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14. Sunday after Pentecost, 08/29/2010

Sermon on Luke 14:1-14, by Richard O. Johnson

1 One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?" 6 And they could not reply to these things.7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in 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 table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

"Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor . . ." Well, it's a funny kind of parable, don't you think? A parable is usually a little story or metaphor that explains some deeper truth, but here there is no story. Jesus simply goes on to give some instruction about how to behave at a dinner party, and how to behave when you are giving a dinner party. What kind of a parable is that?

Well, perhaps it's a parable that has you and me as its characters. Perhaps Jesus is telling us that we can look at our own behavior, at the way we live in every day life, and learn a great lesson about the kingdom of God. Let's go at this with that in mind, and see what we can make of it.

The limits of humility

The first part of this parable that has us for its characters is familiar to us ."When you are invited to a wedding banquet," Jesus says, "don't sit down at the seat of honor, or you may be kicked out. Rather sit in the most humble place, and then you may be asked to come up higher." Yes, we've heard that one before. Usually we make it into a lesson about humility.

Now there's certainly nothing wrong with humility. Heaven knows this old world could use a bit more of it. Perhaps you've heard the story of the famous author who was seated next to a woman at a dinner party. The author went on and on about his latest book, and just about talked the lady's ear off. Finally he said, "Well, enough about me. Let's talk about you. How did you like my book?" Well, that's sort of blatant, but truth be told, there's a good bit of self-centeredness and pride in most of us. So Jesus' admonition to sit at the lower end of the table comes as a welcome bit of advice.

Or does it? There is a serious problem with it, I have to admit. There is a certain tendency among us to take advice like that given here, and turn it into a new way to get ahead. We listen to Jesus, and we think, "Well, by golly, now I know just how to get the best seat! All I have to do is be humble! Someone once asked a Franciscan monk what it was that distinguished his order. "Well," he said, "the Jesuits are known for their intellectual vigor, the Benedictines for their simplicity and discipline; but we Franciscans have nothing like that; we are known and admired only for our humility." Leave it to us human beings to turn humility into a virtue that distinguishes us from others!

They cannot repay you

So how can we understand this in a different way, a more constructive way? I think the key comes in the second part of this lesson. It is not as familiar as the first part, and at first glance it seems more difficult. "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

"You will be blessed because they cannot repay you." The first thing we must understand from this lesson is that genuine humility does not make comparisons or seek rewards. Anyone who acts humbly because they think that is the way to get ahead, or they think it will make them look better, has completely missed the point. Whatever Jesus may mean here, he is not suggesting that we deliberately take the lower seat so that we will be invited up higher! Real humility doesn't think about things like that. Real humility looks away from oneself.

William Barclay tells the story about Scottish theological professor Dr. John Cairns. "He would never enter a room, or go on to a platform, first. He always said, ‘You first, I follow.' Once, as he came on to a platform, there was a great burst of applause in welcome. He stood aside and let the man after him come first, and began himself to applaud. He never dreamed that the applause could possibly be for him; he thought that it must be for the other man." Real humility looks away from oneself.

On not keeping score

But there is another point here, one much more radical. Jesus is not just talking about the importance of humility. He is challenging the whole way of thinking that tries to keep score. It is part of human nature, to be sure-it goes way back to Cain and Able, when Cain found Abel's offering was accepted and his wasn't, and so he made a little note. He kept track. He kept score. And his scorekeeping led finally to murder. You see, when someone else is ahead of you, you've got to do something!

Jesus has a different idea. "Don't invite your friends," he says, "They'll just pay you back." You see, we keep score. You invite me to dinner, I'll have to invite you. You send me a Christmas gift, I'll have to send one to you. It's the way our society works, after all! If we don't keep score, how will we know who's ahead?

Jesus has a different idea. "Don't keep score." If you invite the needy, the poor, those who can't reciprocate, then you won't be thinking about getting paid back. You won't be worried about the score! "And," Jesus says, "you will be blessed"-no, that's not a good translation. He really says, "You will be happy because they can't pay you back." "Happiness," Robert Farrar Capon writes, "can never come in until the bookkeeping stops."

It does make some sense, when you think about it. If we could be freed from the necessity to keep score . . . If we could live our lives trying to welcome people and love people and be kind to people, not because we think we should or because we think it earns us points but because we see them as Christ sees them . . . Then happiness would indeed come.

Not with silver or gold

In the sacrament of Holy Baptism, we are freed forever from the need to keep score. In Holy Baptism, God has said to you, to each of you, "You are my beloved child. You belong to me, and nothing can separate you from my love." If that is who we are-if that is truly who we are-then what need do we have for keeping score? We have everything we need. We are winners already, in God's eyes, and those are the eyes that matter.

When we bring an infant to the font to receive the Sacrament, we are reminded again that this great gift God has given us, this great gift of his love and grace, is not dependent on our power or status or prestige or goodness or accomplishment. An infant doesn't have any of those things. An infant, Luther remarked, is as helpless as an earthworm! If it all depended on keeping score, an infant wouldn't have a chance! But we bring our infants to the font! Here, in these waters, God speaks: "In the eyes of the world, you're not much. But in my eyes, you're the most important person in the world."

And you, people of God, people of riper years, when you come to the Table and hear the promise and receive the Savior, you are told the same thing: "In the eyes of the world, you may not be much. But in Christ's eyes, you're the most important person in the world"-so important that you've been redeemed, "not with silver and gold, but with Christ's holy and precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, in order that you may be his." You have been baptized, and marked with the cross of Christ forever!

Don't keep score! Because, you see, it is the way of Christ to not keep score. Paul says it in so many words: "In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them." And if God doesn't keep score, why should we?-we, who have been washed in the baptismal bath and welcomed to this Eucharistic feast without money, without price. When we live by grace, then all the scorekeeping must go right out the window. And good riddance to it! We've been washed in the water of life, sealed by the Holy Spirit, marked with the cross of Christ forever. Who needs to keep score anymore?