Dan Czaplewski posted on August 31, 2007 10:21
Are you a “people-watcher”? Do you enjoy sitting at a mall and just observing the human behavior around you?
My job as a Pastor makes me a people-watcher. I need to observe someone when I visit them in the hospital. Am I making them nervous or am I bringing comfort? Is this a bad time? Ministry involves a lot of people watching.
This coming Sunday, our Gospel reading will be from Luke 14:1-14. That passage begins by saying that the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely. They were people-watching, not out of curiosity, but with the intention of trapping or discrediting Christ. The funny thing is that the people-watching Pharisees were being watched by Jesus. In verse 7 it says that Jesus was noticing how they were jockeying for the best places at the banquet. Jesus was watching the Pharisees while they were watching Him.
But the Pharisees were also watching each other. They were trying to get the best spot, get more status, and have more prestige than the Pharisee next to them. The key verse to this reading is verse 11: “Those who hone themselves will be humbled, but people who humble themselves will be honored.”
The best way to “get ahead” is to stoop down in service. We bring honor to the cause of Christ when we live humbly. When we serve the loving Christ by serving and loving others, we live humbly and that honors God.
When you people-watch, I pray that you see the opportunities for service and that you are empowered by Christ to love and serve.