26 August 2001

Proper 16, Year C
Isaiah 28:14-22
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-19
Luke 13:22-30

...And behold, some who are first will be last, and some who are last will be first. In the name of God...
And the last shall be first and the first shall be last.
Being last, well, Father Jack must know what its like to be last alphabetically speaking, and
Vaun must know what's its like to be last and ask someone first by height,
but somehow, I just don't think that's what Jesus was talking about.
There's a line from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof", where two sisters are discussing what they want in a man,
when they come across a major "reality check" about what being first and last really mean in this world.

Did you think you'd get a prince?
Well I do the best I can
With no dowry, no money, no family background
Be glad you've got a man.

Ouch! Without those prized possessions, getting a man is hard…not that’s it’s easy with them,
but if you don’t have them, you’re going to end up last.

But, let's look at this another way.
With no money, no dowry, and no family background, you might not have a home.
With no dowry you obviously haven't inherited anything. With no money, its very difficult to buy a house or pay rent, so, you need to get a job,
but, in order to get that job you need transportation, and I'm sure we all know how great the public transportation is in this area,
in some others it's even worse.
But then, what if you have children?
Well, with no other family, and no home, hence no neighbors, there's no one there to watch them for you,
so even if you find transportation, there's no one to watch your kids, and that vicious cycle just continues on.

These people are some of our last.
The last to get food, the last to get housing,
often the last to get a chance.
Those often hidden, and often not so hidden people have the same needs as we do, but often just aren't given the chance.
They could be people asking for money on the streets,
or the IHN families who stay with us every few months
or the kid who walks into class who you can tell hasn't showered, but you don't know that her family can't pay the water bill.
They're often the people who we see and want to yell...
"Oh, go get a job you bum!," and sometimes, I guess that's true,
but other times, these last need more than that "bit of helpful advice."

I know a woman who would most certainly be considered first.
She has a fairly spacious apartment on Park Avenue, around the corner from where Jackie Onassis used to live.
She's well off and often gives money to charity,
but she often makes me realize how important it is to consider what you're donating (and not donating) to.
All of her money goes toward the arts.
She gives a lot of her money to museums and art galleries.
Don't get me wrong, but she also seems to live by the mentality that the poor and homeless should be off the streets.
She doesn’t seem to consider or care how, as long as it all looks pretty. She believes that she is one of the first, and that she shouldn’t have to be bothered by the last. This is how the first and the last seem to be distinguished here.

Well, let’s look at today's Gospel to examine how God sees first and last:
...you will weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out.
And people will come from east and west and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God.
And behold some who are first will be last yadda, yadda, yadda.

Obviously God's way of deciding first and last is "slightly" different from ours.

I guess the sixty-four thousand dollar question
(actually, let's calculate for inflation, and for fun..., okay, the million dollar question is) well, so who get's in?
And wouldn't you just like to know.

Well, examining the gospel,
some who think they will get in won't.
Thinking doesn't equal happening, okay, check.
Those who eat and drink with Jesus won't necessarily get in.
Food intake with Jesus doesn't mean in. Check.
Banging on door and saying "Lord take us" doesn't help either.
Don't break door...and check.
Got it.
Okay, so, thinking, ingestion, and banging will not get you in.
How clear is that??!!
It seems to be just as clear as who’s first and last!
---right---
Who here is as confused as I am?
So what can we do?
Obviously our type of categorizing of who is first and who is last doesn't work with God.

In fact, since none of us are God, it can feel like none of us can truly know what God wants.
But we are told to love God with all our hearts and with all our souls, and we are told to treat our neighbors as we would like to be
treated ourselves,
so, maybe that's a place to start.

I mean, I don’t particularly know anyone who prefers to be treated like the bottom of the trash heap,
the majority of people I know most defiantly prefer to be treated like the first rather than the last.

Saying this, consider how we personally treat others, all others.
When walking down the street, do we look at a homeless person differently than someone walking in a nice suit, with a briefcase, talking on a cell phone?
I mean, I’ve personally noticed, that if two people are walking, and they accidentally collide, the person who considers themselves more “first,” will automatically make it the others fault,
whether it is their fault or not,
well, maybe not everyone who considers themselves more “first” will,
but then again, if you’re going to consider yourself above someone else, then, you very well may blame the other person.

You might say we need to treat our last like our first, but,
I don’t know if I agree with that.
I think we need to treat everybody like everybody, without treating group B like group A, just treating everyone the way people should be treated,
the way we’d like to be treated ourselves.
What would happen if we did treat both the first and the last
the way we want to be treated?
Maybe, with the respect, dignity, and kinship all people will feel, maybe,
sometime, there won’t be a first or a last, and we can all be neighbors, brothers, and sisters sitting down to eat together, in the Kingdom of God.
Amen.