Places of Honor

Luke 14: 7-11

I was at a meeting a while back, where a certain group of people who had accomplished something were asked to pose for a picture. Without going into too much detail, I had accomplished something similar, but not in as public a way as the others had. So I held back and chatted with someone while the picture was taken. Later, someone asked, "why weren't you in the picture?" I responded with a paraphrase of the story that is found in Luke 14. Guests at a dinner were arguing over who should get the seats of honor. Jesus suggested that it was wiser to choose a less desirable seat and be asked to move up, rather than choosing a more desirable seat only to be asked to move and let a more honored guest sit there (an embarassment in almost any culture).

For many of us, part of our work is trying to get the "honored" seats. In our minds, we think about which coworkers are more or less deserving than we are. Sometimes, we manuever to ascend that list. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, although you need to show God's love to your coworkers. But be careful about thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. That picture will only be remembered by a few people, none of whom will have any direct effect on me. But in the moment, it sure was nicer to be asked why I wasn't there rather than being told that I didn't belong.