Luke 14:1-14 “The
Today’s scripture reading
strikes right at the heart of what it means to be Christian.
V. 11 sums it up.
Those who exalt themselves
will be humbled,
and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.
Those who are last will be first.
There are all kinds of ways
to get this point across.
There is a story told of one
church where on a cold Sunday morning,
as everyone started coming in
the building from the parking lot,
there was someone rather
unusual out there with them.
Just outside the front door,
around the corner,
and sitting up against the
wall was a man.
His clothing was stained, and
he had rolled his body up in a long, tattered trench coat. You couldn’t see his
face, because he had a stocking cap
pulled down over his head and
most of his face to keep out the wind.
He was asleep, or at least
appeared to be.
Only a few brave souls from
the congregation wandered near him to check him out,
and no one bothered to invite
him in.
But it was Sunday a.m., and
time for church to begin.
Everyone was waiting for the
minister to come in as usual.
But then, the doors to the
church opened and in came the homeless man,
walking down the aisle with
his head down.
People whispered and wondered
what to do.
The man made his way down the
aisle and then up onto the pulpit
where he took off his hat and
coat.
It was then that the
congregation realized that the homeless man was their minister.
It’s a pretty good
story.
But there is something about
this story that bothers me, because it feels like a trick.
I’m not so sure we learn
things by being tricked.
This story also feels like
the preacher is judging everyone else.
It’s almost as if he is
saying “serving the poor is your problem”
instead of “serving the poor
is our problem.”
The truth is that serving the
poor is everyone’s problem, mine included.
Because if we are to be the
hands and feet of Christ in the world,
we are going to have to put
ourselves outside the church
sometimes in some very
uncomfortable settings.
Jesus was always in these
uncomfortable settings during his years of ministry.
He had arguments with the
religious establishment.
His ministry clashed with the
status quo.
What else could we expect
from a guy who started his job as the messiah
by going to the synagogue and
reading this
from the scroll of Isaiah in ch. 4 in Luke’s gospel.
“The spirit of the Lord is
upon me,
because he has anointed me to
bring good news to the poor,
he has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
That is some job
description.
The people who are to hear
the good news from Jesus are not the in crowd -
They are the outcasts - the poor, the captives, the blind, the
oppressed.
It sounds a lot like the
invitation list to the banquet from today’s scripture reading:
the poor, the crippled, the
lame, and the blind - in other words - the outcasts.
In today’s scripture reading,
which actually has two parts, the setting is important.
Jesus is on his way to have
dinner at the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees. Most of the time we
hear the word “Pharisee”
and we automatically think
“hypocrite” or “legalist.”
But the Pharisees were not so
much hypocrites or legalists
as they were devoutly
committed to keeping God’s laws,
down to the very smallest
details about life.
These details, ranging from
how to keep the Sabbath to keeping holy places holy,
were an important part of
Jewish identity.
The only trouble was that
over the centuries this devotion to God in Jewish law,
which was good, had
superseded another good,
compassion for the poor, and
the sick, the outcasts.
another very important part
of Jewish law.
The first lesson from today’s
scripture comes when
Jesus asks them a question.
It’s a test really.
Is it lawful to heal on the
Sabbath or not? Silence is their only
answer.
It was a difficult question
for a Jew.
Jewish teachers and elders
had spent centuries debating this and related questions. Sabbath keeping was a way to honor God.
Work was to be refrained from
on the Sabbath as a way of respecting God.
The problem was that Jewish
law was somewhat divided about what was work.
You could rescue a child from
a pit, but different Jewish groups took different positions about what to do
with an animal that fell into a ditch.
The law forbid helping
livestock deliver their young on the Sabbath,
but you could summon a
midwife for a woman to deliver a baby.
If an illness wasn’t
life-threatening, intervention was not allowed.
Dropsy wasn’t life
threatening and in case you’re wondering
what this man’s problem was
exactly, dropsy is an older term for edema,
which we know as an abnormal
accumulation of fluid.
A medical condition that was
serious,
but could wait till the
doctor’s office opened on Monday a.m.
Still, Jesus heals the man on
the Sabbath, something he has done before.
In most settings, this
thrills some of the Jews, and infuriates the others.
His healings on the Sabbath
cause him to be called
Messiah by some and
blasphemer by others.
Those who accused him of
blasphemy were stuck in the rules,
stuck doing things the way
they had always done them.
So stuck they couldn’t
respond to the sick and outcast among them.
