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SERMON +Lectionary 22/Proper 17 C TEXT: Luke 14:1, 7-14 DATE: August 29, 2010 Give Jesus a lot of credit here. We’ve just heard him argue with a leader of the synagogue about the Sabbath. And that wasn’t the only time it happened. It’s an on-going controversy, and gives the leaders a lot of reason for his execution later. Still, when he’s invited to the home of a leader of the Pharisees for a Sabbath day dinner when he knows full well that they’re watching him closely, Jesus goes. Right into the mouth of the lion, as it were. Which says a lot about his own integrity for living according to the ways he teaches them and us about humility and hospitality. He chastises his fellow guests about their own assumptions about their status, and encourages them to take a more humble approach. And then turns his attention to his host, addresses him directly, and opens his eyes to a different kind of dinner party that completely turns upside-down any sense of status in a gesture of hospitality beyond expectations for any favor in return. It’s a complete reversal of the culture of his day in which shame and honor were everything and status was critical. It’s still a serious component of life in the Middle East and
especially in south And so the place at the table meant a lot. It was a symbol that spoke volumes about one’s place in society. Our own culture, of course, is filled with divisions of class and status. And along with those divisions come categories of race, or ethnic or cultural origins, and especially in these days, language, nationality, and religion. So Jesus’ teaching to undo it all – to turn it all upside down – is a real eye-opener. And frankly, one we can stand to hear – us and the whole world. But let’s be clear, Jesus isn’t just being the Bible-world’s Miss Manners, here. This isn’t just about etiquette for a guest list. This isn’t Jesus’ idea of the seating chart for your next dinner party. He’s not just giving advice about social skills like you might give to your children about sharing or making friends as you send them off to school. Jesus’ reversal and, in fact, subversion of social norms is more than a call to remember those who aren’t like us – those we regard as outside of God’s favor. What Jesus is doing is what he has been doing throughout Luke’s gospel and what Mary sang about before he was born. Jesus is revealing to us the radically different ways of the action of God to save and redeem us. Jesus is revealing to us the
ways of the This is the way God operates. Our social order, status, and divisions are not of God. God’s kingdom isn’t just a different hierarchy, but an elimination of status, class, or standing other than what God, our host, gives to us. And that’s the point.
In Jesus’ teaching, it’s the host who invites the guests and assigns them their places at the table. God is our table host, and gives us a place at the table and our status as children of God, saved and redeemed saints, and forgiven and reconciled community in our baptism into the death of our Lord Jesus. Is there anything more upsetting of status and standing than that holy and almighty God would send his own Son into a particular time in our human world to be our savior, Lord, and redeemer? Is there anything more humble than that God would birth his own messiah to an unwed mother to die for sinners bent on themselves and enmeshed in all the class, status, and divisions that come with that? Here’s what all that means: we are dependent on God’s good grace. And God’s grace alone. Ultimately, we can’t stand on our accomplishments, our status, good looks, strengths, IQ, or any other attribute we may consider worthy. It is God who establishes us and redeems us, saves us and forgives us. It is God who welcomes us to himself and brings us into a community that surrounds us here and now and extends beyond time and space. And in that community, and before God, we are all one. With a status that is beyond any earthly status and a standing founded on the power of the cross and in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. God invites us to his table and brings us into his own kingdom. And that’s why the reversed and upside-down ways Jesus describes to the guests and host at this dinner party matter to us. Not that we should imitate them as a way to upset our own society, but that we should imitate them to obey and imitate God and live according to the ways of God. We, too, are called to humility and hospitality because those are the ways of God. And we have been made kingdom people. Not humiliation, but humility. A sense and a quality of life rooted in the confidence that your worth is not measured by others’ recognition, but by the incredible value God sees in you. Humility is a strength of character that frees you from worry about shame and honor, status, class, or any division that sets one person over another, because God has given you the greatest worth there can be. And hospitality – not just the gracious hosting of those who are like us, like a gathering of family and friends, and more than the little extras the hospitality industry uses to compete with others of the same industry to get your business, but hospitality that is connected to hospital, hospice, and ultimately, justice. Hospitality is about helping people recover a place in society, healing and wholeness, and restoration and reconciliation to the community. It’s that kind of humility and hospitality that Jesus teaches his fellow guests and his dinner host. And it’s that kind of humility and hospitality that marks our life and ministry as followers of Jesus, children of God, and
citizens of the We are made who we are by God. In that standing and status, we are freed from worrying about all other standings and statuses to give, serve, love and forgive others just as God has done for us in Christ. That is the good news of God’s kingdom way of life. Back to top |
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