Jesus turns the usual ways of the world—the standards by which we have learned to order our lives—upside down. We have been taught competition over cooperation, revenge over reconciliation, leading over following, enhancing our importance over humbly submitting to one another. When we attend a function, we have learned to scan the room and find those with whom we want to be seen and from whom we can gain personal benefit.
We have been taught to start at the highest positions, seek to be near the greatest and the best. Jesus says we should reverse that strategy.* If we want true upward mobility, we should aim for the lowest place in the room. Where else can we go then but up? And we might even discover we like it at that end of the table better than we expected, finding more stimulating conversation with unpretentious people who leave us freer just to be ourselves.
We might even develop a taste for what the world calls the lowly and the least, finding that we crave the spicy flavors of their company. Jesus suggests we test it in our own lives. Try inviting a new crowd to dinner. Open your doors to the unknown. Expand your horizons. Get to know God’s whole family. We have access to a more flavorful feast than we have enjoyed so far. Taste and see how good are God’s ways.
–Kayla McClurg, Passage By Passage (Year C)
- Which upside-down ways of Jesus challenge me the most?
- Am I more at home with the highest or the lowest?
- Whom would I invite to an upside-down dinner party?
