"Humility and Service"

Readings: Psalm 81:1, 10-16, Jeremiah 2:4-13,Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 , Luke 14:1, 7-14
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church on August 28,2022

One year, while living in West Virginia, I went up to Bluestone camp, near Hinton, WV during the summer. I was helping lead a creative arts camp. I had to drive the kids in my group to an open-air theatre at a park called Pipestem. I had to transport them in the camp van.  Now, Bluestone to Pipestem is a twisty, turny, mountain road, in some places only one vehicle wide. Not really designed for passenger vans. But it wasn't the road that was concerning the kids. It was the seating.

"I want the front seat."
 "I want to be next to him'
"Don't put me next to her!"
"I'll get sick if I'm not by the window"

I'm sure you've witnessed the same thing on numerous different occasions. Jostling for position. Everybody out to get the seat that in their eyes is the best. People do it all the time, in relation to numerous different things.

Our account from Luke this morning gave us a story about a party going on at which everybody wants to be on the head table. Jesus appears to be looking on in wry amusement as they hustle for places.

When everybody is settled, He offers the gathering some advice. He warns them of the danger of struggling for position all the time.  That you may make a serious misjudgment and find yourself embarrassed by being asked to move down the table to a lowlier place because you've sat yourself down in a place of importance.

If you are playing the importance game, He suggests that it would be better to occupy a low position on the table, and then be seen by the host, who would recognize you as a friend and invite you to a higher place on table.

At first glance it seems to be one of those "Sometimes by doing the wrong thing, you end up doing the right thing” type of stories. Sometimes you must think things through in a way that isn't, at first, the obvious way. For example, let’s see what you make of these questions;

1. Do they have a 4th of July in England? (Yes. It comes right after the third!)
2. A butcher in the market is 5' 10'' tall. What does he weigh? (Meat)
3. What was the Presidents name in 1960? (Joe Biden. He has not changed it)

Sometimes the way things appear are not the way they really are. The man who takes the high place at the table may not be all that he thinks he's cracked up to be.  The person way down at the end may turn out to be more important than anybody else there.

When my family and I lived in Wales, UK, on the Island of Angelsey, we were quite near a stately home, known as Plas Menai. It was occupied by The Marquis of Angelsey and situated in a beautiful spot on the banks of the Menai Straits in North Wales.

His family inherited the place from one of his ancestors that lost a limb in the battle of Waterloo. Legend has it that his ancestor and another officer were observing the battle of Waterloo from horseback when a stray cannonball hit the ancestor in the leg.

The officer on the horse next to him said, "By God, sir, you've lost a leg!" The gentleman looked down and replied, "By God, sir, so I have". So, they rode back to camp. Anyway, to cut a long story short, for his stiff-upper-lip bravery he was given a country estate (and a wooden leg) and he and his ancestors (who still have the wooden leg in a display cabinet) have lived quite comfortably ever since.

Much of the home and its magnificent grounds are now open to the public. However, the estate and its owner the current Marquis of Angelsey are still considered to be the gentry of the area.

The story goes that on a visit there somebody was seeking an audience with the Marquis, with the intention of relieving him of some of his wealth by fair means or foul. The man came across a Gardner who was digging the flowerbeds.

"What sort of person is the Marquis?" this no-gooder asked the gardener.
"Oh, I've heard this and that,” replied the gardener.
"Has he got as much money as they say?'
"Depends on who the 'they' are" replied the gardener.
"Is he a generous man? I mean would he help somebody out if they said they were in need?"
"I dare say he might,” said the Gardner.

"I've heard he's a bit eccentric, like a lot of these gentry folk" said the man, "I mean if somebody, like me, got their hands on his money, by fair means or foul, he probably wouldn’t miss it!"
"Hmm." said the gardener, "Sounds like you'd like to meet him."
"You could arrange that for me?" said the man; "I'd make it worth your while!"
"No problem" said the gardener. He brushed the sweat from his brow and removed a dirty garden glove to shake the man’s hand.
"Pleased to meet you!" said the Gardner, "I am the Marquis of Angelsey!  Now get off my property before I call security."

As the old saying goes, "You can't always judge a book by its cover." It is the same with people. Everybody has a tale to tell. Those who are at the bottom of the pile may not have always been so. Those who make it to the top can turn out to be the victims of good luck and whilst having around them all the trappings of success can be quite empty within themselves.

