Diet Coke!

I don't think we need a lesson on sitting in the lowly seats.

Because I notice in Church that everyone likes to sit in the back.

Perhaps that is a good indication that we have heard what Jesus teaches about not taking the seats of honor unless we are called forth.

But that is not really what Jesus parable is about.

It is not advice on where to sit at a dinner party, anymore than it is advice on where to sit at Church.

In fact, it is not advice at all.

It is a teaching about the reign of God.

About the way that God wants the world to be.

About the way that the world was when Jesus walked among us.

And the way the world will be some day.

Right now in our world we make all sorts of assumptions about positions of power and prestige.

People with titles get better treatment then people who don't have it.

People with money or fame get special treatment.

They might get the best table at a restaurant, a special hotel room, people who pay extra attention to them.

The comedian John Mulaney tells this story about Mick Jagger from the rock group the Rolling stones.

John Mulaney wrote for Saturday Night Live and Mick Jagger was the host.

As John Mulaney tells it Mick Jagger would walk around and say, "Diet Coke", and one would appear in his hand.

That is special treatment that we don't get.

I am sure that Mick Jagger makes a lot of assumptions about what he will get in life from other people.

And I am sure if tomorrow you got a call that said Mick Jagger was coming over for dinner at your house you would put on your best meal you could think of.

You would call up your friends and tell them that Mick Jagger was coming over for dinner.

(Just as a side note Mick Jagger is not coming to your house.)

You get my point, if you have money, if you have power, if you are famous, you get treated differently.

And to be fair to Mick Jagger we all have these assumptions about the way we should be treated to some degree.

This week I had to spend a good portion of my day on the phone with the phone company trying to switch over the phones to "With One Heart Early Learning Center".

And I want to tell you it was not the most pastoral moment of my life.

I get so annoyed trying to do things in the world where you can't seem to talk to a live human being, and if you want to talk to a live human being it takes a half hour to get one on the phone.

And then once you get a live human being it is not the right one and they have to transfer you to another department.

Anyway, It was not my finest moment.

But in that moment I made lots of assumptions about what was owed me.

That I was owed good service from the phone company.

But why?

Everyone else gets treated the same way.

In that moment I was like Mick Jagger wanting to snap my fingers and make a diet coke appear.

And then Jesus comes into the world.

If you are like me and you believe that Jesus is God then how Jesus was in this world tells us what God is like in this world.

And Jesus destroys our notions of what we are owed.

Jesus doesn't come with a degree.

He is not rich.

He is not famous, except that he is popular with outcasts.

He holds no title, he not a king, a senator, a CEO.

He eats with undesirable people.

He places himself with the lowly, and he is lowly.

No wonder no one thought he was the messiah.

If Jesus came to your house for dinner what would you do?

Who would you invite?

Perhaps the right answer to that question is nothing special.

Jesus would be happy eating at your table the way you do every night.

Jesus would be happy with meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

Jesus would be happy just to sit with you and talk.

There would be no special thing needed.

When we pray before meals in our house one of meal time graces is "Come Lord Jesus be our guest".

We invite Jesus to come into our home and sit with us, among the everyday food we have.

We ask Jesus to sit as we share together our day, our triumphs and struggles, our gains and losses.

We ask Jesus to be with us this day as we struggle to be our best selves.

Isn't that the beauty of Jesus.
Jesus doesn't need a diet coke, just us in all of our human vulnerability.

The second verse to "Come Lord Jesus" is, "Blessed be God who is our bread; may all the world be clothed and fed."

We remember around that table that we are blessed, that we have something to offer the world.

Because there are places where there is no food, where families don't get to share their day with one another.

And we know that Jesus is in those places too.

That Jesus is where we can't see him, because we are blinded by our prejudices.

Jesus came to break down the lines that we put up to separate us from one another.

Then there is the day that Jesus tells us about.

It is different then what was or what is.

It is a day when God will reign.

When those divisions are no more.

When all will sit at the table together, and there will no greater or lesser.

There will be no more winners and losers.

There will only be us together enjoying a meal with our savior.

That is the day I long for.

Do you?

Do you wish it was different then it is?

Do you wish that the comfort you have others had too?

I believe that is what Jesus is asking of us this morning.

Maybe this side of heaven we have privileges based upon superficial human things.

Maybe this side of heaven Mick Jagger is treated differently than the rest of us.

Maybe this side of heaven I we get mad because the Comcast isn't being very helpful and feel that some great injustice has been done to us.

Maybe this side of heaven people starve to death.

Maybe this side of heaven kids are not safe enough to share their day with their parents.

Maybe this side of heaven we are not all treated the same.

But on the other side.

In the world that is to come none of those things are true.

On the other side of heaven Jesus is the main guest, the honored guest, but Jesus as we know doesn't want it.

Instead Jesus just wants to sit with us and enjoy our company.

Let us pray today that we are not so preoccupied with what we have, or what others have, that we miss out on that opportunity.

Let us hope we know that the only one we need or want at our table is Jesus.

"Come Lord Jesus be our guest."

Amen