Sermon for May 7th, 2017
Luke 14:12-24
12 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. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17 At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ 20 Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
Small Stories, Big Ideas - The Great Banquet
In looking over all the pictures I took on our recent trip to Turkey, I noticed they all fall into pretty much two categories: There are the obligatory pictures of amazing places (beautiful churches, palaces, ancient ruins) and the other category consists of pictures of amazing tables--not that the tables themselves were amazing, but rather the amazing food and drink layed out upon them, and the fascinating people seated around them. Food (and sharing it around a table) is an important part of Turkish culture.
In fact, every little shop we went to had a little table out in front of it on the street, and before any business could be transacted, the shop owner would invite us to sit down, would pour us a cup of tea, and tell us his or her life story. If you went to four shops right next door to each other, you sat down at four different tables, had four cups of tea, and listened to four different life stories! Some tables, like these, were small--and others (meals with old friends and new ones) were large tables spread with copious and diverse selections of exotic Turkish food. Some of my best memories of Turkey will always be the ones formed around a table.
But it's not just Turkey, either. Right here in El Paso, I will never forget two meals I had when I was just sixteen years old. One was at State Line. It was just me, my dad, some bread, some steak, and some sauteed mushrooms. I don't know what exactly made that meal so special--growing up in a family of six, maybe it's just one of my few memories of having my dad all to myself for an hour or two.
The other meal was at Chili's restaurant on Mesa street. It was the night of the Coronado High School Homecoming dance, and around the table were me, my friends John Wahrmund and Andy Moye. John's date that night was Ginger. Andy's date was Leah. And my date was a complete stranger--Ginger's friend, a blind date set up at the last minute. I can't even remember what food I ordered (probably chicken crispers), but sitting accross from me, my date was a quiet, beautiful girl in a baby blue dress with white lace. Her name was Amy. We were sixteen, and it was the very first of a lifetime of meals shared around countless tables.
In college, I remember dressing up in a tuxedo and serving a table in the home of one of my English professors, who would host elaborate feasts for all the other professors in the English Department. He would go all out, preparing a five course meal around his giant, ornate, gothic style table. Halfway through the evening, he would excuse himself and come back to the kitchen to make sure that his waiters (his students) were well fed. I loved those banquets, and I loved that man--his name was Grady Walker, and my eldest son, Grady, is named after him.
I'm sure all of you have memories like that, too. We live the best moments of our lives around tables that have been prepared for us, or tables that we have prepared for others. And I think that's why so many times in the Bible, Jesus compares heaven itself to a banquet or a feast around a lavish table.
Today's scripture passage starts around a table--a real table, before Jesus begins his parable. He's teaching those seated around the table what I would call "good table etiquette." Don't be presumptuous when seating yourself, or you might get embarassed. Be generous and kind--don't just invite people who will invite you back, but invite the people who don't usually get invited, the people who can't pay you back.
And one of the guests, perhaps alarmed at the idea of inviting this sort of person, says in verse 15 "Blessed is ANYONE who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God." To put it in modern terms, it's kind of as if Jesus just said "Black lives matter" and one of his guests corrected him, saying, "No Jesus... ALL lives matter." While that may be true, the guest obviously missed the point Jesus was trying to make about the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame (people who tend to get left out and ignored).
So Jesus tells a parable. Notice that verse 16 reads, "Then Jesus said to HIM." In other words, this parable is not directed to all the other people around the table. This guy, who clearly HAS been given a seat at the table, and is clearly anxious about who else Jesus might invite, gets his very own parable, told just for him. We'll come back to that later. But first the parable.
A man throws a party, and sends out invitations. Actually, if you read closely (and if you happen to be familiar with Middle Easter customs) there are two invitations. The first one is what we would call the RSVP: I'm throwing a party; I want you to come; I need an idea of how many people to prepare for; are you in? The second invitation is to say: It's time; the table is set; come on over. Presumably, those who get the second invitation already said yes to the first invitation. Yes, count me in. Let me know when it's time.
A rich man invited four friends to a banquet to celebrate his birthday. It was already noon-time, but only Zhang, Wang and Li had come; his friend Zhao did not appear, even though they waited a long time. The rich man said anxiously, "Why isn't the one who should have come here?" His friend Zhang, an impetuous person, was very much upset at his words and said to the rich man, "If the one who should have come isn't present, then I am the one who should not have come. All right, good-bye." And with this, he went away in a huff. The rich man then said, even more anxiously, "The one who should not have left has left." These words aroused Wang's suspicion, so he said, "You said the one who should not have left has left. Does that imply that I am the one who should have left? All right, I have to say good-bye, too." The remaining friend, Li, advised the rich man goodheartedly, "You should learn what to say and what not to say; otherwise, you will annoy your guests and send them away without your wishing it." The rich man, hearing this, said, "Those two are too suspicious and misunderstood my words. I didn't mean them." Now it was Li's turn to flare up. "So it is I who should not have come; it is also I who should have left." And with this, away he went.
