Pick your favorite

Luke 9:46-48

          I will be heading off to Las Vegas in a few weeks, or simply Vegas! Baby! Our annual trip is something I look forward to all year long. It is a combination of culinary delights with some of our favorite restaurants, the sights and sounds, the pool, the desert for hiking and biking and of course, gambling. We call it Disneyland for adults. So what is our favorite in Vegas? I would hard pressed to come up with one favorite thing. Is it the joy of lazing at the pool for hours? The prime rib at Lawry's?  The breakfasts at Terrace Pointe Cafe or the 4 Seasons? How about the magnificence of Red Rock Canyon or the Valley of Fire?  I think trying to pick a favorite for Las Vegas would be like a parent trying to pick a favorite child. You can't do it.

            For the least among all of you is the greatest is a very telling line from this passage. The most obvious point is that of service. The one who places him or herself last will be the greatest.   Jesus said that numerous times. But then I had  a different thought about that line.

             What if Jesus was simply saying everyone of his creations is the greatest? Even the very least of his creations is the greatest. No one can get top billing in God's eyes because we are all the greatest according to Him. As they said on a high school retreat "God don't make junk".  That is something that I embraced in every fiber of my being at the age of 17. It's no wonder that realizing I am gay at the age of 50 I still knew I was not junk, God created me lovingly, intently and beautifully. 

           This is not to say that everyone or anyone is less than me since I am SO good. God made everyone SO good.  Trying to figure out who is the greatest is an exercise in futility and actually is quite sinful. We must know how wonderful we are and love ourselves for who we are as much as God loves us. We must also realize that each and every person is also a beloved creation of God. 

            Don't ask God to pick His favorite son or daughter. Know how much you are loved just as you were created. Respect God, love God; respect others and love others as you love yourself.  

            and Counting the days to Vegas! Baby!          

An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’