Stability (2016-08-28)

SUNDAY 28 AUGUST 2016, 22^nd Sunday

 • Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29  • Psalm 68 • Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a • Luke 14:1, 7-14  •

practiced       duration:  

Title: “Stability”

[__01__]     The VIP’s received instruction. Usually, VIP’s or the very important people at a public event receive instructions because they need to know where they are going to sit or stand or be photographed or videotaped.

VIP’s receive instructions.

These VIP’s are the leading Pharisees, the A-list of Jerusalem. They were listening to a parable.

[*** P A U S E ***]

[__02__]  Jesus offered a parable to these VIP’s, the Pharisees, to you and to me, about what instructions to follow.

          Isn’t it true that a very important person – say a SENATOR, or Olympic medalist, Heisman Trophy winner, or a movie star – expects to follow instructions at such a special occasion? They go where they are seated.

          This STABILITY is good news.

[*** P A U S E ***]

[__03__]    However, Jesus is also teaching us that our ADVANCE RESERVATION is not the definition of Christian stability or identity.

          Also, sometimes, the last shall be first.

 [__04__]     Our stability, our place, our salvation is possible not because we have reserved a place but because Christ has reserved a place for us.

          Is this not also true in the way we are called to live and to build relationships with others, that is we are called to SERVE, to LISTEN, and to INTRODUCE.

          This  is contrary to what the V.I.P. may expect upon exiting from his or her limousine.

          That is, the VIP expects to be served, expects to be listened to, and expects to be introduced.

          The last shall be first. Jesus asks you and me to serve, to listen, and to introduce ourselves.

[__04.01__]     First, to SERVE rather than to be served. Is it not true that we witness great holiness, great generosity, saintly virtue, in the family members, the husbands and wives who care for each other, who care for the elderly and the infirm among their loved ones?

          In such cases, you and I are often called to take the lower place, to postpone our own [DINING] and

reduce / modify our own [MENU OPTIONS]  so that another person may eat or drink.

          Doing so, we accept a lower place, we follow the instructions of Jesus’s reservation system, knowing there is a higher place later.

[__04.02__]     Secondly, to listen rather than to speak.

          At many family events and gatherings, I observe in myself a desire to be heard to be understood.

          Or, as some family members may so to each other, “Don’t talk while I am interrupting.”

          If someone were to say something with which I disagree, I may counter with my own reasons.

          There are histories of partisan conflict in every family, and this may have nothing to do with the election year or Washington
D.C. or the White House.

          Rather, what I see in myself at such times, is the pride that makes me want to be heard.

          Jesus, on the other hand, instructing us to prefer the lower place, tells us  to remember that God asks us to imitate his virtue …

[__04.03__]     In addition to serving rather than being served, to listening rather than speaking, we are also called to introduce ourselves rather than being introduced.

          To be introduced, I imagine, is one of the great advantages of being famous. Presidents and Prime Ministers do not introduce themselves and then have to spell or repeat their names. Somebody else does that for them.

          When you and I go to an unfamiliar place or gathering, do we not also hope for this introduction. That is, we seek out a familiar person or face through whom we can be [FRIENDED] or [FOLLOWED].

          Being introduced to others, we gain a slightly higher place, no?

          On the other hand, sometimes we find ourselves  without this connection,  maybe it is our…

► 1^st day on a new job.

► 1^st day of school.

► 1^st day, new neighborhood.

          We may feel, at such times, that we are unable or unwilling to contribute.

          However, our Savior is encouraging us that our names are already written in Heaven, that every hair on our head has been counted, and that he knows what we need before we ask.

          In this regard, each of us – whether we feel we are in a high place or a low place, we can always reach out to someone else, and in this regard the last shall be first.

[__fin__]