So stuck they had forgotten
the greatest commandment
“Love the Lord your God and
love your neighbor as yourself.”
But Jesus heals the man.
And we’re told that the
Pharisees - this time at least - had nothing to say.
But Jesus had more to say.
If you recall the setting
here, everyone is at a dinner,
at a leader’s home, more than
likely a wealthy man.
Jesus notices that everyone
is looking around to get the best places, to sit by the host.
To find the table with the
beautiful people, the popular folks, the in crowd.
And Jesus tells them they’ve
got their priorities all mixed up.
He tells them not to go after
the best seating places
because the host might come
and tell them to move down to the lowest place.
At first it seems like more
conventional Jewish wisdom,
because there’s a proverb
that sounds just like this.
Proverbs 25:6-7
“Do not put yourself forward
in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to
be told, ‘Come up here,’
than to be put lower in the
presence of a noble.”
But what Jesus is teaching
here goes beyond a classic Jewish proverb.
He’s not just telling guests
at a banquet how to behave so you can get recognized,
or how you can associate with
the right people.
He is turning upside down the
conventional wisdom.
That becomes perfectly clear
when we hear
“For all who exalt themselves
will be humbled
and those who humble themselves
will be exalted.”
Once again, Jesus is teaching that the core of
discipleship
is the first will be last and the last will be
first.
The core of Christian faith
is selfless, giving love.
To drive home this point,
there’s one more story in today’s scripture
If we’re the host, we’re not
off the hook.
We have a special obligation
to open our tables to the very people
who can never reward us by
their presence.
The poor, the crippled, the
lame, the blind.
The outcasts of the
community, the unclean, the unwanted,
the ones who we avert our
eyes from when we walk past them on the sidewalk.
The ones who will never be
able to pay us back.
Jesus says that our service
to these outcasts brings God’s blessing, God’s reward,
which is greater than getting invited to the right
dinner party.
What Jesus is teaching us is God’s kingdom is an
upside down kingdom,
where the last, the least and the lost ones are
welcome at the Table.
I have to admit, this kind of
kingdom vision turns our thinking upside down.
It’s not comfortable. It stretches our vision about the purpose of
the church.
A couple of weeks ago, I had
my own stretching experience.
I went to a meeting with a
bunch of Disciples clergy and lay leaders
at a place called City of
It is a mission church, a
mission center.
It is located in a warehouse
in the worst zip code zone in the state of GA - 30314.
It has more crime, more
poverty, more despair than any place in
And someone has set up a
church right there.
In addition to a worship
center, there is a food pantry, thrift store,
basketball courts,
classrooms, and offices.
There is job training and
after school programs.
It’s a very large complex,
and some of you will be interested to know that the property was donated to
this nonprofit organization by Malon Mimms,
a friend and benefactor of
our church and many Disciples congregations in
The mission of the City of
What’s happening at the City
of
through the help of many
volunteers and churches around
But on one day in October,
Oct. 27,
Disciples churches from all
over the city are being invited to come
and be part of their presence
among the poor.
The plans include a party for
150 or 200 children.
There will be meals cooked
and hygiene kits collected for the homeless.
There will be a health
fair. Cleanup and repair projects in the
neighborhood.
A chance to talk and pray
with the neighbors.
It’s a mission trip right here in
About 10
I hope we will participate
too.
It may be uncomfortable. It might even turn our thinking upside
down.
It could stretch our vision
of the purpose of our church.
But the message of the Gospel is clear.
The church was never intended to be stuck in a
building somewhere
just staying safe and warm and secure,
while the last, the least, and the lost
never hear a whisper of the good news or feel the
touch of God’s love.
I have a poem that I’ve kept
for years that’s called “The Church Over There,”
a poem which challenges me not to get too
comfortable with the church.
“That’s the church over
there.
I see people going in; nicely
dressed, well-fed, and comfortable.
That’s the church over
there. I hear music through the windows.
That’s the church over
there.
I see clergy slipping in the
door; busy, pious, holy, and clean.
But I’m over here; smashed,
angry, little, bleeding!
The music I hear is
screaming, cursing, hate, and filth!
My doorway has gum wrappers,
beer bottles, stink, and kids!
That’s the church over there;
but I’m over here!
I’m lonely, beaten, trapped,
and shot!
Man, what’s the church doing
over there?”[1]
We can’t settle for being the
church over there.
Because what Jesus came to teach us is that
God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom
where we are the church
and we are to welcome and serve the last, the least, and
the lost.
Amen.