Proper 17C- RCL September
1, 2013
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
On one level our Epistle and Gospel lessons talk about
hospitality and I think we could do well to explore how important hospitality
was to first century Jews – and Christians.
Perhaps what we don’t fully grasp in the gospel lesson is the radical
nature of what Jesus is asking. On the
other hand I think there is still a part of us that does get the radical nature
of this reading and would rather pretend that Jesus is talking in metaphors and
hyperbole and not actually instructing us to take the lowest seat or invite the
untouchables to dinner.
I find it a little unfortunate that our reading today
leaves out 6 verses of Luke as I think it helps put the tension into the scene.
It is important to put these parables into some context. This is another story of Jesus doing things
on the sabbath and the Pharisees trying to see if he is going to break the sabbath
rules – yet again. Eating a sabbath
banquet was not breaking the rules. All
of the food was prepared before the sabbath so no work was done to prepare the
food on the sabbath.
So why were the
Pharisees watching Jesus in verse one? Because
in verses 2 – 7 Jesus breaks sabbath rules and heals a lame man. “Just then, in front of him, there was a man
who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to
cure people on the sabbath, or not?’ But they were silent. So Jesus took him
and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, ‘If one of you has a
child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out
on a sabbath day?’ And they could not reply to this.”
Healing was work and Jesus in performing the sabbath
healing is trying to get people to understand that the sabbath is about giving
thanks to God – and healing someone actually gives praise to God’s creation and
to God so it really is ok! So it is with
this act of defiance to a strict keeping of the sabbath that is swirling around
the room when Jesus goes into teaching mode and we hear the parable of the
seats and the parable of the guests.
This scene of people jockeying to get the best seats is so
familiar. We all are guilty of it. We come to an event – or a banquet - early to
get the best seat. We want to be close
to the entertainment – or a seat close to the head table at a wedding. I saw it just last weekend when I attended
the wedding of my niece in Bend. And I
have to plead guilty in reserving a seat at a table very near the head
table. After all who wants to sit at the
back where you can’t see the bride and groom?
Or looking back to my school days – and I am not talking
about my college days but remembering my high school days back when dinosaurs
roamed the earth! Remember the
cafeteria? How the popular people all
sat together? If you – like me – were
not so popular you didn’t dare try to sit at their table. It just wasn’t done. If you did you would be humiliated. And how rare it was for one of the popular
people to come sit at the table with the nerds and the geeks? Sitcoms still use this scenario.
And what about who we invite to our parties? Society still obsesses about getting invited
to the right party and inviting the right people to our parties! I don’t know too many people who will invite
people to their parties without regard as to who they are or without an eye to
have some reciprocal invitation some time in the future. I did have a dear friend in the church – Nell
who did invite everyone to the ranch.
Every time she would meet someone she would say “you must visit me at
the ranch” and she was not just making nice – she meant it! When I would go to the ranch I was just as
likely to run into someone from the Haight-Ashbury as I was to run into a
diplomat from another country – all were truly welcome. But people like Nell are – unfortunately – rare!
Not much has changed in the 2000 plus years since Jesus
taught these parables. If we are really
willing to look at our actions and the actions of our society these words of
Jesus are still as radical and biting today as they were then. Jesus is telling
us that we should not be jockeying for the best seats at the banquet. We should not be so sure of our status – that
God sees status differently than we do.
God does not see the fine clothes and the fine house as a measure of our
worth. The measure of our worth is how
we work to help bring a radical new order to society. We are called to show love to all of God’s
creation. To build up people rather than
tear them down. We are not to worry
about who we invite to our banquets for it is those who we think will not be
able to return the favor that may well give us greater rewards than we might
ever get.
But this is not easy. Even at our churches how easy is it for us to
invite everyone to the banquet? I think
we do a pretty good job here at St. Paul’s in inviting anyone who comes through
our doors to join us both in the foretaste of the heavenly banquet that is the
Eucharist and inviting people to eat with us at coffee hours. But how much are we really doing to invite
people into our church? Can we do more
to reach out into our community and to those who are frequently uninvited by
the rest of society? How do we reach out
to people who think that a fortress-like stone building like ours is a place
where they would not be welcomed? How do
we let people who the church has historically marginalized know that they
really are welcome here – and not just as visitors but as full members who can
and should help mold who we are? How do
we let people know that you can have questions and doubts about God and be
faithful members of our community?
Radical welcome is not easy! I struggle with how we can really open our
doors – and more importantly our hearts - to those who think that our table is
only open to the cool people and the wealthy people. I wish I had the answers. But it is not one person with the answers who
is going to be able to make a difference.
We all have to want to reach out and show God’s radical hospitality to
the hungry and the hurting. At times we
will have to let go of the neat and the predictable and let God break into our
lives.
When we let the Holy Spirit into our lives it can be
messy. She can lead us to invite those
who cannot repay us to the banquet. The
Holy Spirit will blow open the doors
of our institutions and of our hearts and that can be very scary. But as our lesson from Hebrews said today
“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for
by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” I would go even further and say that by
showing hospitality to strangers we will at times entertain God without knowing
it. Indeed I have had some of my most
powerful encounters with God through people that most would try to ignore. Being given a big bear hug after giving one
of our members, who some might want to avoid - communion has been a glimpse into the radical
love of God.
…………….
50 years ago black people in many parts of our country
where second class citizens at best. They
were relegated to the back of the bus.
They were told to drink out of separate water fountains than white
people. They were given menial jobs and rarely
given the seats of honor at the banquet.
It was in this context that the March on Washington took place 50 years
ago this past week. It was in this
context that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech. Where he articulated a dream that all people
– regardless of color or economic status would be treated fairly and
equitably. That all would be equal. That dream of Martin Luther King is also the
dream of God. That all will be equally
loved and have equal access in our society.
Much of our society has come a long way in the last 50 years. Many of the repressive laws that were on the
books have been repealed and equal access to jobs is – at least in theory – the
law of the land.
Unfortunately Martin’s dream is still just a dream for
many. We still have too many people who
cannot get jobs. We still have too many
people in this country, and in this town, who go hungry and do not have safe
housing.
On Tuesday Trinity Cathedral is sponsoring a pilgrimage –
or dare I say march –to city hall to call on our leaders to include an
affordable housing element in their general plans – which they are starting to
update. If you can participate you are
invited to gather at Trinity Cathedral at 3:30 to walk to City Hall – or you
can meet them at City hall at 5:30.
-------------------
We are invited today – just as Jesus called his followers
2000 plus years ago to open our hearts and open our doors to everyone. To turn upside down societal expectations and
societal norms of who is in and who is out.
We are called to practice radical hospitality. How are we going to do that? How are we – as individuals and as a church –
going to bring God’s radical dream of Love to our world? Amen.
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