The Fourteenth Sunday
after Pentecost, Year C, Proper 17
Luke 14:1, 7-14 - September
2, 2007
Welcome to the
Banquet
The Rev. Keith
Oglesby, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Alpharetta, Georgia
When I was a child, I used to look
forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with my mother’s family
every year. You see, Mom had two sisters who lived in Atlanta and all
the aunts and uncles and cousins would get together every year on
those two holidays. I remember the food—turkey of course, and usually
ham, but also a dozen different side dishes. Each aunt had a different
version of dressing (my mom had two, one stuffed with oysters, which
was my favorite). There were three different versions of sweet potato
soufflé, and green beans that had been canned fresh from their gardens
and other vegetables, salads, and… well you get the idea. Of course,
there was dessert. I may not be able to finish if I talk about all of
the desserts, but there was pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie,
coconut cream pie, apple pie, peach cobbler… again, you get the idea.
And all homemade—Mrs. Smith was not a relative.
I was the youngest cousin, so I had one goal and one dream every year.
My goal was to out eat my older brother and my male cousins, which
meant eating at least three full helpings. I never made that goal—I
think the best I ever did was a tie-- but I always enjoyed trying...
My dream was to move up from the card table in the hallway to the big
table with the older adults. I could imagine trying to sneak into the
dining room and take someone else’s seat, but I knew I would simply be
shooed back to my place. But in spite of my seat at the card table,
those family meals were always one of the highlights of my young life
and remain one of my happiest childhood memories.
Meals are powerful symbols of our life together and our life in God.
The Jewish and Christian scriptures are full of imagery about meals
and their significance to our communities in our covenant relationship
with God. The Hebrew prophets spoke of a grand feast as the
culmination of history in which there would be wine and rich food. In
the only miracle mentioned in all four Gospels, Jesus multiplied
loaves and fishes, feeding thousands of people. And, of course, we are
about to have another meal in a few minutes, the meal of the altar, in
which we share in the risen life of Christ. The small piece of bread
and sip of wine are not a banquet, but rather a foretaste and a pledge
of that glorious meal that is promised at the end of this age…
Our Gospel passage today describes two different meals and the
dynamics surrounding them. At first glance, it appears as if Jesus is
being a “holy Mister Manners,” telling the people around him how to
behave in a social setting. And there may be some of that in his
instruction. If we did follow his advice, there would definitely be a
transformation in the way most of us entertain. But I wonder if this
is the main focus of Jesus’ teaching. Let’s look at the passage more
closely.
The text states that Jesus was attending a meal at the home of a
religious leader. Now Jesus was a keen observer of his social
surroundings—he noticed how the different guests were jockeying for
the power seats, who would be upfront, who would be near the guest of
honor, who would be near the powerful and the popular guests at the
meal. No one wanted to be near the kitchen or included with the
socially inept.
Jesus saw this and told a story that would get this group’s attention.
Imagine one of the worst things that can happen to you socially. You
are at a wedding banquet, you choose what you think is a prime seat,
but the host tells you to give up your seat to someone who is more
distinguished than you. Not only do you lose your privileged place,
but you end up sitting somewhere that is way below your social status.
Yuck. So you can imagine how this story got the attention of Jesus’
listeners. But Jesus’ solution seems to be worse than the problem he
described. Jesus tells the guests who are trying to get the best seat
at the dinner party that they should radically change their strategy.
Instead of scrambling and fighting to get the best seat, they should
instead try to find a seat in the worst section of the dining
room—next to the double doors by the kitchen that are constantly being
banged by waiters into the back of your chair. At one level, it seems
that Jesus is giving this social advice as an ingenious way to obtain
their objective—having the host take them to a better seat.
But is that really what Jesus is about, giving us a sneaky strategy
for getting the best seat at a dinner party? I don’t think so.
Remember, meals had more meaning for the people of Jesus’ day than
they do for most people in ours. Meals also had a special significance
in the early church. The issue of who could share table fellowship was
the hot theological issue of the first century. Could a Jewish
Christian eat with a Gentile Christian and if they did, which dietary
rules would apply? Would they keep kosher? Could they eat meat that
had been sacrificed to a pagan idol before it came to the market? In
addition to the religious issues surrounding table fellowship, there
were also socio-economic problems. The early church had to figure out
if social class still applied within the fellowship of the church.
Paul criticized the Corinthians because when they would gather for
their fellowship meals, the rich would have plenty and the poor would
not have enough.
