[Sermon] At the Table of Humility

Mark Larsson & Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo

August 31, 2025 + Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost / Lectionary 22

In this week’s “Conversations on the Road” Pastor Hector sits down with Mark Larson to reflect on Jesus’ teaching about humility at a banquet table. Together they wrestle with how the search for honor and status often creates separation—from others and from God. Mark shares from his own experience in the practice of law, where connection and humility made all the difference. Their conversation reminds us that God has already given us honor as beloved children, freeing us to create space for connection rather than competition. The blessing of humility is not about being “nice” or polite—it is about presence, courage, and creating room for others to flourish.

Sermon Transcript

From YouTube's automatic captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.

Pastor Hector

Grace to you and peace from God—Aba, Father, Mother, Creator—and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who likes to go to weddings. And we say, “Amen.” You didn’t know I would say that, right? Well, he liked to go to weddings, at parties. And that’s probably what we are going to talk about today.

Today we are here, and I know you can see Mark Larson next to me, and we are going to do one more of those Conversations on the Road. For the past couple of weeks, Mark and I have been back and forth sharing some of the thoughts, some of the ideas, some of the emotions that these passages that we read today just kind of evoke in our hearts.

But before we go into more detail, I just want you to think about how things connect with the things that we have been talking about for the past few weeks. Last Sunday, Jesus was not just performing a miracle—remember the woman who was bent? He intentionally provoked a theological debate, a confrontation. And he reminded people, and the Pharisees, that they already had the grace that they were meant to share—not hoard it, and then judge others.

Today we have Jesus who is visiting the enemy. Yeah, the people that maybe he wouldn’t like. He’s visiting an enemy. And in the midst of the conversation, he brings this proverb about navigating the hierarchy of the religious leaders. And Jesus uses that proverb as a way to navigate—or transform—this proverb into a radical teaching about how God is reversing the human order of things.

In this passage that we read, Jesus is talking about the virtue of humility—talking about the behaviors and patterns of a faithful person. And yet he talks about humility, but also humility that can be misunderstood and taken as a way to get honor.

This passage, Mark, as you and I were talking, really evokes questions and thoughts and ideas. So can you tell us a little bit of who you are, and why this passage was important to you—or how this passage is important? And welcome, by the way.

Mark Larson

Thank you, Pastor Hector. Thank you.

So, a long time ago, I decided to go to law school because I wanted to help people. I wanted to be of service to the community. And this passage really sticks out to me because, in my experience, I’ve met so many people that exalt themselves—not just in front of the king, as Solomon said, or at a wedding, as Jesus said—but in front of everyone, at any chance they get.

And when I saw that in practice, it really made me question my belief in practicing law.

One example I just thought of was in the courtroom. When you have clients, the clients would sit in the gallery, kind of behind the tables, and all the lawyers would sit over in the jury box, away from their clients. And I never understood that. I was always the one that sat in the gallery with my clients, and it just felt like I was ostracized because of that.

Pastor Hector

Yeah, yeah. During the past couple of weeks that you have been talking, you and I were really wrestling with this idea of why this was important. What was important for the writer of the Proverbs? What was important for the Lord Jesus to point this out? And what was it, actually—were they just looking for a matter of feeling, or being a nice person, or was Jesus looking for something deeper in the life of the people?

If you remember, you mentioned something about separation, and how when we are trying to look for honor in some way—um, and I don’t remember exactly who said it—but in some way it generates evil in the relationships of people.

Mark Larson

Yes. Um, when taking the example of the wedding that Jesus speaks about—and I just imagine in my mind—when you go to a wedding, if you were to walk in and demand the seat next to the bride or the groom, or a seat reserved for the family, you’re going to create a lot of separation between you and the guests there.

If you go in with a thankfulness and sit at the lowest table or the nearest table, you automatically create connection in others, because they see you coming in and they want you to be comfortable. They want you to be there, and they will reach out to you.

Pastor Hector

Mhm. And if we understand sin and evil as something that separates us from others and separates us from God, I think that Jesus is reminding people that we do not need to look for honor by our own means, because the honor has already been given to us through our identity as children of God.

And that’s why we are able to do what you are saying—or at least that’s the way that I understood it, and the way you helped me understand it through our conversation. Because I always fall into this idea that you need to be a nice person and always give the seat at the front because you need to be nice.

