11th Sunday after Pentecost

The last shall be first and the first shall be last

Even though we don’t want to admit it, we all have our own religious ranking systems,

much like the Pharisees. If we all had a dinner party with Jesus and we were in charge of

seating arrangements, you know who you would seat close to Jesus and who you would

put in the back corner. But that’s not how Jesus runs His kingdom. There are many people

you may not even like at the table, whereas some of the most “upstanding” folks you

know may not be invited. In the end, Christ himself is the narrow, in fact only door

through which we may enter His kingdom. But when He does the seating arrangements,

He’s not looking for those with good religious resumes. He puts us in seats that we don’t

deserve to be sitting in.