share, to ponder and pray, to learn and to grow together towards the fullness of the kin-dom of God that is God’s intention for us.