So whenever a passage in the Bible writes about a meal, we need to pay
close attention—there is likely more than simply eating involved. You
see, meals—especially banquets like in our Gospel today-- are
portrayed as a drama that reveals the reality of human life-- who is
up and who is down, who is in and who is out. The guests that Jesus
observed, those people striving for the best seat, followed the rules
of that human reality: “I want to get mine and I’ll do whatever it
takes to accomplish it.” The best seat at the party is just one
example of following those rules. That human reality is revealed to us
when we ask: How do we do business? How do we treat those who have
less power than us? How do we relate to people who are in need? How do
we measure the success of our lives?
And that leads to our second story about a meal in today’s Gospel.
Again, Jesus appears to be giving social advice, except this advice is
even stranger than how to get the best seat. Now Jesus is really
meddling—he is talking about how we do our guest lists for parties.
Jesus says, when you have a party, don’t invite your friends, your
family or your rich neighbors. No, that would make too much sense.
Those are all people that you naturally care about or people who can
return the favor or pay you back in some way based on your invitation.
That approach simply sustains the status quo of our lives, of our
society. And that status quo is almost always in opposition to the
kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims and teaches.
So what are we supposed to do instead? Well, now, Jesus is really
pushing the limits with this. Jesus says to invite the poor and the
handicapped, which are often the poorest of the poor. His reasoning is
straightforward—by inviting those who cannot repay you, you will be
blessed at the resurrection of the righteous.
That sounds good—it’s religious and all that—but really, do we want to
do this? I know for me, I’m lucky if I invite my friends and relatives
over on any type of regular basis, much less trying to make time for
rich neighbors… How can I add random people that I don’t even know to
my list of people I need to invite into my home? Frankly, it seems
overwhelming. But again, is Jesus only talking about my invitation
list for dinner parties or is there a deeper meaning for our daily
lives?
I believe we can find the answer by going back to those questions that
help us to determine the deeper reality of our lives: How do we do
business? How do we treat those who have less power than me? How do we
relate to people who are in need? How do we measure the success of our
lives? When we ask those questions and reflect on our answers, then we
get to the heart of what Jesus is teaching us in these stories about
meals.
Perhaps one more story about a meal might help us better understand
what Jesus’ stories mean for our lives. One of my professors at
Candler is from the southern part of India. He showed us a video one
day about a festival that occurs once a year in his home village. The
Christian men of the village were responsible for cooking this really
big meal every year that would feed every single person in the village
and the surrounding countryside. In the video, huge vats were placed
over outdoor fires and then filled with all sorts of vegetables and
spices. The men were standing around, adding things and then stirring
the pot with what looked like a boat oar. We were told that the stew
cooked for several hours. Next they showed us what looked like a
garage filled with rice. Upon looking closer, the rice was on a
platform that was over a bed of steaming coals. A young man was
actually walking on the rice, using baskets for shoes so that he would
not get the rice dirty. He was using a rake to spread the rice out and
keep it from overcooking. Frankly, I’m still not sure how that worked.
Anyway, the fun part came next. People from that entire region would
line up with pots, pans and even buckets and these Christian men of
the village would serve them rice and stew. Everyone was fed, people
from the village and from the country, Hindus and Christians, poor and
rich. What really stood out in watching this video was how happy the
people were. There were smiles, gestures of thanks and gestures of
hospitality. It was really remarkable.
What does this story mean for us? Meals are central to our lives. How
we share meals tell us a lot about who we are. That meal in India was
a foretaste of that final meal in which God will welcome and serve us
as our host. At that great meal, many of the things which we have
worried about and struggled for in our lives—like who gets the best
seat at a dinner party-- will no longer matter. Instead that heavenly
banquet will call to mind-- and then exceed-- every wonderful meal
that we have ever enjoyed on earth: holiday meals with family like I
described; but also meals we have received or shared with others when
there was a need. Think of the meals given by the Caregivers and the
Guild of the Christ Child and how they extend God’s hospitality to
people who need it. Or the Men’s Breakfast teams who faithfully care
for God’s people and welcome them to this place. The sharing of meals
like this demonstrates the generous hospitality that is at the heart
of God’s grace toward us.
Jesus calls us to share that same grace with others not only in our
meals but in our daily lives and relationships. As we come to the
Lord’s Table in a few minutes and once again share in God’s
hospitality, let us come with open hearts and a willingness to receive
God’s grace so that we in turn can share it with others. Amen.
© The Rev. Keith Ogelsby. All Rights
reserved.
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