Take and Give – Give and Take

What a mix of common sense and wisdom. Jesus advises ?when you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit 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.?? It would be a pretty embarrassing position to be in wouldn?t it?? We won?t share our stories, but I wonder how many of you could join me in a memory of a time when you thought you were a bit more important than you were and embarrassed yourself?? It brings to mind a little story I came across about Mohammad Ali at the height of his career. ?The?world famous boxer had boarded a plane and resisted the instructions of the?stewardess who repeatedly told him to buckle up. ?Ali said, ?Superman don?t need?no seat belt.? Without missing a beat the stewardess replied, ?Superman don?t need no airplane either. Buckle up!? Ali swallowed his pride and buckled up.

Pride can be an important, yet difficult thing to swallow. ?And yet in this passage from Luke?s gospel the point is obvious and important. ?It almost seems he calls us away from our natural tendencies. It seems we come into this world looking out for number one ? when a baby cries out in hunger, when a child has a need,?early on it seems there is this propensity to organize the world around ourselves. Maybe it?s about human survival. ?But think about children ? say around the age of?5 and for example – birthday parties. ?At a young age we quite naturally jockey for?position to be first, to get the biggest, and so on. ?And when asked ?who do you want to invite to your party?? — isn?t it true that often the first on the list are the kids that invited you to their party or kids you want to like you and be your friend?

Part of us may sympathize for the guests and host whom Jesus criticizes in his parable. ?I mean think about it ? the host graciously invites Jesus and Jesus tells a parable that is critical of the behavior of both guests as they jockey for position and the host for who he invites. ?He suggests that the host invite those who cannot repay. Unnatural social skills?

Jesus puts forth a radically different way of looking at the world. ?It seems only natural that we look out for number one. ?And unnatural to humble ourselves ? take the lowest place at the banquet table, to invite those who in their great need, ?cannot repay you.? Jesus puts forth a different way of relating to one another and to God.

I was intrigued and challenged to read of a church that took the time to survey their neighbors and ask door to door ? what do you need?? Then they went back and compiled all the information they gained and designed all these worthwhile programs to those needs. The church experienced growth ? but the growth was short lived. The pastor called on those new folks that had stopped coming and learned that they thought the church would meet their needs but it?didn?t. ?What?s the point of attending a church that doesn?t meet your needs? Others said that they continued to have problems with their teens even after they attended youth group.