Hospitality for Dinner

Rev. Dave Kovalow-St. John   V   8/29/10   V   Luke 14:1, 7-14

Greg Graft was a youth minister who first came to my little church in Glendale, California when I was about 13.  We invited him to dinner, and since he was a minister (and since we never prayed at a meal unless it was Thanksgiving) my dad invited Greg to “lead us in prayer.” 

“Be Present At Our Table, Lord.”

My dad learned that night:  he should have invited Greg to SAY a prayer.  Greg’s idea of “leading a prayer” was to lead the song his family always sang at every meal:  “Be present at our table Lord, be here and everywhere adored….”  That’s as far as Greg got.  He looked up, noticed none of us were singing with him (we were just staring at him with our mouths open – “What are you DOING?”); so he finished by speaking, “These mercies bless and grant that we may feast in fellowship with Thee.  Amen.”

It was … awkward.  I’m sure Greg felt like an idiot, …and, actually, we felt a little like heathen for not knowing a song he obviously was certain we would know.

Greg ate with us a lot after that, and I eventually DID learn his song. 

Greg even convinced our little church to sing it at church suppers, “Be present at our table, Lord.”  It was a nice song; I still have warm feelings for it. BUT – in light of today’s scripture reading – I have to ask:  was it a wise song?  Better still, was it SAFE to use it as a mealtime prayer? 

Would we want Jesus to join us for dinner?

Now, the pious answer – the politically correct answer – is, “Of COURSE!”  Why, if Jesus would come to dinner, we would be like Mary or Martha (basking in his presence or scurrying around to make him comfortable); we’d be like the disciples (hanging on his every word); a few of us might even be like the guests at that wedding feast he went to.  (“Hey, Jesus, could you do that “turning water into wine” trick again?”)  OF COURSE we’d love to have Jesus at our table!

But, not so fast: as we heard in our scripture reading, Jesus may not be the most pleasant of dinner guests.

The Exalted Humbled?

You remember that Jesus has been invited to the "house of a Pharisee." It was a strange invitation, given that Jesus has been attacked by the Pharisees throughout the Gospel of Luke, and he has given as good as he has gotten.

But maybe this particular Pharisee has invited Jesus to his house hoping to affect some kind of reconciliation. The Reader’s Digest defines “tact” as making your guests feel at home when you wish they were.  (I like that.)  So give this guy the benefit of the doubt.  He may not be a huge fan, but he has invited Jesus to dinner.  Maybe he’s thinking, "I may not be comfortable with him, but if I can make Jesus feel at home, maybe we can work things out."  

Well, nice idea: not going to happen. No sooner is our Lord at the Pharisee's dinner table than he starts an argument.

He begins by insulting his fellow guests. Jesus comments on how he noticed they all jockeyed for the best places at the table when things were just getting started.

Have you ever been to a dinner party: the seats are not assigned, and you find yourself doing the math in your head: “If I sit toward the center of the table, I’ll be at the center of the conversation.  If I sit at the end next to the chair with the foam donut hemorrhoid pillow on it, I am going to spend the entire meal listening to grandma talk about her teeth.  I wanna sit over….”  

Jesus mocks the guests for thinking like that. 

Now remember, he’s not talking to political candidates who have been beating each other up to see who sits next to the anchor from CNN and who gets stuck with the intern from PBS.  This is just dinner!  It’s almost like Jesus is saying there is no place where it is inappropriate – there is no setting too small – for us to act like his followers. 

Anyway, Jesus warns them, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

We respond by saying, “Yea!  You go, guy!  You said it, I believe it!” 

I love watching the exalted get humbled.

Let me tell you a true story (I know it’s true because I got it off the internet). Muhammad Ali was in his prime, the best heavyweight boxer of all time.  He got on a plane; the stewardess reminded him to fasten his seat belt. Muhammad Ali, heavyweight champion of the world, said, “Superman don’t need no seat belt.”  The stewardess shot back, “Superman don’t need no plane, either.”  The champ fastened his belt. 

I love that kind of story, don’t you? 

Other stories are not nearly as much fun, in fact, they’re no fun at all, but it is also comforting to know that the rich and powerful sometimes pay a price for misdeeds (“misdeeds” being a politically correct word for “sins”). 

