Adult Bible Study February 17, 2008

Lesson Text: Luke 14:1; 7-14
By George Epp
E-mail: g.epp@sasktel.net

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 14:11 TNIV

My wife and I frequently host guests for dinner. When we call them to the table, they generally appear reticent to take a chair until we, as hosts, indicate where they might sit. For us, it’s a matter of little importance, since our table is comparatively small, and the only places that could carry the slightest connotations of respect and honour might be at the “head” or “foot.”

In the 1980s, our church read and discussed Donald B. Kraybill’s book, The Upside-Down Kingdom (Herald Press, 1979). The concept of a kingdom in which the places of honour are at the back rather than at the front, indeed where a “position of honour” is an outdated term, struck a chord with us at the time.
           
We live in a world where hierarchical relationships persist. Some of our churches still can’t conceive of women or youth speaking from the pulpit. Others divide their congregations into “children’s worship,” “adult Sunday school,” “young-adults group,” “women’s fellowship,” “men’s club,” and so on. Nothing wrong with this, probably, but at the great banquet, kingdom-of-God equality will override even these sensibilities, and places of honour will be a distant memory.

Mind you, there’s a difference between being recognized publicly for an achievement and pushing oneself into a place of honour. Humility comes not from deliberately dressing down or pointedly taking the back seat. Humility comes from the recognition that I gain my merit in the kingdom by the grace of God, which elevates each of us to the exact same position.

The professional baseball world is tearing itself apart over the issue of steroid and other performance-enhancing drugs. Big names like Barry Bonds and Andy Pettitte are much honoured in that world. It appears now that many players were so fixated on “sitting at the front of the banquet” that they cheated to get those seats. That’s what the “right-side-up kingdom” looks like, unfortunately.

The kingdom of God is truly not that kind of place. There the poor, the addicted, the unwell, the unpopular are invited to dinner. The rich and the famous, the strong, and the haughty are invited also—to sit at home and eat their TV dinners alone!