Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 8/28/2022, Luke 14:1, 7-11
A popular video channel on social media is owned by a young man named ‘Daniel Mac’ who’s made a name for himself by walking up to rich people driving in luxury sports cars, whom he stops and asks, “Excuse me, that's an expensive car, what do you do for a living?”
There’s the middle-aged woman in the Lamborghini Huracan, worth $280,000, who says she’s in real estate.
There’s the young man in a chartreuse Porsche 911, Turbo S, that sells for $203,500, who says he’s a music producer for adult videos.
There’s the bearded man in the $208,000 Audi R8 who says he does roofing.
Then there are the two, young college students, sisters, in the Ferrari 488, worth $280,000 who say their father bought them their car…
These vehicles are gorgeous, the people are handsome, and the primary emotion they evoke is envy!
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On June 6, 1944, a young, black medic named Waverly Woodson was aboard a Landing Craft approaching Omaha Beach when the craft hit a submerged mine.
While wounded by shrapnel in the thigh and groin, Waverly Woodson knew he had a job to do. Scrambling across the hostile beach, raked by machine gun fire and artillery blasts, Woodson found shelter and set up a first aid station.
Continually under fire, he treated the mounting number of wounded men, white and black, for more than a day without rest, all while wounded himself. He pulled out bullets, patched gaping wounds, amputated limbs, dispensed blood plasma, and even resuscitated four drowning men.
Thirty hours after he set his boots on Omaha Beach, Woody Woodson collapsed and was hospitalized. But after only three days of convalescence, Woodson requested that he return to his unit and get back to work. All in all, he is credited with saving 200 lives.
After the war, Waverly Woodson would go on to get a medical degree and work at the National Naval Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health. And though it took several decades, Woodson finally received the Medal of Honor, the highest award a soldier can get.
His service, dedication, and commitment to helping others, mean that the primary emotion we may walk away with is admiration.
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So, our first story is about envy -
The second one, admiration -
And the title and question of this sermon is this:
Would you rather be envied or admired?
Let’s think about envy – and celebrities, billionaires, and fashion models - those with comfortable, charmed, pampered, and well-known lives -
And then let’s think about Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, and Vincent van Gogh - those whose hardships few of us would want, but who accomplished incredible things for humanity.
I envy someone for their good looks, their possessions, the ease and comfort of their lives!
I admire someone who cares for an ailing spouse, is exceedingly patient with a toddler, and regularly springs to the aid of someone in need, putting their own wants, comforts, and desires aside.
And there is a clear preference Jesus has for us that we’re unpacking here this morning:
Live the life that is admired.
Develop empathy, generosity, and kindness.
Help the lowly, the lonely, the vulnerable.
Focus our eyes on those who have little.
Set our goals on helping all we can.
And so, we look at today’s Gospel - which is essentially an advice parable - about going to a wedding banquet and not angling for the head table, but for the lowest table - as, "those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
We are in the middle of Luke’s Gospel - and Jesus is giving us advice on discipleship - asking us:
‘What kind of people do you want to be?’
‘Here’s the kind of people I’m trying to form…’
‘Here’s the kind of people I’m looking for - and here’s how you’ll be happiest, most fulfilled, and do the most good in this big world with your little life.'
Many of us are here in church consciously or unconsciously looking for fulfillment - we’re unsettled - we’re discontent.
This is the cause of much of our anger, frustration, and fear:
We are worried about our fulfillment:
Will the kids or grandkids be alright (as if they were ours and not God’s anyway….)?
Will our careers turn out as we want them too?
Will we assemble the right constellation of possessions and experiences that we long for?
Will our world be free of disease, division, and major upheaval (as if anyone who’s ever lived for any length of time been able to claim that)?
And Jesus is here to help us maneuver the challenges of our lives with savvy practicality, keeping our well-being, and the well-being of others paramount - suggesting that our solution is to shun the temptation to live ‘envied’ lives - and to more intentionally seek to live lives that are admired.
Would you rather be envied or admired?
And we get three lessons from Jesus in this ‘advice parable’ that are worth looking at —
Jesus tells us where we shouldn't go,
Jesus tells us where we should go, and
And Jesus tells us who will take us there.
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Some of us may know that Adolf Hitler suffered from digestive and intestinal problems for much of his life. This made him a strict vegetarian and was under the care of a doctor many people considered a quack, who routinely gave Hitler medication that may actually have been poisoning him.
As a result of his condition, diet – much of it beans and other legumes - plus the medication, Hitler had a real problem with farting.
That’s right, at times, uncontrollably.
Some people, behind his back, did not call him Der Furher, which means leader - but Der Furzer, which means, the farter.
Sitting at the head table, at the place of honor at Nazi banquets, then, was no fun for heads of state, who privately complained about the smell - and for the other assembled band of Third Reich leaders, who, as we know, came up with odious plans of their own.,,
When Jesus begins his parable talking about sitting at the head table - these places of honor – the assumption is that these are the seats taken by those prizing earthly attention and notoriety - those angling for earthly power - that these people want to be seen — those who want to be envied - and want to make deals that will gain them earthly power, prestige, and status.
