The Road to Easter: Where Shall We Sit?
NIV Luke 14:7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Jesus told the above parable when He was dining with a group of Pharisees. They were not His friends. They would have loved to humiliate Jesus. Instead, He used the gathering as what we would refer to as “a teachable moment.”
The Pharisees, so full of pride and moral superiority, doubtless did not see themselves in these simple stories. At least, not in the beginning. But Matt 21:45 tells us when they did begin to see themselves they looked for a way to destroy Jesus.
It is not easy to break old habits, and trying to exalt oneself goes all the way back to The Garden. But I believe the closer we get to the Cross, the more we seek after holiness.
The more we seek after holiness, the less our opinion matters, the less being right matters, the less knowing the “right people” matters. Those who are devoted to Jesus do not think in terms of elevating themselves. It is all about glorifying Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- Posted in: Blogs
Seeking Holiness 