In our Bible, King Saul turns away from God and loses his throne; Israel starts ignoring widows, orphans, and worship, and finds itself going from chosen people to slavery in Babylon; and the Apostle Paul (back before his conversion, when he went by the name of Saul and persecuted the church instead of evangelizing on its behalf)…Paul found himself on the road to Damascus blinded by the insight that he was not nearly as right as he thought he was.

In our own day, fame and power did not save Tiger Woods or President Clinton from facing consequences for sexual misconduct; and fantastic wealth did not protect Bernie Madoff or Ken Lay from being prosecuted for financial crimes.

…Sometimes the proud are humbled.

However, it’s hard not to start that sentence with “Sometimes….”  It’s hard because we know that sometimes the proud DON’T fall.  Sometimes they get away with it.  Sometimes they have a golden parachute.  Sometimes the least humble candidate gets elected.  Sometimes the “X-rated” antics of a celebrity just makes him or her more famous.

But Jesus says, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.”  He says it on the road to Jerusalem in the home of a Pharisee who may be on the fence about whether to join those who will successfully lobby to have him crucified.  Jesus says it knowing that Rome is in power and will be for some time. 

I believe it, but if I’d been at that table, I might have wished he stuck to complimenting the hostess on her wine.  Jesus, how can you tell us “the exalted will be humbled”…?  And, while we’re at it, WHO is going to humble them?

The Humble Exalted?

But Jesus is not done yet.  He also says, “The humble will be exalted.” 

Now that, I like!  I believe it.  I believe in “The Blind Side” – black kid from the ghetto makes good (with a little help from Sandra Bullock). I believe that someone can go from a log cabin to the white house like Abraham Lincoln; or from the pit to Pharaoh’s court, like Joseph in the Old Testament.  I love Horatio Alger, and Cinderella, and Aladdin – ANY rags to riches story.  I eat those up.  

…However, at the same time, I have to admit that most Cinderella chamber maids abused by their step-mothers STAY Cinderella chamber maids abused by their step-mothers.  I have to admit there IS a cycle of poverty and very few escape.

Jesus, how can you say the humble get exalted?  And, while we’re at it, who is going to exalt them?

Who Should We Invite?

Well, maybe I’m guilty of getting away from the story line.  Let’s not lose sight of the fact that we’re at a dinner party.  Jesus has just insulted us because he knows we’re not sure if we want to sit next to grandma and hear about teeth.  However, he doesn’t stop there.  After picking on the guests, he turns to his host.

"As for you,” he says, “the next time you give a party, don't invite people like you invited this time – your friends, your cronies, the people who can repay your favor and invite you in return. Invite the lame, the blind, the poor and all those who don't have a prayer of ever reciprocating your invitation."

Whoa!

The last party I went to was on Friday.  It was a birthday party for my niece.  There was not a lame, blind, or poor person in sight.  We were just doing what our family has done ever since our children were born: having a little dinner just big enough to feel like a party, but not so big we’d need to take out a second mortgage.  Is Jesus telling us we should feel guilty about not inviting the local orphanage?

…Eh, probably not.  Like a lot of parables, it’s silly to take it TOO literally.    But this IS Jesus we’re talking about, and every member of this congregational family has claimed him as Lord and Savior.  We may be pretty sure he’s not talking about every child’s birthday party, but we know he’s getting at something and we have to take it seriously.

In fact, I think we KNOW what he is talking about. He is talking about our life together.  Jesus is talking about ALL the meals we share – that probably includes the little ones, but it definitely includes the meal we share at that table. 

Jesus mentioned the lame, the blind, the poor.  And can we have any doubt that, if he’d had the time, he could have easily gone on?  He would have told us to invite newcomers, retirees, immigrants, and teenagers.  Invite biker-guy guitarists, liberals, and conservatives; invite little girls on their way to Disney World and recovering convicts on their way to who-knows-where.

Invite them all, invite them joyfully, invite them without any thought as to whether they deserve the invitation or can pay it back. And don’t let it stop you if you think they may disagree with you, or inconvenience you, or hurt you. Just invite them, and welcome them, and make them at home.

We look at Jesus and respond: “Give us a break.  Who does that?  Who acts that way?”

And standing in front of the cross he answers, “Anyone who follows me.”

Hymn

Well, with that, it’s time to prepare for offering and communion, which we’re going to do with the hymn on page 408.  Would you turn to 408 with me and join in singing a hymn of invitation, “Come, Share the Lord.”