Platinum Rewards
A Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 28, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:1, 7-14
Before he retired, my husband Paul traveled for work, earning a Platinum Rewards Card with the hotel chain he always used. What that meant was that he had the option of early check ins and late check outs, and could be rewarded with upgrades, sometimes even a suite instead of a regular room.
When Paul was working at the beach, occasionally I would go with him, to spend time on the beach during the day and then time with him in the evenings. I remember one trip in particular when we arrived at the hotel and pulled out our card of privilege, sure we would have an oceanfront room on a top floor. But we were told that there was no Platinum Rewards room available. In fact, we were given what I am certain was the absolute worst room in the entire hotel. The faucet for the sink was loose and impossible to turn on. It took both hands and a hard upward pull to get the water running, and the trickle of water that came out was hot. Then we opened the curtains to find that our room was not oceanfront; it was on the second floor overlooking the parking circle, where hotel guests were lined up and honking their horns. Not at all what we expected. Paul’s Platinum Rewards Card didn’t help us one bit! Quite a lesson in exaltation and humility for us.
We are blessed with these humble pie experiences all the time, aren’t we? Growing up, we didn’t get the part in the play, didn’t make the team, and all that practicing did not get us first chair in the school orchestra.
And then as adults, what about those times we obey the road sign that says single lane ahead, and then we are furious when someone else waits until the last possible moment and butts in line ahead of us.
Consider the emotions that run through us when we arrive early at the cinema to choose the perfect seats only to have a group of late-arrivers step all over our feet, in the dark, to find a place to sit. Or, relevant this week, maybe we managed to pay off our student loans and don’t think it’s fair that other people now don’t have to do that.
We work hard only to be overlooked for a well-deserved promotion. We save with great frugality, only to lose it all when our job is eliminated in a downsizing move by the company. We raise our children trying to do all the right things, only to have them go in directions we did not expect or want for them. These are the kinds of things that will take us down a peg, as my grandmother used to say. It’s so much easier to get upset and call it unfair when someone else wins or gets a lucky break than it is to admit that our lack of humility, our sense of entitlement is showing. When we don’t exercise our humility, our entitlement will take over, and this is the uncomfortable truth Jesus addresses in our gospel text today.
It’s so much easier to see Jesus as healer, teacher, prophet, and Savior than it is to see him as a countercultural revolutionary, someone who speaks truth to power, who speaks against the way our society works, especially when it’s working quite well for us. It’s uncomfortable to hear him preaching against the entitled behavior we know we practice all too often. We are not all that excited about moving to the back of the line or setting aside our own privilege to help those in great need.
In Greco Roman society, where one sat at a dinner party revealed one’s status as clearly as any of our current day job titles, awards, or advanced degrees. One’s place at the table was a sign of status, power, and wealth, much like our own status symbols of what cars we drive, how much income we make and in what neighborhood we live. Our status, where we are in line, confronts us everywhere. It shows in the check-out line at the grocery when someone pays with food stamps, because when you pay with food stamps, people will draw many conclusions about you. And when you pay with an exclusive, members-only platinum credit card, people draw other conclusions about you. You are labeled and judged and placed within a strict hierarchy based on that public encounter. If you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it! This is how those dinner seating charts worked in the first century. Then and now, there are signs that communicate our place in relation to others.
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It’s interesting to note what Jesus does not say about the social norms of his day. He does not outright condemn the system or tell them to remove themselves from the daily life in the system. Instead, he teaches them how to live as his disciples within that very system. Jesus alerts us to the system so that we might live in such a way as to change it from within, gradually with acts of kindness and humility.
Jesus says, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I think Jesus may want us to think about humility and exaltation. Think about how it feels when we are humbled. Think about how we sometimes forget about the needs of others when we are in an exalted place, or are feeling entitled. Think about how exhausting it is to be in constant competition to win, to be on top, to be better than.
Perhaps Jesus is calling us out of that craziness that exhausts us and drains us of the abundant life God intends for us. What if the exaltation Jesus promises is complete freedom from the whole status system of this world? If so, then how do we get ourselves out of all the competition and let go of the need to win at all costs?
We begin by making a choice to look less for ways to advance ourselves, and instead lend a hand to those in need of help. We admit that it’s literally impossible for any of us to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need one another. When we make this choice to be humble rather than to be exalted, transformation can begin. The need to be the best, have the most, and win at all costs will lessen and then dissolve as we come to understand God’s economy of grace. No earthly rewards measure up to the free gift of God’s love. In God’s economy of grace all are invited to the table, all are fed, and all are loved.
This is the exaltation Jesus promises when we choose to live differently in this earthly kingdom. To be made in God’s image is to know that our worth is determined by God and God alone. It is not determined by platinum award memberships, being first in line, or being the wealthiest or most powerful. Knowing this truth, we can let go of the constant need to exalt ourselves, and can be about the work of transforming the earthly kingdom into a world that is less anxious, less competitive, and less hate-filled. Because God's kingdom is not a kingdom of scarcity; it is one of abundance, where every seat at the table is the best seat, where everyone receives a Platinum Rewards Card, and all the rooms are oceanfront.
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