But it’s not about niceness—that’s for Minnesotans, I guess, right? (That’s a joke.) And I said this because, as I was introduced, somebody said, “I’m from Minnesota. I am a Minnesota nice person.” But it’s more than that.

It’s not about being a “Lutheran-ized” person. It is more about: are we making an effort and creating the space to connect with people? And that’s what I hear you kept saying through our conversation.

Mark Larson

Yes. And I find that when you separate yourself from others—when you cut yourself off from others—you’re put in a space where you almost have to prove yourself. You have to defend yourself. You get into a point where it’s almost adversarial versus other people.

When you go in with a thankfulness or an acceptance and a humble spirit, people will connect with you. People will reach out to you. Connection is natural. And it’s that connection to others, I believe, that also connects us to God.

Pastor Hector

Exactly. Yeah. I actually was thinking about that when we were hearing again the Gospel here—and the Old Testament readings too—when it says that when we call those who are the outcast, they will be blessed.

And I was just thinking, I said, “How can they be blessed—just because they are invited to the wedding? Or is Jesus really challenging us to be a blessing for others through what you are saying—through an intimate, personal, and intentional connection that brings alive the promise, the honor, and the blessing that God has already given to us?”

Mark Larson

Yes.

Pastor Hector

Thank you, Mark. Thank you. For those of you—I mean, I think I haven’t shared this with anybody—but one day Mark and I were in the multi-purpose room and we started talking. I don’t remember how we came across… it was an event, and you and I were in the multi-purpose room as we were cleaning up and taking down chairs and tables.

And Mark and I started talking. We started talking about the Lord’s Prayer, I believe, and then he starts telling me, “There are so many questions that I have, that I wish sometimes I had an opportunity to share, and really to ask a pastor, and really wrestle with those questions.”

And I said, “Well, can you ask me the wrong question?” And when he started telling me the question, I said, “Well, I wish I was not that pastor that needs to answer those questions, because those are really good questions.” But I said, “Mark, would you be willing at some point to maybe do what we are doing now?” At that point it was just an idea, and he said, “Yeah, I would be willing to do that.”

So he was the first person, months ago, who helped me to think about how these conversations could be an opportunity for us, as a congregation, to really see it—and not only to hear the pastor come to tell you, but to have a conversation on how these stories evoke questions, evoke courage, evoke hope in everyone.

So Mark said yes. And I was so delighted, because Mark—I mean, talking about creating the space to be present, as you are saying—I remember when I first came to the congregation, and at that time your children were tiny toddlers.

Mark Larson

Mhm. They were crawling behind me.

Pastor Hector

Yeah.

Mark Larson

Yes, I remember that.

Pastor Hector

Right across there.

Mark Larson

Yeah, across there. They were looking at me through the little window there too.

Pastor Hector

So—and today you are here. And your family. Yeah. And not only that—your children, your son, is the youngest tech team member in this congregation.

And that makes me think of what you just said: the power of being present and to help others flourish. And I think that’s the blessing this passage is talking about. Yes—the blessing that you bring, the blessing that your family brings, but also the blessing that you have in a community that allows and embraces that idea.

Yes. And I really thank God for that.

Anything else that you want to say about you that I didn’t allow you to say?

Mark Larson

Uhhuh. No—I love the stories that Jesus has, and I have so many things that I like to talk about with Jesus’s story. So any opportunity I get is welcome.

Pastor Hector

And I thank you for helping us, as congregation, to create this space. And I hope that your courage, the courage of Jake last Sunday, and the courage of Rachel a few weeks ago, may be an opportunity for us as congregation to continue to ask questions and to be willing to share what is in our hearts, knowing that this is a place that is exactly that: a place where we are involved and invited by the stories, and we become part of the stories in our daily lives as witnesses of the Lord Jesus, as extensions of the welcome of the Lord Jesus.

May you and your family have a wonderful beginning of a school year. Are you excited about your children going to school?

Mark Larson

Yes, I am.

Pastor Hector

Are your children excited to go to school?

Mark Larson

Well, I need to ask Connor and Tyler and Emily. And Theresa probably can tell me too.

Pastor Hector

But thanks be to God for this, Mark. And here we go, to be church for the next six days until we come back again.

Thanks be to God.

Mark Larson

Thank you, Pastor.

Pastor Hector

Amen.

Mark Larson

Amen.