Luke 14: 1-14

During Lent, I have been preaching on the parables of Jesus with the goal of helping us see how the parables are at the very heart of Jesus’ teachings and how he embodied and lived out the parables. I also have been reflecting on an observation and a question raised by Bill Herzog, “If Jesus was a teacher of heavenly truths dispensed through literary gems called parables, it is difficult to understand how he could have been executed as a political subversive and crucified between two social bandits. It appears that Jerusalem elites collaborating with their Roman overlords executed Jesus because he was a threat to their economic and political interests. Unless they perceived him to be a threat, they would not have publicly degraded and humiliated him before executing him in as humiliating (ignominious) a way as possible. How is it possible to bring together the teacher who spoke in parables and the subversive who threatened the ruling powers of his day?” (William R. Herzog. Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed. Louisville (Westminster/ John Knox Press, 1994), p. 9.)

We have begun to get an answer to this as we have seen Jesus’ vision of the kingdom, or realm, of God come into increasing conflict with the religious and political leaders of his day. In fact, in the passage just before today’s scripture, Jesus is warned that he may be going too far.

Some Pharisees came and said to (Jesus), “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.’” (Luke 13: 31-33)

Instead of running away and hiding, as he had been strongly advised, Jesus instead accepted yet another invitation to eat in the home of another leader of the Pharisees. Over twenty years ago, I read a novel by Anne Tyler called, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, which I still remember. It is about a family who could never sit down to eat together without getting into a big argument and someone leaving the table before the meal was even finished. Jesus’ disciples could relate. We saw last week what an uproar Jesus created the last time they ate in the home of a prominent religious leader. They must have wondered if they would make it through the meal. After Jesus’ strong words about King Herod, Luke tells us that everyone was watching him closely as he arrived at the home of the religious leader for a sabbath meal.

Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?’ And they could not reply to this. (Luke 14: 2-6)

Goodness gracious! Jesus has not even made it in the front door and he has already broken one of the Ten Commandments, and justified himself, and left them all speechless. But as they stood there dumbfounded, Jesus went right on in the house and took a seat…. in the back of the room. Then Jesus observed the rest of guests coming in and how they chose the best seats, the places of honor. When everyone was in their place, Jesus told them a parable.

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place’, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But 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. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 14:7-11)

The first time I visited Karen’s family when we were dating, we were getting ready to eat. The table was laid out with the first of many wonderful meals I would have in that home. “Okay, everybody, sit down, we’re ready to eat,” Karen’s Mom announced. I took the seat closest by and everyone was seated except Karen’s father. Then Karen looked at me and said sweetly, “Honey, you’re in Daddy’s seat.” And I stood up meekly and found another place at the table. Fortunately, everybody was smiling that day at my little faux pas. That was probably not so when Jesus publicly poked fun at the religious leaders and his guests for trying to grab the best seats.

After embarrassing his guests Jesus turns to the host.

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. 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.” (Luke 14: 12-14)

Well now, how’s that for getting some dinner conversation started?

It does not say so, but I imagine Peter trying to break the tension at this point saying, “Wow, this appetizer sure looks good. I bet this is going to be one fine meal. Thank you so much for inviting us.” We are told that one of the dinner guests tries to put things in a more, say, spiritual way, saying, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

And as was his way, Jesus responded to this with another parable:

Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” 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 apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” 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.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” 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. (Luke 14; 16a-23)

Like most of Jesus’ parables, this one starts out with a very ordinary situation for those listening and one we can easily relate to as well. Many of you have probably thrown a nice party but when the time came, the invited guests were unable to come. In Jesus’ parable, they all had their reasons. Some had decided that business comes before pleasure. One had just got married and had all the pleasure he needed, thank you. It’s a regrettable, but understandable situation. But like most of Jesus’ parables, then comes a jolt. The host looks around at all the food and decorations and gets angry and tells his servant to go find him some folks he can party with. But he did not want others from the same social circle as the original guests. He sent him out to find a bunch of folks who would not be welcome in any of the homes of those he had first invited. As requested, the servant found some poor and disabled folks, but there was still plenty of room so the host told him to go all over town and look in the side streets and back alleys, and find all the outcasts. Apparently, many of them were so used to being excluded and were so wary about being invited, the servant had to compel them to come.

So there you have it. Jesus gets invited to a big party at a prominent religious leader’s home, criticizes the guests and the host and tells a story that implies that this is not the kind of party he enjoys anyway. Miss Manners would not be pleased.

