Locked in and Locked out

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.

I heard the phrase this morning. It came from a gentleman who works as a computer technician. He spoke with some elequence about the term, "Locked in and Locked out." The phrase refers to developing software. In his line of work he talked about getting involved in trying to figure out or debug software. The struggle is that by becoming so involved it is possible to become to fixated on solving the issue that he stops seeing possible solutions. In effect the phrase refers to being too close to the problem or being "locked in." The solution is not further investigation of the issue at hand but to back away and invite others, who may or may not have the same technical ability, to examine the problem with fresh eyes. He spoke of seeking advice and that in doing so a solution may appear. The idea is that we can limit ourselves by only believing that we have all our solutions. Our fixation on solving the problem actually locks us out of solving the very same problem we are attempting to fix.

And thus we get to the gospel. We come to a gospel reading that is so incredibly filled with irony. The pharisee's are watching Jesus closely. They have yet to really figure out who this man is. He speaks with a familiarity about God that they find troubling. He speaks with authority to them. They who are the authority themselves.

The irony of course is that in Jesus parable he talks of the place of honor and of hosts. They sit eating dinner with Jesus. They are convinced that they know the way to God and God incarnate sits among them...and they are unable to see it. They are Locked in and Locked out. God is doing something else and they are too close to see it. God has taken the lowest seat and will be invited to a higher seat. They have taken the highest seat and will be asked (and shamed) to sit lower still.

The implication for persons of faith are many. We can be too tight in our estimation of truth. We can believe we sit at the right hand of God and God might invite someone else to the seat that we believe is ours. As a priest and as a laborer of the church I can let the "business" of the day and my own willful plans interefere with what God is calling me to. I too can be a pharisee, with God at my feet, and fail to even see him. I too can be locked in and locked out.