Year C Proper 17 Luke 14:1, 7-14

Social events – we all have had them - baptism, birthdays, confirmation, marriage, school graduation, business banquets, holiday gatherings – and all of them, even funerals, tend to have something to do with sharing a meal. If we haven’t ever had to plan such a meal, we have most likely experienced one, or more of them, as a guest.

One way or another, we have some idea what the problems are in organizing such gatherings. We know that certain people can’t be seated next to each other; some may not want to be in the same room with each other. We understand that some people have food allergies, that some have disabilities, and the list goes on. There are societal rules and customs that define what is and is not acceptable at a meal, and the farther back we go in time, the more rigid the rules and customs become.

Fortunately for us, today, if we’re planning something big, like a wedding reception or a business banquet, there are caterers, florists, and function planners who will help us deal with everything from the venue to the last rose petal or dessert. But most of the time, no matter how many people we hire to help us, no matter the sizer of the gathering, the guest list remains the responsibility of the individual who is hosting the feast.

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.

Who, we wonder, drew up the guest list for this particular Sabbath meal? Considering what we know of Jesus’ relationship with the Pharisees, His destination seems very unusual. Not too surprisingly, this is the only time in Scripture when we hear of Him being the guest In one of their homes. Why was He invited?

It is interesting to note that over the years there has been much scholarly speculation, both Jewish and Christian, as to whether or not Jesus Himself was a Pharisee. Our Lord’s teachings were similar to those of Pharisaic Rabbis, and if He had been, at one point, one of them, it might explain why He received the invitation to this particular Sabbath meal. We just don’t know.

However, another explanation for the invitation might be thet existing similarity between some of Jesus’ teachings and those of the Pharisaic rabbis. The host of the meal might simply have been very interested to hear our Lord speak, and it never hurts to have a celebrity at your table. But, whatever the reason for the invitation, the home of the Pharisee is where Jesus ended up on that particular Sabbath, and He is, indeed, the Person who is the center of attention.

Where to seat Him? Within the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day there were specific customs for the seating of guests. As there have been and still are in modern times, there were prescriptions for who eats with whom, who sits where, and what is eaten and when. Guests were given assigned seats, indicating their rank in the gathering. The most honoured guests were seated closest to the host with the highest ranking person seated at the host’s right hand. In a culture that had honour as the greatest operative value, the question of where to sit at table was not an idle one.

Then we look at Jesus as guest. It’s interesting that He was even invited to this prestigious person’s home to eat, and more interesting still that He accepted, because invitations in the Jewish community of Jesus’ day were based on very specific social custom. If you did something for, or gave something to someone, they were expected to reciprocate in kind, and invitations were issued on the understanding that they were to be returned. No one would accept an invitation, if they knew they would be unable to match, or preferably better it in return.

Yet, here is this itinerant rabbi, with obviously nothing much to offer, who has not only been invited to, but has accepted the invitation of a leader of the Pharisees to come and share the Sabbath meal. The other guests are watching Him closely, knowing full well that all He possibly has to offer in return is the novelty of his personal Presence, maybe some of His incredible teachings, and perhaps, just perhaps, a miracle or two. Jesus clearly understands what is going on.

Because He is a celebrity, He has undoubtedly been seated next to the host, and we can imagine that, with all the customs in play there is a polite scramble going on at the supper table. Everyone wants to sit in “the place of honour”, somewhere near the head of the table, close to the host and to the visiting guest.

When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor he began teaching.

Drawing on the Wisdom writings of Sirach Jesus tells them a parable. And thus the familiar warning, with its deeper spiritual implications, 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.

Can you imagine having someone like this at a modern day gathering? Talk about an uncomfortable situation.

And Jesus’ continues, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." In the original Greek, this one sentence implies that God is the One who will humble those who exalt themselves, and exalt those who humble themselves. Thus, real honour depends on God’s judgment.

We can just see the guests sitting there with their mouths open in shocked disbelief. Did He just say that? Yes – and He said it to us as much as to the guests at that Sabbath meal. In our society today, where we are encouraged to want to be rich, to long for our “fifteen minutes of fame”, Jesus’ words are just as relevant as they were then. Because, we are encouraged to live within the system, to seek after worldly treasure and worldly glory, and it takes a real desire on our part to turn from these pursuits and to pray instead for humility and for a life centered in Christ, centered in the One who would not live within the system.

So, while the shocked guests are absorbing what Jesus has said, He turns His attention directly to His host. Jesus 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.’ In other words, invite the unloved, the unwanted, the unclean, those whom society considers the unholy.

What Jesus suggests is a radical reversal of expected behavior. None of these people He mentions would be able to reciprocate – to return such an invitation. That a host should seek out the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind was unthinkable. Not only did such behavior upset the social balance, it carried religious significance as well.

For Jews who upheld the law, the prescriptions about how, when, where, and with whom to eat were guides on how to be obedient to God, that is, how to keep oneself separated from all that was unholy. A pious person would not deliberately incur ritual impurity by mixing with persons considered unclean. Jesus’ way of eating overturned their notion of salvation by separation. He proclaimed salvation by association with the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

A further religious aspect to sharing a meal was that it was not just a matter of eating together, but of the sharing of God’s life. Meals symbolized the heavenly banquet at the end of time. Jesus is saying that the people considered by the observers of the Law to be outside the circle of God’s elect are precisely the ones who will be included in that final banquet in the reign of God.

Who invited this guy, this poor, itinerant rabbi, to this Sabbath meal? What a troublemaker. At this point the host must have been having second thoughts. Luke doesn’t tell us what happened after Jesus’ finished teaching. Did people listen to and then discuss these radical ideas, or was Jesus tossed out on His ear? Certainly in historic times, and quite possibly at any large function today, He would have been told, not asked, to leave, and possibly forcibly removed if He failed to comply.

How do we respond to Jesus? We are the ones who through our baptism have invited Him into our lives, and His teachings are no less radical and unsettling today than they were during His lifetime on earth. We are still called to not struggle after fame and glory, but to be humble and obedient, yes obedient, to the will of God. We are the ones called to embrace the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, to embrace the outcast, not just through legislation, or by mailing in a yearly donation, but personally, in our daily lives.

When we say we remember Jesus we need to understand what that word meant when He used it at the Last Supper. For a Jew of Jesus’ day, to remember was to call into Presence the one being remembered. Jesus is with us as we remember Him at communion. He is with us when we say grace before meals and invoke His company. Jesus is the unseen guest at all our meals and in our lives. We have made the invitation. Will we listen to what He tells us, follow what He commands us to do, or tell him to leave? The choice is ours!

Let us pray:

O God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, teach us how to work with You as Jesus did, in an humble spirit. Save us from being proud and unfriendly, and from seeking to appear better than others. Help us to be ever watchful for loving things to do, and to do them lovingly. For Jesus’ sake. Amen