Luke 14:1, 7-14.

Jesus attends a dinner party at the home of one of the Pharisees and notices how the guests clamour for places of honour at the table. At such meals there seems to have been some sort of pecking order to the seating arrangements. Sounds similar to the A and B lists that ‘celebraties’ and socialites desperately want to be on that guarantee invitations to things like ‘the wedding of the year’.

In the world of Jesus day, your value was inseparable from what others thought of you. Most feared was to lose your place, to be embarrassed or humiliated by having to take a lower place. That would be to lose face.
In the politics of the eastern world today it is still the case that winning or losing is never as important as saving face. The American Administration seems only to talk about winning or losing, which leads, in part to the tragic consequences of their military and diplomatic engagements in the Arabic world.

Jesus may have been giving advice on how best to play the system or he may have been poking fun at it. I will assume he is giving advice that we can all take on board. Always offer a face saving position in your dealings with other people, whether it be in families, in business, in local, national or international politics. That would be a sign of grace and a way to reconciliation.

Rev. Chris Howard
3rd. September, 2007