Divine Artistry

A woman arrived at a prayer meeting which was already in progress. She spotted an empty chair and asked the man sitting next to it, “Is this chair saved?” “I don’t know,” the man replied, “but we’re praying for it.”

In today’s Gospel Lesson we hear Jesus say, “There are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last” (Lk. 13:30). In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus elaborates on this teaching saying, “If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all” (Mk. 9:35).

We like to think we’re a cut above. We like to be out in front. We like to be looked up to, which is very often another way of saying, “We like to look down on.” And this is what concerns Jesus about His own people who are looking for answers to questions about “salvation.”

He is talking to His fellow Jews about this because they have grown accustomed to…