Jesus’ last words in this story are: “For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” (Luke 14: 24) I am among those who think this last sentence may have been added to Jesus’ original parable to reflect the situation in Luke’s community. In Matthew’s version of this same parable, it has been made into more of an allegory that reflects the tension between Jewish Christians and their neighbors who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah. Taken out of its original context, texts like this would later be tools of anti-Semitism, one of the most evil misuses of scripture. In its original form, the parable likely ended with the image of a great supper where all those in that society who were shut out were being welcomed in.

What came to mind for me in studying this scripture is a story from Melissa Fay Green’s book, The Temple Bombing. (New York: Balantine Books, 1996) In October of 1964, the white power structure of Atlanta received some good news and some bad news. The good news was that someone from Atlanta had won the Nobel Peace Prize. The bad news was that it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Green tells the story of how a small group of black and white leaders began to plan a banquet to honor King.” It would have been boycotted by the white business community if not for the courage of a few whites like Mayor Ivan Allen, Robert Woodruff, and the white religious leader who probably exhibited the most Christian-like behavior concerning racial reconciliation in those days, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild.

Rabbi Rothschild would later recall, “A handful of us met for weeks making plans and arrangements without any hope of fulfilling them. And after all the foot-dragging and outright opposition, exactly 1,463 people gathered to honor Dr. King in the largest room then available. Another thousand were turned away. It was the largest gathering of whites and blacks…in the history of our city. We had to turn away for lack of space some of the most prominent of our citizens who leaped too late on the bandwagon.” (Pp. 418-19)

If I had time, I would read Green’s whole account of this incredible evening where she says, “for the moment, stature—lineage—derived from an entirely new, unforeseen direction….It was unheard of. It was outlandish.” (P. 420) Coretta Scott King would later write, “When we arrived at the ballroom that night we beheld a beautiful sight…. The big ballroom was filled… (with) Negroes and whites from all levels. Judges and top-ranking industrialists were sitting at the same tables with cooks and porters, all mixed up deliberately…. even one year before such a sight would have been unthinkable in a southern city.” (P. 421)

Now that was the kind of banquet Jesus was talking about in his parable!

Let’s return to our story and see what happened next after Jesus got everybody all riled up at the Sabbath dine in the religious leader’s house. Well…we don’t know. Just like last week, we are told how the story ends. And once again, it doesn’t matter…for we are the ending. Remember the parables are “not portraits of other people but mirrors to help us see ourselves more honestly.” (John Claypool)

In a few minutes, we are going to gather around the table. This is Jesus’ table. We don’t make the guest list. Jesus does. And Jesus’ guest list is always bigger than ours. In the decade after the banquet honoring King, some two-thirds of the members of this church would leave rather than eat at this table with black people. They thought it was their table. This is Jesus’ table! In the following years, people would leave rather than eat with gay people. They thought it was their table. This is Jesus’ table! People outside this church would try to tell us who was welcome at this table. We had to remind them that they don’t make the guest list. Jesus does. If people are grumbling about who is eating at this table, that’s a good sign that it is Jesus’ table.

If there are people who you wish were not at this table, that’s a good sign that it’s Jesus’ table. If everybody at this table is like you, it probably ain’t Jesus’ table. If you might be concerned that somebody here does not like you, do not worry about it. It is not their table. This is Jesus’ table! If you are in some kind of conflict with someone, even the pastor, don’t worry about it. This ain’t the pastor’s table. This is Jesus’ table!

Jesus’ table is always bigger than our table. It’s only been in the last couple of years that we even allowed all of our children at this table. We finally realized it was not our table. This is Jesus’ table! Much to the dismay of some of you, I am even struggling with whether people of other faiths are welcome at this table. I don’t know, but I can tell you this. We have been wrong before about who should be around Jesus’ table. Jesus’ table is always bigger and more inclusive than our tables.

I do know this much. This table does not belong just to those of us who faithfully pay the mortgage and the utilities. This ain’t our table. This is Jesus’ table! There are a lot of people still on the outside that Jesus is inviting to this table. Jesus is not (only) calling on us to provide for the needs of the poor and disabled; he says to invite them to dinner….In the Christian community, no one is a ‘project.’” (Fred Craddock)

If any one of us were making up the guest list, we would be like the Pharisees, a bit more discriminating. Thank God; praise God, this ain’t our table. Whose table is this? (And the congregation said: Jesus’ table!) Amen.