We notice that Jesus does not ban people from sitting in the places of honor, but certainly suggests that we should not make its pursuit our default setting or ultimate goal.
So, we ask:
What are the ‘places of honor’ in our lives?
Is it a title, award, or position that we seek - with motives we might question?
What do we envy?
How does that envy affect us?
Envy is defined as an emotion.
It’s an emotion that occurs when a person lacks somebody else's superior quality, achievement, or possession - and either desires it - or wishes that the other person didn’t have it.
Aristotle called envy, 'pain at the sight of another's good fortune, stirred by "those who have what we ought to have”.'
So, Jesus’ first piece of advice is for you and me to avoid putting ourselves in the high places – the places of envy - and to seek another place.
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The great Roman Catholic social reformer, Dorothy Day once commented on the early church - "that place where faith was a bright fire that warmed more than those who kept it burning" - and she talked about a particular custom there.
That custom was this - that every Christian house kept a room ready for any stranger who might ask for shelter. It was even called ’The Stranger’s Room.’
And it was used by those who could afford no other accommodation - the poor and destitute.
These early believers kept ’The Stranger’s Room’ open not because meeting strangers might be fun – or that housing strangers reminded them of Christ, but for the plain, simple, and stupendous fact that they believed that in housing a stranger, they were housing Christ.
So, when we take our seats in the lower places, it can also be seen as Christ’s invitation for us to sit with him.
Taking this seat puts us with the people Jesus preferred – whom he spent time with and commends us to be with. Sitting here puts us in touch with the needs, concerns, and worries of those struggling most.
This is the benefit of having an ‘in house’ food pantry - as we do. This is the benefit of a moveable shelter - hosting the South Oakland Shelter - as we will, hopefully be back to doing soon. And this is the benefit of hosting our annual Christmas Day Feast, which we are planning for December 25th this year.
And it asks us bigger questions about how we order our lives – lives not of envy, but of admiration:
What is the ‘lowest place’ for us?
How are we avoiding it?
How are we seeking it out?
So, Jesus’ first piece of advice is to avoid the higher places,
His second is to seek out the lower places,
And his third piece of advice is to pay attention to the host.
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In 2005, a gifted writer named David Foster Wallace gave one of the most memorable commencement addresses ever.
He told a crowd of Kenyon College students not to be taken in by the false belief in atheism - that there’s no such thing as not worshiping - in his words:
"Everybody worships.
The only choice we get is what to worship.
And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship–be it Jesus Christ or Allah, be it YHWH... or some inviolable set of ethical principles–is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
"If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough…
"Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly.
And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.
"On one level, we all know this stuff already. It’s been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story.
"The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness."
And that truth is, that someone, some force, some entity, is guiding you.
Jesus was very clear about his eternal presence with us.
He stated frequently that He would be with us to guide and provide – to care and protect.
And as you and I take our seats in the banquet, following his advice to pay attention to ’the last and the least’ - that we take our exaltation and success out of your own hands - and let the host exalt us, not ourselves: God is at work in our lives in more ways than we will ever know:
Don’t seek your own advancement, but allow others to see your goodness and reward you.
Seek your own contentment and conviction in yourself - so that moving to a higher spot, which is totally out of our control, is simply frosting on the cake.
Come ready to learn, not to teach.
Come eager to listen, not to preach.
Come open to change, not poised to convert.
Jesus’ first piece of advice is to avoid the higher places,
His second is to seek out the lower places,
And his third is to pay attention to the host:
How is God talking to us recently?
What ‘God moments’ have we had?
What are they saying to us?
What can we do this week to make more room for God’s voice?
How is God urging us to let go - and allow The Divine to guide us?
How can we hang onto life a little more loosely this week?
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Friends, when I was a kid going to Tiger’s games, one of my dreams was to catch a baseball in the stands.
A year ago, in Philadelphia, a 10-year-old named Aaron Pressley did just that. He was sitting in the bleachers during a Phillies-Cubs game when a foul ball made it into the stands. Jostling fans elbowed for position, but it was Pressley who finally came up with the ball, smiling with glee as he held it up for everyone to see.
But not everyone was happy with Aaron’s prize -
Sitting not far from Pressley was 7-year-old Emma Brady - who had collapsed in tears on her mother’s lap - having had no chance to grab the ball compared to Pressley and the other big kids and adults next to her.
That’s when Aaron Pressly noticed the sobbing little girl -
Aaron Pressly - the most envied person in the ball park - the kid who came up with the foul ball!
Well, he instantly went from being the most envied to the most admired - as he made his way over to Emma Brady's seat - and gave her the baseball.
Aaron may no longer have that baseball - which one day may have found itself at the bottom of a junk drawer maybe even a garage sale…
But he will forever have that memory and moment of bringing unimagined delight to a little life - and, in himself, built a character of service to others that will make a mark of its own on the world.
Friends, let us not seek to be envied, but seek to be admired, as we go and do likewise.
Amen.