School of Humility
Some who are first will be last and some who are last will be first.
It was John Angotti’s birthday on Saturday
and we celebrated by going up to Napa Valley
doing some wine tasting on Friday.
He had never been to Napa Valley before
so it was a new experience for him.
He is not much of a wine drinker,
so this was a completely new experience for him.
We went to a winery called VGS Château Potelle,
recommended by one of our parishioners
which is run by a lovely, authentic Frenchman, Jean-Noel
who makes absolutely fantastic wines.
It was a little intimidating for John
given that he had never tasted much wine.
Here you have an original Frenchman teaching us how to drink wine.
John says, “I don’t really know so much about wine.”
And Jean-Noel says, “You know how to taste right?”
John says, “Well, yeah.”
And he says, “Well that is all you need to know.”
Truth be told, says Jean-Noel, wine tasting is a school of humility.
It is just when you think you know something,
wine tasting teaches you that you do not know diddly.
Jean-Noel gave us a great demonstration.
He says some people are wine snobs.
They think they know everything about wine;
it’s not true, he says, they don’t know diddly.
And he illustrated it with a little story.
He was wine tasting with a group of supposed wine connoisseurs
and one of his friends who was completely blind.
In his opinion, she had the best sense of wine
and to prove his point, he put out completely black glasses.
That way they could not see what was in it.
He poured a white and a red wine.
Only 50% of wine connoisseurs could tell the difference
between a red and a white without seeing it!
He says, see people do not know stuff.
Wine tasting is a school of humility, he said
and if we allow it, wine will teach us.
That relaxed John and me
and we were able to enjoy the wine tasting,
which was a great experience.
Jean-Noel said what we have to do with wine is
to let it romance you; let it present itself
and it will give you what it is, not what you want.
It will give you what it is not what you want.
Life is a lot like that.
It will give you what it is not what you want.
Life is also a school of humility
and if we allow it, it will teach us much.
If we can be present to life and
be humble enough before life
because often life will deal us a blow or two.
Just when we think we know life, like the wine,
it deals us something that knocks us right down to our knees.
And that is the truth.
Yet if we can be humble before life itself
then we can really be schooled;
we can really learn from it.
And then enjoy and savor life like a good wine.
In this passage today, it starts with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem.
He knows he is going to his death.
He knows that this is the end.
He is trying to school his disciples in humility.
We have heard it last week and we hear it again this week
and again next week.
Jesus is trying to teach them that life has its moments
and that if we follow him with humility
then the Lord will always be present to us
no matter what happens in life, good or bad;
the Lord will be present to us.
He is trying to teach his disciples,
trying to give them the context that life is eternal
and so whatever suffering we have here,
it is just a drop in the ocean of what our whole eternal life will look like.
He is trying to help his disciples understand the context of life.
That life eternal is real and that what we do here
matters greatly for all eternity.
Just for a moment, think of those moments in your life
when you last got upset over something, really upset.
You dug in; whether it was your spouse or your kids
or your parents or just maybe life itself and you got upset.
And now just thinking about all of what that
is in the context of eternal life.
And be humbled by that,
of how we got upset over the microwave not working
or the remote control not working
and how the small things of life
seen in the greater context really do not matter.
Even with things quite significant or with difficulty in relationships,
we get completely consumed by it.
But if we take it in this greater context of life
then it does take a different importance
and then life can then school us wisely.
But we must be humble enough before it.
You see that humility is the very thing that Jesus was trying to teach.
And that is what we celebrate
every single time we come to the Eucharist;
Jesus took on the cross out of humility.
Remember, he had the power of God;
he could have done anything he wanted
but he chose to humble himself before a cross
so that he could show us the way of life;
that the school of humility that this life can really teach us.
We all have our wounds; our crosses; our brokenness;
and others have theirs.
Yet if we can be humble enough, each one of us,
then this table becomes a true table of unity.
But it must start first with humility;
that every one of us is humble enough to recognize that I am broken;
I am wounded; I have sinned
and that is what we do every single time we come to the Eucharist.
Why? Because that is our cross.
And then we come together at this table united in the cross,
united in that humility.
And if we can do that then we go out of here different.
In a sense, it takes tremendous humility to come to Eucharist
because we say that I haven’t mastered life
and that I come to the table not because I am so wonderful
but because I am actually not so wonderful, and I know that.
And that is what unites us when we come here.
That is the school of humility.
And when we live life like that as a true Christian,
recognizing the cross and its importance in our life
then it transforms everything.
Life eternal shines brightly for us because
then we were last here and then we will be first there.
But if we insist on being first here then we will be last there.
Today as we gather here at this table
and for those who are online not able to come in person
but gathered around your own table at home,
we come to school in humility
so that then we can be united at this Eucharist
because we will offer willingly to be last
so that we can be first in the Kingdom of God.
Some who are first will be last and some who are last will be first.