Sermons on National Subjects, 48 - PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE
By Charles Kingsley
And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.--LUKE xiv. 7-11.
We heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a parable to those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee's house.
A parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story about some rule, by hearing which people may see how the rule works in practice, and understand it. Now, our Lord's parables were about the kingdom of God. They were examples of the rules and laws by which the kingdom of God is governed and carried on.
Therefore He begins many of His parables by saying, The kingdom of God is like something--something which people see daily, and understand more or less. "The kingdom of God is like a field;" "The kingdom of God is like a net;" "The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed;" and so forth. And even where He did not begin one of His parables by speaking of the kingdom of God, we may be still certain that it has to do with the kingdom of God.
For the one great reason why the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, was to preach the kingdom of God, His Father and our Father, and to prove to men that God was their King, even at the price of his most precious blood. And, therefore, everything which He ever did, and everything which He ever spoke, had to do with this one great work of His. This parable, therefore, which you heard read in the gospel for to-day, has to do with the kingdom of God, and is an example of the laws of it.
Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. For at baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we were to renounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; and the world is the way in which men try to manage without God's help or leave. That is the difference between them; and a most awful difference it is.
Men fancy that they can get on well enough without God; that the ways of the world are very reasonable, and useful, and profitable, and quite good enough to live by, if not to die by. But all the while God is King, let them fancy what they like; and this earth, and everything on it, from the king on his throne to the gnat in the sunbeam, is under His government, and must obey His laws or die. We are in God's kingdom, my good friends, every one of us, whether we like it or not, and we shall be there for ever and ever. And our business is, therefore, simply to find out what are the laws of that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as possible, and live for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in their way, they should grind us to powder.
Now, here is one of the laws of God's kingdom: "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted." That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself up, will be pulled down again: while he who is contented to keep low, and think little of himself, will be raised up and set on high. Now the world's rule is the exact opposite of this.
The world says, Every man for himself. The way of the world is to struggle and strive for the highest place; to be a pushing man, and a rising man, and a man who will stand stiffly by his rights, and give his enemy as good as he brings, and beat his neighbour out of the market, and show off himself to the best advantage, and try to make the most of whatever wit or money he has to look well in the world, that people may look up to him and flatter him and obey him; and so the world has no objection to people's pretending to be better than they are.
Every man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and never mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and if they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for them. So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when he has anything to sell, making it out better than it really is, and hiding the fault in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or manufacturer sends about "puffs" of his goods, and pretends that they are better and cheaper than other people's, just to get custom by it, the world does not call that what it is--boasting and lying. It says: "Of course a man must do the best he can for himself. If a man does not praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot expect his neighbours to take him for better than his own words."
So again, if a man wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no harm if he gives the most showy character of himself, and gets his friends to say all the good of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say none of the harm--in short, to make himself out a much better, or shrewder, or worthier man than he really is. The world does not call that either what it is--boasting, and lying, and thrusting oneself into callings to which God has not called us. The world says: "Of course a man must turn his best side outwards. You cannot expect a man to tell tales on himself."
