On a Sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees and I watched him closely.
He then told the guests a parable because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour.
He said this,
When someone invites you to a wedding feast,
Do not take your seat in the place of honour.
A more distinguished person than you may have been invited,
And the person who invited you both may come and say,
Give up your place to this man,
And then,
To your embarrassment,
You would have to go and take the lowest place.
No,
When you are a guest,
Make your way to the lowest place and sit there,
So that when your host comes,
He may say,
My friend,
Move up higher.
In that way,
Everyone with you at the table will see you honoured.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
And the man who humbles himself will be exalted.
Then he said this to his host,
When you give a lunch or a dinner,
Do not ask your friends,
Brothers,
Relations,
Or rich neighbours,
For fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return.
No,
When you have a party,
Invite the poor,
The crippled,
The lame,
The blind.
That they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate,
Because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you,
Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a hard pill to swallow,
Isn't it?
We are hard-wired,
Literally hard-wired to want to be first.
It is a matter of survival.
The ego wants you to be first,
To have the best.
It is survival.
Yet the ego is also responsible for us to have forgotten that we are not separate beings.
The ego is responsible for us to think,
To believe in this untruth that this body is where it stops,
That this body is what is.
The ego does a very,
Very good job of it.
And I'm not saying the ego is bad.
The ego is there to keep the human being,
This expression of spirit,
To be alive.
It's there to keep it alive and to keep it safe.
So I'm not saying at all,
Let's crucify the ego.
No.
Yet the ego oftentimes tends to forget that it is but one part of a bigger whole.
That other than the body,
There's also a spirit.
Other than the body,
There is also a part of divinity,
Which is everything.
So yes,
Jesus admonishes the guests of the leading Pharisee,
Or one of the leading Pharisees,
In telling them,
You don't know your place necessarily.
You will look stupid when you think you have a specific place,
A place of honor,
And you are shown up.
And because these guests have picked the places of honor,
Jesus knew that in telling them this,
You would be kind of nudging their pride a bit.
Because being seen for the honor that you deserve is something that was important for these people.
And telling them that,
You know,
What if somebody more important were to come and you are shown up in front of other people?
That is such a bitter,
Bitter pill to swallow.
So there's a beautiful lesson there for us.
Don't expect that you are better than any other.
Because maybe somebody better,
Somebody of a higher station,
Might just decide to join,
Might just be one of the guests that arrives fashionably late.
And what do you do then?
It is better to sit and not expect when you go to a dinner,
Not expect that you are the guest of honor unless very clearly told so.
But Jesus doesn't stop there.
Jesus teaches a second powerful,
Beautiful lesson.
He turns to the host.
When you give a lunch or a dinner,
Do not ask your friends,
Brothers,
Relations or rich neighbors for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return.
No.
Why are you giving these lunches?
Why are you sharing your loges?
Look into that.
Why do I do things?
To be able to brag and say,
Ah,
You know,
That one was here for dinner and I got invited back.
I'm such an important human being.
What are we honoring,
They?
We are honoring the ego.
We are allowing ourselves to be kept prisoner by the mirage of separation.
We are allowing ourselves,
Our egos,
To thrive in taking over our whole being rather than knowing its place,
Its beautiful,
Important place.
We are allowing our ego to run rampant.
An outflow from here would then be looking at somebody who is in need and saying,
But I've got somebody important coming.
So Hamba,
Wait,
Go away.
Hamba,
We don't want you here.
God forbid one of my important people that is coming to see me now for this lunch or this dinner will see how I am nice,
How I am compassionate to somebody who cannot repay me.
That's not the way that the world works,
Is it?
It's supposed to work,
I think,
In a very,
Very different way.
I think when we can start inviting the poor,
The crippled,
The lame,
The blind,
Those who cannot pay us back,
Then it is not ego inviting ego.
Then we say to the ego,
Thank you for what you have done.
I honor you.
I am now going to start inviting God into my house.
I am going to start inviting God for dinner and for lunch.
I am now going to start recognizing God in all and honoring God in all.
So let's do something different this week.
Let's do something practical.
If you can,
Share a meal with God.
Not because you want to gain anything,
Not because you want to take a photo and post it on Facebook about how good you are.
In the silence,
Share a meal with God.
And after that,
Spend time alone in silence and hear the message,
Hear the joy that you then share through the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
