Proper 17C; Proverbs 25:6-7; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1-14; 

St. Paul’s, 9/1/2019

Jim Melnyk: “Let Love Be Mutual”

If you’ve ever wondered where Jesus found the teachings that shaped his message, today’s brief lesson from Proverbs shatters any doubt. “Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great,” the author of Proverbs tells us; “for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”[1] Jesus, in today’s gospel passage, tells us the same thing – and we have to wonder, is he serious?

The late Walter Wink, theologian and biblical scholar asks the same question – is Jesus serious? And then he tells a story of his experience with this ancient teaching: “Is this tongue in cheek?” Wink asks. “Go to a banquet and take the lowest place. I've tried it, and they left me there.” Wink surmised Jesus must be talking about people with a higher standing in society.[2]

In my mind there’s a farcical sense to the story Luke hands us in today’s reading. Jesus has apparently been invited to Sabbath dinner at a rather important Pharisee’s home. People are watching Jesus closely to see how he’ll be received by this particular Pharisee. They are perhaps also watching to see what assumptions Jesus makes regarding his place in the pecking order at the table. I’m guessing everyone is wondering if theological debate will be the appetizer on the menu – after all, Jesus and the other religious leaders have certainly wrestled with each other theologically over the past few pages of our story. Perhaps the group with whom he is about to sit down to dinner are the very leaders who just recently warned Jesus that Herod was out to get him.

The farcical nature of the story comes into play when Luke tells us that at the same time everyone is watching Jesus closely, Jesus is watching them as well. Jesus notices the guests vying for the places of honor around the table. If this were a movie the director would call for alternating shots focused in on the eyes of all the players as they watched one another trying to divine one another’s intentions.

And so, as Luke puts it, Jesus tells them a story.  Richard Lischer from Duke Divinity School says that what follows are actually “example stories and not ‘true’ parables,” but that this observation doesn’t “dull their theological value.” He goes on to say that “they are not about hospitality or good manners or any other virtue separable from the radical new way of life in the kingdom of God.” There is no deep, hidden meaning in what Jesus says in the example stories we read today, or in the actual parable of the great banquet that follows just beyond today’s passage. As Lischer says, “we only need to live them.”[3]

What did living these stories look like for Jesus? Throughout Luke’s gospel we get a clear picture. Jesus inaugurates his ministry with a sermon in his hometown synagogue. No doubt we all remember how he was handed the scroll from the prophet Isaiah – how he opened the scroll to the portion meant to be read on that day. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[4] In today’s example story he underscores his first proclamation of the coming kingdom. “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.”[5]

In the next part of Luke’s gospel that’s exactly what happens in the parable of the great banquet when those whom the king first invites make excuses and refuse to come. And so we begin to get a sense of how Jesus believes his example stories should be lived by his followers. Luke’s Jesus also gives us the Good Samaritan – who stops and takes care of a severely wounded person – even though that person is a political and religious enemy of his. Luke’s Jesus gives us the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – two people standing before God in the Temple praying – and it’s the repentant sinner, not the self-righteous good guy, who leaves the Temple experiencing God’s forgiveness in that moment.  Gentile and Jew, women and men, sinner and saint – Jesus, like other teachers of his day, makes no distinction.

Luke’s gospel underscores a basic tenet of Judaism that most certainly predates Jesus: There are no disposable people in the kingdom of God. Once again Luke’s Jesus “reverses the expectations of social convention. True hospitality means taking care of those in need and expecting nothing in return…not cultivating low self-esteem, but simply living according to heaven’s priorities so that all have equal access to the Lord’s Table.”[6] As one modern-day writer puts it, “Jesus is offering us a vision of a table at which no one has a place of honor, because everyone is in the place of honor. It is a completely circular table filled with most honored guests, because it is God who extends the invitations.”[7]

This openness taught by Jesus is the necessary framework for the direction given to us by the author of Hebrews who writes, “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it…not neglecting to do good and sharing what we have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”[8]

As theologian Isabel Anders puts it, “When humility displaces pride within the community, mutual love becomes a possibility. Such giving love offers hospitality not only to those with whom we have close ties – but now stretches to include strangers and outcasts.”[9] This is not new theology on the part of Jesus. All we have to do is look back to the earliest pages of the Elder Testament and inclusion beacons like a blazing light: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love the stranger, the sojourner, the alien residing in your midst and treat them as a fellow citizen. Jesus is teaching the roots of his Jewish faith. “But,” we might find ourselves asking, “what if we are not shown love and respect in return? What then?” Then we remember Jesus – who we believe to be the very incarnation of God – the Word of God made human flesh – who loves us all the way to the cross and beyond.

The stories of Jesus throughout the gospels challenge our preconceived notions of our own self-importance and the status of others – how we both observe the world’s pecking order and create our own. Where do we find our own sense of status becoming an obstacle for the coming kingdom of God? Who are we expected to invite in to our homes, into our sacred spaces at St. Paul’s, or into our wider communities? Where do we struggle with the ability to make those invitations? How do we love God, love our neighbor, and actively change the world? How can we more clearly practice the grace of tikkun olam in our own lives, in our parish, and in our communities? When we figure out the answers to all those questions we just might find we are living the very prayer we offer so often in our lives, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth, as it is in heaven.”

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[1] Proverbs 25:6-7

[2] Walter Wink, Sojourners On-line, Preaching the Word, 9/1/2019

[3] Richard Lischer, Interpretation: Reading the Parables, 94-95

[4] Lk 4:18-19

[5] Lk 14:12b-14

[6] Isabel Anders, Synthesis CE, 9/1/2019 (paraphrased)

[7] From Magdalene’s Musings, 9/2/2007, quoted in Synthesis 9/1/2019

[8] Heb 13:1, 16 (paraphrasing for context)

[9] ibid