Humility and Hospitality - Luke 14: 1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. 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.”

Commentary

Every week, I try very diligently to present the gospel message in words that I think are faithful to the original message. This afternoon, I have a problem with that.

In the church I attend on Sundays, we have a deacon who is an ancient old man with a distinguished flowing white beard. He moves with calm assurance and projects, at least for me, an image of a saint. He may not be any older than I am, but he looks the part of a Greek Orthodox patriarch. Anyway, he often gives the sermon, and I have noticed that if he does not agree with the scripture, he just says so. It is not unheard of for him to just say, “I think Paul is wrong on that.”

Well this afternoon, I am going to take my lead from deacon Mike and just say up front, I think this parable misstates the whole nature of Christianity. Or maybe, I, in my ignorance, just misinterpret the message in the first place. Anyway, what I hear in this story is twofold. First, act humbly so you will be publicly exalted, and secondly, act kindly to the disadvantaged so you will receive a reward in heaven. NO! In both cases.

Personally, I have no experience with the places of honor being up for grabs at a banquet. I can think of wedding receptions, but I don't think I have ever been to one were there where not name cards at each place, so there could be no mistake as to who was supposed to sit where. But lets just go with the story as it is presented. We go to a banquet where there are obviously seats of honor and seats of less honor, and it seems that we as a guest are free to decide for ourselves where we fit in the local pecking order, and hence where we should sit. Now Jesus being familiar with this particular custom give us the following advice. Sit in the lowest place. OK, but he doesn't stop there. He doesn't say sit at the lowest place because as my follower, you recognize that we are all equals in the eyes of God. No he says sit at the lowest place so your host will come along and tell you to move up to your deserved place and you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. The kingdom of God is diametrically opposed to the idea of being honored in the presence of others. Jesus tells his disciples that they must be servant to others. He tells them they have got it all wrong when the debate among themselves who is the first. We are building God's kingdom when we treat EVERYONE we come into contact with identically. We are building the kingdom of God when we meet EVERY person with genuine interest, compassion and brotherhood. There is God's work to be done wherever we end up sitting.

Now the second message I got out of this reading is, in my mind, even worse than the first. As I hear it, it says, all your good deeds will be rewarded when you get to heaven. I suggest the usual message coming from Jesus is: “YOU WILL NEVER GET TO HEAVEN IF YOU ARE TRYING TO GET THERE AS A REWARD”. Heaven is being in the presence of God. Well actually, you are always in the presence of God, so a better statement is that heaven is being in the presence of God and being aware that God is loving you. Right then. Right as you are. Heaven is not a place, but an awareness. Heaven is knowing that you are God's beloved child, and that all those people surrounding you are also the beloved children of God. We are all in this together. We can either accept it with joy and grace, or we can fight it. There is no reward other than not having to keep on fighting for your own way.

May we have the wisdom to accept the love God wants to shower on us.