The Best Seats

Sermon

This week’s scripture reading reminds me of a story that preacher Debie Thomas told about her father’s early childhood in rural India. Her grandparents were devoted members of their church, and it was often the case that elders and preachers spontaneously showed up at their home for lunch after Sunday services. Food was scarce in those years. Cooking rice and curry over a wood stove took time. Because the rules of hospitality dictated that “men of God” eat first, children had to wait quite a while to eat on Sundays. Only when the honored guests had had their fill and left would her grandmother gather the leftovers and feed the kids. Her father — being only four years old at the time — did not like this arrangement.

One Sunday afternoon when he was feeling especially hungry and his mother had already chased him out of the kitchen a dozen times, he just lost it. Marching into the dining room where the guests were relishing their second helpings, he stuck his little hands to his hips and yelled, “Get out! Hurry up and leave so I can eat!”

I think Jesus would have appreciated this story. It’s likely that Jesus would applaud that ravenous four-year-old who broke the rules and challenged the hierarchy. Actually, in the spirit of Luke’s Gospel, I believe Jesus would have ushered those men of God right out of the room and insisted that the little children eat first. Favor the ones who cannot repay you. Love the vulnerable.

This is what it means to be in the kin-dom of God. Not everyone feels that they have a place at the table. And some feel that they are entitled to the best spot. But, both are wrong. With Jesus, everyone belongs at the table. All are invited, and all are loved. There are no “best seats.”

Often, the distinctions we make among ourselves hinder us from true fellowship.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”

God’s reversal of human systems is a strong theme in the gospels. Jesus’ healing always goes beyond the individual’s healing to healing the community. The message frequently is that God’s presence with us turns the tables on the human structures and attitudes.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my own freshman year of college as my youngest prepares to begin at the U. of O. next month. It is a time for most of us when we are learning about ourselves. I have a distinct memory of that time, feeling pretty happy about many things in myself and life. BUT I thought it was just plain unfair that God didn’t make me to look like Brooke Shields!

Learning self-acceptance and knowing God’s love at the center is the basis we have for loving the other. We love because God loves us. That love translates into looking out for those who are most vulnerable.

In the ancient world, and now, our rightful focus on love can be derailed by pride, resentment, and narrow self-interest. We don’t all get the same start in life. We are born into situations of advantages and disadvantages. For those who have had the good fortune of loving parents and financial stability from the beginning, living with a sense of abundance may come more readily. But the good news of Christ that we proclaim is that no matter how we start in life, and no matter where we are at present, there is ENOUGH love.

God’s abundant love is with us now, in every situation: in joy, in sorrow, in hope and in despair, in poverty and in wealth—God is with us.

In the scripture we heard this morning, Jesus admonishes his listeners not to take into account the social payoff for their hospitality. Indeed, they should not invite to dinner those who already respect them or who can return their invitation. But rather, invite the outcast—the poor, the sick, the socially undesirable. This fits Jesus’ whole life—centered on inviting into God’s presence those who don’t expect or deserve such an invitation.

As Jesus’ followers, we are to do the same: To stop counting the costs, benefits, and rewards of our actions and live from a sense of abundance and blessing.

Counting is so present in our lives that we almost forget it exists. Whether we are counting the amount in our bank accounts or the opinions of our neighbors, we are continually counting, because we believe that there is not enough. Not enough money, time, resources, recognition.

That conviction seems sure, even unquestionable, because so much in our culture tells us there isn’t. But what if there is enough—and more than enough to go around? What if we saw others not as competitors for scarce resources but as partners commissioned by God to share God’s goodness? Jesus healed social relationships. Our relationships would change dramatically if we lived into the freedom to stop counting, and instead, blessed.

What would it look like at work, at school, and at the places we volunteer or play sports or socialize to look out for the ones at the margin and to invite them into our lives?

So here is Jesus’ word to his listeners, to the church to which Luke wrote: For those who think they deserve the best place at the banquet, think again. And for those who think or have been told that they only deserve the lowest place at the banquet, think again.

At God’s table, every place is the same. There is always enough to go around. There is always room for you. Be strong and be humble. They are not mutually exclusive. Spread the banquet before someone who can’t repay it: That’s our living in grace.

We don’t do this by the sheer force of our will. We do it with God’s love in us. God’s grace makes possible the kind of community that Jesus calls us to. Whatever has come before, today, we are invited to be in community with others in a way that puts love first.

How do we deepen our ability to love that way? I’ve been thinking of some practical tips:

First of all, we trust that God is working in us and through us, and we cultivate a daily spiritual practice. Find what works best for you. Silent meditation? Gardening? Walking, dancing, or swimming meditation? Spiritual journaling? Reading spiritual books? Whatever you are passionate and dedicated to, invite God to be part of that, each time.

Maybe you need a small group for prayer? Tai chi? One of our hopes at Westminster is that you find the support you need to deepen whatever practice you have. Whatever helps to remind you that YOU are God’s beloved—that’s what we want more of. The more we live in that mindset, our thoughts and actions will probably move toward more love for others.

Finally, find the ways that you can serve others. Maybe it’s taking a deep breath and being more present with your child or partner. Maybe it’s working with food ministry or Stephen Ministry or the deacons.

Our aim is to become aware of God’s love in us every day. That will change our choices and our behavior.

In this gospel, rushing for the best seats at table is obviously boorish behavior, but it also reflects a proud, corrosive attitude.

Give pride enough time and encouragement and it will morph into a pattern of selfish behaviors spiraling to total self-absorption. Through proud eyes, there are no lies if I am the arbiter of truth. There is no greed if I believe that I deserve something more than you do. There is no lust if other people exist for my pleasure.

In the terminal stages of pride, the only God I ever need smirks right back at me from my mirror.

But pride does not need to reach a terminal stage to wreak havoc. It can fester at a low level, eroding faith. Pride permits us to pick through Christ’s message, rejecting the inconvenient, embracing only the comfortable. Love of neighbor is a charming concept, but was never meant to apply to those difficult people that I disagree with.

Pride must be crowded out by love. A heart full of love is a humble heart. It deflates pride and leaves no room for selfishness. A heart full of love has a purpose, and it is not to grab the best seat in the house. A heart full of love mirrors the heart of Christ: It serves God.

This week there was quite a stir around the federal government plan to forgive millions of people some of their student debt. Some people were rejoicing. Some were questioning, and some upset and angry. I’m not raising this as a political matter, because I know that we are a congregation with differences of opinions, and God alone is lord of the conscience.

The issue of debt forgiveness is Biblical, and it brought to my mind another parable, from Matthew 20:1-16.

In closing, I invite us to hear this word and see what emerges as we listen.

Jesus said:

20“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’

13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”