Less is More

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

August 28, 2016

Less is More

Luke 14:1, 7-14

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…

When he noticed how the guests

chose the places of honor,

he told them a parable.

“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;

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.

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.

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled,

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

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

or your relatives or rich neighbors,

in case they may invite you in return,

and you would be repaid.

But when you give a banquet, invite the poor,

the crippled,

the lame, and the blind.

And you will be blessed,

because they cannot repay you,

for you will be repaid at

the resurrection of the righteous.”

******************************************************

We watched in awe as they mounted the podium,

one great athlete after another

one champion after another:

Michael Phelps,

Simone Biles,

Ashton Eaton,

and of course, Usain Bolt:

3 Olympics,

3 events,

gold all 9 times.

Each stood in the spotlight,

each basked in the applause and adulation.

Each bent forward

as the gold medal was put around their necks.

And then came that glorious moment

when each stood up,

shoulders back,

head high, beaming,

an Olympic champion for all the world to see.

Every athlete who stood on that platform

had earned the right to be called a champion.

They had earned the applause,

the adulation,

the respect.

They’d earned the right to be proud,

proud of their accomplishment,

built on hard work,

determination,

dedication,

and surely more than a little pain along the way.

And those of us who watched

comfortable on our couches,

shared in their pride;

and perhaps for even just the briefest moment,

we tried to image what it would be like

to stand on that platform,

to be the best, the champion,

to hear the thunderous applause,

see the cameras flashing;

we imagined what it would be like

to exult in greatness.

And then, along comes our Lord Jesus Christ

with our Gospel lesson,

telling us not to seek honor,

not to seek glory

but instead walk humbly through life,

live a life of humility, our Lord tells us.

Hearing this lesson feels like our Lord

is throwing a bucket of cold spiritual water on us,

cold water that isn’t the least bit refreshing

even in the swampy heat and humidity of deep summer.

Jesus is not telling us anything new,

we know that.

He’s simply reinforcing lessons that can be found

throughout the Bible,

including all the books that Jesus knew as Scripture,

the books we call the Old Testament.

We’ve heard them,

many times,

lesson after lesson,

especially those found in the Book of Proverbs:

A person’s pride will bring humiliation,

but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

(Proverbs 29:23)

When pride comes, then comes disgrace;

but wisdom is with the humble.

(Proverbs 11:2)

and of course,

“Pride goes before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

(Proverbs 16:18)

which many of us learned

in the conflated King James version,

“pride goeth before a fall.”

We hear the calls to walk humbly,

to walk and live with humility,

and, truth be told, we find them tiresome.

Eventually we simply close our ears to those lessons,

close our ears as we often do

with Biblical lessons we don’t like,

lessons, texts that don’t fit our lives,

that make us uncomfortable.

We don’t even like the words

humility,

humble.

It makes it sound like we have to walk

with our shoulders stooped,

head down,

obsequious, servile,

not the walk,

not the stride of a champion.

But that’s not what is asked of us;

that’s not what we are being taught to do,

called to do;

Jesus certainly walked and talked

with confidence,

assurance,

his head held high.

Another rabbi,

not our Lord Jesus,

but a British rabbi named Jonathan Sacks,

captured the notion of humility just right

when he wrote that

“humility is not holding yourself low,

it is holding others high.”

In the context of our lesson,

to live in humility

is be concerned for where others sit

before you grab a chair for yourself.

It is to be concerned for others;

It is concern for others;

It is compassion.

It is that word, empathy,

which means trying to walk in another’s shoes

so we can better understand their thinking,

especially if they differ greatly:

come from a different country or culture,

have different skin color,

speak a different language,

follow a different faith or set of beliefs.

It is, as our lesson teaches us, hospitality

at its most foundational.

Rabbi Sacks uses Moses as an example,

Moses, the one whom God called

to lead the children of Israel

out of bondage, through the wilderness,

into the promised land.

Moses was, the Bible tells us,

“… very humble,

more so than anyone else

on the face of the earth.”

(Numbers 12:3)

Moses the great leader,

was renowned for his humility

because of his concern for all those in his charge.

He took on responsibility for

the hundreds of thousands

and never shirked that responsibility,

his concern for others,

even when all he heard from them

was endless complaining;

even when God was ready to turn against them

and just carry on with Moses,

saying to him,

“I have seen this people,

how stiff-necked they are.

Now let me alone,

so that my wrath may burn hot against them

and I may consume them;

and of you I will make a great nation.”

“Turn from your wrath,” Moses implored;

“Change your mind.”

Moses was concerned for everyone in his care,

even those he considered a thorn in his side.

(Exodus 32:ff))

For Rabbi Sacks,

“Humble does not mean diffident,

self-abasing,

timid, bashful, demure

or lacking in self-confidence.

Moses was certainly none of these.

It means honoring others

and regarding them as important,

no less important than you are.”

C. S. Lewis called “pride” the great sin,

great because in pride we are never satisfied.

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something,”

Lewis wrote.

“only out of having more of it

than the next man.”

Pride puts us into a life of competition.

Now, competition is fine on the running track,

the swimming pool,

the basketball court,

but we as children of God

and disciples of Jesus Christ

are called to lives of cooperation,

lives of community,

of reconciliation,

of caring for one another.

For Lewis, humility, as the opposite of pride,

is “not thinking less of yourself”

rather it is “thinking of yourself less.”

(Mere Christianity)

Putting others first – as Jesus has taught us,

time and time again.

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled,

and those who humble themselves

will be exalted.”

When our Lord said in his Sermon on the Mount

that the meek shall inherit the earth,

the Greek word we translate as “meek”

can also be translated as “humble”.

Our Lord was saying the humble –

those who know how to care for others

those who know how to build community,

those who use their gifts to glorify God,

they are the ones who will prevails.

Those who understand that in the Kingdom of God

no one will have a preferred seat,

an exalted seat;

we will all sit together,

all of us equal around the table.

When Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth

he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath

and read from the book of the prophet Isaiah,

read words which today we find in chapter 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:16ff)

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus

to look after others,

to put the needs of others first,

to think not less of himself,

but to think of himself less,

and think more of others.

Writing in the Christian Century,

the Reverend William Lamar said,

“Humility can rearrange our relationships

and make our world more just and more beautiful….

We are called to be the vanguard of a new world

where humility is the means of exultation.

(Christian Century, August 17, 2016)

We can still excel,

still stand on that top step of the podium,

still bask in glory as a champion,

but we are called to live with humility,

true humility,

humility that guides us as we go through our days,

thinking of ourselves less,

and thinking of others more,

especially those who don’t have the blessings we have.

That’s Kingdom life,

the life that awaits us,

when we are all gathered around the table

in God’s heavenly kingdom,

all of us having our seats,

the only one in an honored seat

the One who came not to be served,

but to serve.

AMEN