Listen to Sermon
Pastor Tom Johnson, September 1, 2019
The religious leaders invite Jesus over for dinner so that they can get a closer look and find fault in him. When Jesus comes to the table, it is Jesus who confronts them for their poor table manners. He sees a race to find that best seats in the house. This isn’t musical chairs. There are enough seats for everyone. One battles another for the place of highest honor. Today in our culture, we might call it the head of the table or the seat closest to the bride and groom or near the host of the banquet. Pharisees are self-proclaimed experts in the Scriptures. And now Jesus schools them in dinner etiquette. He removes their mask of delusion of grandeur to reveal the face of pride and self-obsession. By running to the table to find the prized chair, the religious authority reveal their excessive love for themselves. They are so preoccupied with their perceived high status they cannot help but to reveal their greedy childishness. The German Reformer Martin Luther confronted the religious leaders of his day. He said, “Ambitious preachers are a pestilence to the church.” But Jesus’ words about table manners should convict us all.
Jesus talks about how we should all humble ourselves and let God do the work of raising us up. And how we should also get our eyes off our prized seats at the table and grow in our awareness of the need of—and service to—others. Jesus’ brilliant confrontation here should lead us to further reflection: How are we victims of our own success? How are so obsessed with our own advancement that we actually are setting ourselves up for greater failure. “Wouldn’t it be better for you to choose a seat of lower status,” Jesus asks, “and be raised up? It would be far worse to chose a higher seat only to be knocked down to a lower one.” As the old proverb goes, “The bigger you are the harder the fall.”
There is truly a thing called “voluntary demotion.” It is both a humble and courageous thing. It is a career choice that can lead people to greater happiness and contentment and usefulness. It is when a person realizes that the good they can do would be better facilitated by surrendering a path toward wealth, fame and honor. Not that money and influence do not matter. But sometimes the world and our culture define success for us only in terms of status and numbers. Voluntary demotion says, “God has fearfully and wonderfully made me. He has given me unique gifts to serve others, his kingdom, and bring him the honor and the glory. I will step down from this position—not because I haven’t worked hard for it—but because I would actually make the world a better place doing something else—even it means no longer having a more impressive title and place of honor or the corner office on the 88th floor.” Proverbs 22:2 says, “The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.” Proverbs 21:21 says, “Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness and honor.”
Jesus’ words reveal our sin of pride. They also reveal his power to deliver us from the deception and power of pride. Are you or I a victim of our own success? How can we advance the kingdom by surrendering the pursuit of riches and power? Jesus reveals the counter-intuitive truth that we seek our own good by getting our eyes off ourselves. We find our usefulness in the Kingdom by lowering our expectations for recognition and applause. As Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35b). Find out what gifts you have been given from God and pass them on to others. You may not think your gifts are sensational or praiseworthy but in God’s eyes they are. You might be surprised by how God lifts you up and lifts others up through you.
I know someone who voluntarily demoted himself. He was given the highest place of honor in the universe. He was seated high upon his heavenly throne in the place of greatest majesty and power. He was given great gifts—so rich in ability and power that he is equal in majesty and honor with God the Father. He did not hoard his power or hunker down. He voluntarily demoted himself. He took on our humanity and became a servant. As Scripture says, “Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). He did not enter our rat race. He willingly entered the deathtrap of sin and evil. And he rose from his death to an even higher place of honor. And not only that. In him, we are raised above the competitiveness and deceitfulness of sin. He delivers us from self-sabotage. He lifts us out of our shame, guilt, and delusions of grandeur. He exalts us to eternal life.
Come, O Christ, and reign among us,
King of love and Prince of Peace;
Hush the storm of strife and passion,
Bid its cruel discords cease.
By Your patient years of toiling,
By Your silent hours of pain,
Quench our fevered thirst of pleasure,
Stem our selfish greed of gain. (“Son of God, Eternal Savior” LSB 842, v. 3)
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