What drives us to want the best seats? What motivates us to put ourselves forward? What impels us to exalt ourselves? An honest look at those questions reveals a profound truth: we are very afraid, deep down, that we’re a nobody, that we are ultimately unimportant, and so we do whatever we can in the game of musical chairs we call life NOT to be the person left standing all alone.
Sometimes the cry “I’m a somebody!” is what ultimately lies behind bad behavior. Posturing and pretending to be tough or the sort of “You don’t want to mess with me” kind of person. Sometimes the cry “I’m a somebody” is what screams behind the drive to do the cool thing: to smoke the joint or to sniff the coke or to down the whole pitcher of Long Island Ice Tea. Sometimes the cry “I’m a somebody” results in staggering consumer debt as we try to keep up with the right clothes, the right car, the right computer, the right ipod, the right cellphone the right house. All to proclaim: See, I AM a somebody!
As our Lord watched the whole sad charade, how we claim the best for ourselves and shove others out the way, He told a parable about a wedding feast. It’s message was simple: When someone invites you to a wedding, take the lowest place. Then when the man who invited you sees you seated there, he’ll call you up front and you’ll have glory in the presence of the others.
WHAT? We want to say! Is Jesus giving us rules for wedding etiquette? Is He teaching us how to manipulate people to get the response we want?
No. Jesus is telling a parable. And it’s a parable about a wedding feast. And its message is one of joy: You are a somebody! You’ve been invited to the wedding. And there’s a place for you in the wedding hall, a welcome and a feast that will knock your socks off.
And that is what gives you your worth. You are a somebody. Not only has your God created you, but when you fell from the Life that was His gift, He was not content to lose you. He sent His beloved Son into the flesh that there might be a wedding feast for you, that you might have a place at His table forever. He loved you that much. The incarnation of the Eternal Word of the Father in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin shows you how much you are worth to God, how much of a somebody you really are.
But if you’re a somebody, then why aren’t you entitled to one of the best seats? Why not push ahead of others and take your due? Because you know no matter how greatly He regards you, it's not your due – no way, no how. It’s a gift. It’s the worth your Host has ascribed to you. And so to be at this wedding feast is to confess that you are not worthy and to look upon all the others here and to think of each one: He is worthy, she is worthy, but I am not.
Sounds strange, I know, but it is the way of Him in whose honor we celebrate the Feast. Think of it: when He came among us, He always chose the low seat. Born in an occupied land to refugee parents, laid in a cow’s feeding trough at birth; humbly obeying his mother and foster-father, learning to work with his hands as a carpenter; no home to call his own in adulthood, no place to lay his head; standing in solidarity with sinners in the waters of Jordan; struggling alone with Satan in the desert; walking resolutely toward the cross and finally being nailed to it and raised like a hunk of human carrion to destroy the loneliness of sin and the power of death over the children of Adam. From start to finish, our Lord Jesus took the low seat.
How could He do it? The One who created all that is! The One who sustains the universe by His all-powerful Word! How could He always choose the low seat? Because that’s the kind of God He is. The kind of King who reigns over you not by shoving His will down your throat, but by suffering and dying for you, serving by forgiving your sin and wiping out your death to give you life. A humble God, a God not ashamed to take the low seat.
It brings to mind the stunning passage in John 13. When Jesus knew that His hour had arrived at last, that He had come forth from the Father into the world and that He was going back to the Father, He rose from Supper, took off His garments and girded Himself in a towel, and began to wash his disciples feet. You see, that's the kind of God He IS! And that's the true image of humanity as God created it to be. And He goes on being that kind of God even after His glorious resurrection– the One who serves as He washes away sins in the Baptismal water and serves as He offers us His own body and blood to give us life.
Jesus invites us to join Him in taking the low seat. To look at every other person in this world and think of ourselves as less than them, to find joy in honoring and serving others. To delight in doing the Father’s bidding, overjoyed at the invitation to the wedding feast of eternal life. And Jesus promises that God never forgets those who spend themselves for others. He honors them as His friends, and He will invite them to come up. When He raised His Son from death on the Third Day, He vindicated our Lord’s life of mercy and love. When the Father exalted the human nature of His Son to His right hand at the Ascension, imparting unlimited glory, He vindicated that life of taking the lowest seat by giving Him the highest. And when our Lord comes again in glory, He will say to all who have joined Him in His way of humility: Come, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from before this world’s foundation. Then indeed, you will have glory in the presence of all.
What is your worth? To Him you are priceless. He shows that to you week by week in the gift of His body and blood. You ARE a somebody, and because you know that and believe it with all your heart, it frees you from having to prove it to anyone. It frees you to take the low seat. Amen.
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