Joy in life does not come through occupying the high places or knowing the people of most influence.  Lasting happiness cannot be found in the multitude of possessions that people accumulate around themselves. Life is about more than position and possession.

Living in this beautiful part of the world, where for some money is no object, it would be tempting to think that power, prestige, and position are what really counts in life. Yet I think those local lads from my homelands, the Beatles, put it rather well when they sang, “Can’t buy me love.” Since being in this area, I have had some heart-breaking conversations with some folk about the way money has not helped their families, but caused division, over-indulgence and regrets.

I am reminded of Mark 8:36, in the King James version, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Or as it reads in the Contemporary English Version “What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourselves?”

The message within the message of this passage we are considering, is that true fulfillment comes to us through making a realistic assessment of our lives before God. We think of ourselves in one way. Sometimes we may overestimate our importance. Other times we may put ourselves down and make ourselves out to be less than we are. Both are a denial of who God made us to be.

Sometimes other people may make a more realistic assessment of our lives than we make of our selves. Sometimes they will be wrong about us.  Sometimes we may have made a favorable or unfavorable impression on a person without even realizing it! Everybody we meet and spend time with forms an impression of the person that we are.

Remember how Jesus was accused of not being important because He chose to hang out with people with no earthly status? He was a friend to tax collectors, no-hopers and sinners. Therefore, He must be just the same as them. A person of little significance and dubious moral character.

I’ve noticed every time there is a Hollywood Premiere or awards ceremony, the TV commentators go to great lengths to figure out for us 'who's who' and 'who's with who', who are the 'up and coming', whose 'on the way out'. Do not be seen hanging out with a loser. Could be the end of your career.

The Kingdom of God, Jesus keeps telling us through the gospels, is nothing like the kingdoms of this world. In the Kingdom of God, everything is turned around. Verse 11 of our reading; "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

To reinforce that message Jesus tells the dinner guests that if they really want to put on a party that, in Kingdom of God terms, would be considered the showiest, ritziest, most glamorous party of them all, then give a reception and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind. Ask everybody to come who has not got a hope of ever repaying you.

According to this teaching, Kingdom greatness is not measured by what you own, whom you know or whom you hang out with, but by what you have done for those least able to reward you. The Kingdom principle appears to be… that to those to whom much has been given, much is expected.

That explains why Jesus is so critical of those who are at the party jostling for the best places. It is a lesson in humility.  C.S Lewis once wrote. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of your ‘self’ less.” From the Kingdom perspective even if you are at the head of the table, you are still a nobody unless you have love.

As Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen remind us, "I may have all the faith needed to move mountains, but if I have no love, I am nothing!” It is love of that nature which brings security, lifts up the fallen, and heals the broken hearted. 'Love of God' and 'love of neighbor' are the two great principles upon which the Christian faith is built.

It is in the light of God's love that we can make a realistic assessment of our lives. We love because Christ first loved us and gave His life for us. It is His love that is the motivation, and it is God's love that sustains us through the action of God's Holy Spirit upon our hearts.

So, friends, don’t worry about where you are in the pecking order. Don’t be like those kids I had transport down a mountain in West Virginia in a big van, jostling for position and wanting the preferred place, oblivious to the fact that they were on a treacherous road and there was a British guy at the wheel who was still figuring out which side of the road to drive on.

Don’t be like that no-good fool who encountered the Marquis of Angelsey in the garden of his palatial stately home, and presumed, because the Marquis was doing humble work, that he was of no importance and was a person who could be used to further his unlawful aspirations. Never consider anybody on the basis of what ‘use’ they can be to you. Jesus suggests we are acting like a Kingdom person only when we consider what use we can be to them. Whoever they are!

Paul writes to church people of all time and all places (as it reads in the Amplified Bible), Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves.”

Doesn’t that cut across the spirit of our age! “Regard others as more important than yourselves.” But is not that exactly what Jesus exemplified throughout His ministry? Is it not His example we are called to follow? A life of humility and service is part of our call as disciples. Both individually and as a church community.

May God help us, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, to embrace the teachings of our Savior in both word and deed, with both humility and service Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.