All are invited to attend a party, a great banquet.
There is only one condition: You have to be poor.

A guy named Mike was flying for a business trip. When he checked in, the agent said, “You've been upgraded.” He didn’t ask questions, just smiled like he won the lottery. Finally, someone recognized his value!

When boarding started, Mike skipped the signs and marched straight into first class. Wide leather seats, hot towels, people sipping drinks they couldn’t even pronounce. He found an empty seat, sat down, and thought, “So this is how the other half lives.” He even put his pinky out when drinking water. Moments later, a flight attendant tapped his shoulder. “Sir, can I see your ticket?” She glanced at it, then gave him the kind of smile you give a puppy that just used your rug. “Actually… you’ve been upgraded to economy plus, about 25 rows back. Past business class. Right next to the bathroom.”

Feeling demoted, Mike gathered his pride, and his carry-on, and did the walk of shame past first class, business class, regular economy… all the way to economy plus, which, to be clear, is just economy with false hope and an extra inch of legroom. “Mike learned the truth: When you grab a seat that’s too important for you, the airline, and life, will happily show you to the back. Jesus said it like this: ‘For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’ Or in modern terms: It’s better to be bumped up by grace than bumped back by a flight attendant.”

I recently traveled too. I always hope for an upgrade, but it didn’t happen. Instead, I sat where my ticket placed me: knees jammed, next to my wife, for five hours. No hot towels. No fancy drinks, but I was content. In that stratus of a caste system, where the exalted sat in First class, succeeded by two other upper tier categories, I started thinking: what does Jesus mean when He says, “Blessed are the poor?” I thought even more about it when we landed in Seattle. Walking near our hotel, I saw poverty like I have not seen before. Tents, shouting, people walking in circles, druggies shooting up, mentally unwell, forgotten. Is this the poverty Jesus meant? The kind that lives on the street? The kind that doesn’t have a home; a voice; a seat at the table? Maybe. Maybe that’s part of it.

But then we boarded our cruise, an incredible gift from my in-laws. White jackets. Cloth napkins. "What can we get for you, sir?" The kind of service that makes you feel important, and still, I watched people demand more. More comfort. More recognition, and I wondered, “How can we be given so much… and still be unhappy?” Again, I thought: What does it mean to be poor? It’s not just economic.

There’s a spiritual poverty that Jesus is pointing to, the kind that is open, humble, and ready to be filled.
In the kingdom of God, you can only be filled when you come empty. Jesus wasn’t just talking about dinner etiquette when He said, “Don’t take the seat of honor.” He was talking about the posture of your heart.
You Don’t Have to Pretend You’re Rich with God. You don’t have to show Him your upgraded seat or your spiritual frequent flyer miles. You just have to come poor, in spirit.
Empty.
Hungry.
Honest.
Needy.
And Jesus meets us right there.

Whether you’re in the corner of Seattle, seat 34B, or cruising the Alaskan coast, God doesn’t care about your seat. He cares about your spirit. If you come poor, you will be filled. Even today, you might’ve come here just looking for a little bread and a sip of wine. But what you’re really receiving is the living God, grace beyond measure; a banquet and an invitation to something eternal.
So yes, dearly beloved, you are invited to a great party. A glorious banquet but there’s a catch.
You have to be poor.