“Leaders Eat Last”

Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

August 31, 2025

Place setting

Proverbs 25:6-7

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Children’s Message:

We’re going to throw a party! Who should we invite? If you were going to throw a party, who would you invite? Do you have a best friend? Or lots of friends? What should we serve at the party? And who gets to sit at the best seats? Who gets to have their food first? Why?

You know, I wonder if there is anyone missing from this party? Are there people in your class or neighborhood who never get invited to parties? Who aren’t picked to play during recess? If Jesus were there, who do you think Jesus would choose first?

That’s what he was talking about in today’s gospel reading. He said that when you have a party, you should invite the people no one wants. The people who can’t invite you to their own party because they probably can’t even have a party. And when they get there, let them have the best seats. Honor them. Help them know they are loved and valued.

Think about it. If it were you who never got picked or invited, that kind of treatment would make your day, wouldn’t it? It’s all about treating people the way Jesus would treat them.

Let’s pray. Dear God, you invite us to your party, along with everyone else. Help us honor one another the way you honor us. Amen.

Message:

One of the things I despise when I talk to other pastors is how they ask about the numbers in attendance at worship. Not just because it becomes a comparison check—do you have as many as we do? But also because of the phrase they use when asking. It’s always, “How many do you worship on Sunday?” How many do you worship?

It seems that we’re not the first generation to get confused on value, worth, and who deserves what, and who counts. It’s the nature of human sin that wants to put oneself first—to make sure there’s enough for me, and not to worry about others. I read this week that a more appropriate interpretation of ‘thoughts and prayers’ is simply, ‘thank God it wasn’t me.’ Both accomplish nothing but feeling better about one’s own circumstances without being emboldened to do something about another’s circumstance.

This is the nature of so much of the divide in our world. Human sin is at the core, and it is expressed in many ways. But ultimately, it’s simply this: me first. Yet, everything Jesus stands for upends that concept. The first shall be last. The master must become the servant. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled.

Simon Sinek says it another way. “Leaders Eat Last.” That’s the title of one of his books, inspired by how the Marine Corps operates. When it comes to chow time, the leaders always eat last. It seems symbolic and simple, but it actually instills in everyone a very important sense of collaboration, trust, and cooperation. The folks underneath those leaders know that they will have their back. And when someone knows that, they feel safe. They feel protected. They feel honored. They know their work matters. All because the leaders eat last.

It’s all about protecting someone else at one’s own risk. Parents get this. Everyone knows that parent who foregoes their own meal so that their child can eat. The parent who wears old ratty clothes so that their child can have clothes that fit as they grow.

One of the images that inspired Simon was that of a mom laying on top of her child in the middle of a violent outbreak of gun violence in Kenya. She protected her child at the risk of her own life. We hear a similar story out of Minneapolis this week following yet another school shooting. A boy who was interviewed honored his best friend who had pulled him to the ground and lay on top of him, shielding him from the bullets.

We all think about how we might respond in such dire and definitive situations, but we are tested with these situations all the time. And we often fail that test. Every time we choose our right to have weapons over a child’s safety; every time we declare our right to go without masks when it puts others’ lives at risk; every time we scream about how our taxes shouldn’t go to healthcare for others; every time we celebrate the arrest of an undocumented person and defend violent criminals; every time we endanger basic human rights to marginalized groups; every time we say ‘go back to where you came from’.

When we enter the banquet, we fight for the best seats. We expect to be the VIP’s. We expect special treatment because we’re…what? Because we’re white, because we’re wealthy, because we’re American? Because we identify as Christian?

This is how we, in our society, measure worth. We measure it based on what we have, how much we produce, and who we claim to be. There was a last-minute delay in boarding an airplane one day, causing some chaos and consternation. One man boldly went to the desk and demanded to know what was going on and why he couldn’t get on with his flight. He said, “Don’t you know who I am?” The flight attendant got on the speaker and calmly said, “We have a passenger at Gate 14 who doesn’t know who he is. If you can help him find his identity, please come to the desk.”

God does not use the world’s standards when it comes to God’s relationship with humanity. Jesus should be our prime example of what to expect—and what to do. Yet, we insist on creating God in our image. We insist on teaching a religion based on the standards of worth we have assigned people—who they are, what they have, how much they produce. And then we do our best to get to the front of the line—to get backstage passes, VIP tags, front row seats. To get closer to God. And God flips the script and turns the tables on us.

Leaders eat last. If we expect to reach God first by being at the front of the line, we are destined for disappointment. Because we won’t find God there on stage, soaking up the glory of God’s fans. We’ll find God outside, along the gutters and under the bridges, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, and building relationships with all those who have been left out and sent away. They may not even know who God is. But they know that God is exactly what they needed. And they’ll know there was absolutely no way for them to have gotten to God on their own.

This is what God does. God comes to us. There is no need to clamor our way to the top. There is no need to belittle others or divide and conquer. There is no need to defend God’s honor or protect God’s Word. There is only need for compassion. In God’s economy, when we have what others need, we give it; and when we need what others have, it will be provided. That’s how one follows Christ. That’s how we build relationship with Christ. We find the divine at the back of the line. Because leaders eat last.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE