Luke 14:1, 7-14
One of the best things in life is having a good food with good friends. And one of the worst things in life is having a meal all by yourself, all the time. Once or twice is OK, but if you have to eat alone all the time, that’s not fun. That’s sad. There was a time I had to eat alone for more than 5 years after losing my first wife in a car accident. At that time, I really missed a fellowship more than a good meal. I realized that the Lord’s Table is more meaningful and grace-filled because not only could I experience the healing presence of Jesus, but also could participate the communal spirit of the communion. My friends in Christ, you don’t have to eat alone today, because we have a communion. Jesus is here with us and we have one BIG table for all of you.
I am invited to a dinner party tomorrow. One of my pastor friends invites me to his birthday celebration each year since he had become 50 years old. We will celebrate his 61st birthday tomorrow and I am happy simply because I am included in his invitation list and, as I said, I love to eat with good friends. Over the years, I noticed that important things happen when people gather for dinner. Table talk provides a forum for friends to catch up on the events in the lives of one another. We share our experiences in ministry both good and bad. While sharing, sometimes we are comforted, sometimes encouraged, and sometimes even educated.
In fact, we are doing this all the time. At the table, we teach our children manners. At the table we hear the stories that bind us together as immediate family, larger community, even as a nation. We are told what is expected of us. We learn (even) the family secrets that are to be shared with no one outside our circle. Table conversation has a long history laden with religious, social, and psychological meaning.
In our Gospel text today, Jesus is invited to a dinner party. I believe that Jesus also loves to eat with good friends. According to New Testament scholars, table-fellowship is the essential ministry of Jesus. Come to think of it, there are so many eating stories in the Gospel. Have you noticed? The problem of this particular banquet was that the host was a group of Pharisees who were not so friendly to Jesus. They invited him so that they could watch him, test him, and condemn him. I wonder why Jesus went there in the first place.
Would you have a meal with a person who wants to test you and even condemn you? No way! Absolutely not! Sometimes, I wonder why Jesus went there. In the last Sunday’s gospel lesson (that was Luke chapter 13), the Pharisees placed a man with dropsy close to him on the Sabbath tempting Jesus to heal him. Dropsy was an accumulation of fluid in the body, often regarded as a judgment of God. Jesus healed the man to show that compassion comes before rules; love comes before law.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, let us remember that the original meaning or spirit of Sabbath law was to protect the powerless…, (according to today’s lesson, they are) the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…, (they are also) orphans, widows, strangers (in the Bible, “strangers” refer to immigrants or minority).
So, the Sabbath law was a kind of social security system when religion was not differentiated from other areas of society. The point is this: God desires us to be more concerned about people than religious ritualistic laws. The Pharisees were often obsessed by the details of the law, and the need to observe it to the letter and beyond; therefore, when it came to Sabbath observance they had many additional interpretations and legalistic regulations about what could and could not happen on the Sabbath. Sadly, they missed the point that the original meaning or intention of the Sabbath law was to protect the powerless many years ago. Everyone, for example, not just slave-owners but also every slave has to rest, relax and enjoy God, one another and creation once a week. Because of their legalism, the Pharisees did the exact opposite from what God wanted from them. For the sake of keeping the law, they deserted the will of God.
Jesus used this occasion to highlight this point – he asked them a simple question ‘is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?’ They didn’t give an answer. I think that they intrinsically recognized the inhumanity of their legalistic response. Jesus is always more interested in people than religious ritual and observance. That was the problem with the Priest and the Levite on their way to Jerusalem in the parable of the Good Samaritan – they didn’t want to handle an unclean corpse, because they would be ritually unclean and unable to do their religious observance – but God cares for people more than religious ritual.
The Pharisees believed that they
were special because God had a covenant with them. They were the chosen people of God. They
stayed faithful to God by the careful observance of their religious Law. When they kept the religious law faithfully, they
thought, God would be pleased and the world would know that they are the chosen people of God.
One thing that Jesus is fundamentally different from the Pharisees is that God
has a special relationship not just with the Pharisees but with ALL of
creation. ALL are God’s family. We keep our faith not simply by observing the
law, but by loving one another.
Our lesson ends with a wonderful suggestion of how to show that love. Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to dinner. Or to move that to a more contemporary idiom, the undocumented, refugees, or hate-crime victims. This cast of characters that Jesus identified was actually outcasts and outlaws, and according to the law, such people were not even legally permitted to go into God’s holy presence. But Jesus, by this extended invitation, was saying that God is looking for more than just the healthy and whole and clean and beautiful. Indeed, the humble will be exalted and the exalted will be humbled.
Reaching out to others is something that we are called to do as a church. It’s great that we collect food for the poor; raise money to support the soup kitchen. Wherever we are on our journey of becoming like Christ, there is always the need to look up to the fount of unconditional, all-embracing love found in Jesus Christ – because his love is not dependent on our background, or accomplishments, or wealth; his love is the most powerful force in the Universe; and if we are in any way going to reflect some of that love, we will only do so through spending time with Him, and allowing His love to infuse us that we in turn can pour it out to those around us. We love because God first loved us. It’s the primacy of grace that leads to the response of grace. Our Lord invites us to His Table today. Let’s us join together to receive the grace and the call to love and serve one another. Amen.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
