Luke 14:1, 7-14
1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.
We all do it. Every now and then, we look around and wonder how we ended up where we are. Inevitably, that leads us to wonder why we’re not doing more, or living better, or in a higher place at work, or any number of other things we can imagine to make ourselves feel insignificant. We all do it.
Today’s parable isn’t about who sits in which seat at a banquet. It’s about who gets to decide where we sit in life. Of course, the “who” is always God. Through the waters of baptism, God has called each and everyone of us into the vocation of baptized Christians in the world. Everything that we do is part of that ministry.
One of the most difficult aspects of faith for me is acknowledging that God opens the doors that I should go through and closes the ones that I shouldn’t. I always have the ability to use my gift of free will to push my way through a closed door, but that never ends well. As I look back over my life, it’s so clear that the doors God has opened have given me the deep desire of my heart.
Prayer: Lord God: You know us so much better than we know ourselves. Thank you for loving us enough to bar certain doors, even when we scream for admission. AMEN