"Who's Coming to Dinner?"
Luke 14:1, 7-24
I heard of one pastor who preached on this passage.
He really, really emphasized to his congregation Jesus' Words: "When you host a lunch or dinner, don't invite your friends...Instead...invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind."
Apparently, the pastor did a really good job of convicting the congregation to do this because he and his wife received 3 dinner invitations from church members that following week.
Seriously though, it's been said that Jesus and His disciples literally eat their way through the Gospels.
They go from place to place, house to house, one meal after another, always looking for the next invitation.
In Luke there are more references to eating, banquets, tables, sitting or reclining around tables than in any other of the Gospels.
It's at these dining situations that Jesus does much of His teaching, tells many of His parables, and hangs out with the marginalized.
For Jesus, the dinner table is a primary place for fellowship, discussion and ministry.
Folks even get converted around the table.
And as the Church of Jesus Christ, we do well to keep this in mind.
In Jesus' day, the guests at dinner would recline on couches.
The most important thing about the dinner was not the food, but the conversation...
...the time spent together.
I don't know about you, but unless I'm traveling and thus in a hurry...
...when I go out to dinner, I like it when the waiter or waitress take their time bringing the food to the table.
I always feel "ripped off," especially at the nicer restaurants--if the food comes too quickly.
The reason is that I go out to dinner with my wife or family or friends in order to talk, make up for lost time, relax, listen, learn.
I also might meet someone I don't know well for a meal.
And it is during this time at the table, where cells phones are (hopefully) turned off, there are no computers to distract or whatever where I can just focus on what is going on in the lives of the other people around the table.
The table is truly the place where we get to know one another.
It's not so much about the food...
That's one of the main reasons why the table was and is so important to Jesus.
Jesus was a "people person" to say the least!!!
I mean, He kept things well balanced.
He did enjoy His time alone with God.
We are told that Jesus would often retreat to solitary places to pray and get refreshed.
But in most instances, Jesus surrounded Himself with people.
And one of the greatest things about Jesus is that He will hang out with anybody who will have Him!!!
Jesus doesn't discriminate.
All are welcome at the table with God!!!
No one is ever pushed away, and no dinner invitation is declined.
And so here in Luke 14 we find that Jesus and His disciples are eating at the home of, of all people, a Pharisee!!!
And this isn't just any Pharisee, this guy is one of the leaders of the Pharisees.
And we find out that there are also lawyers or scribes there as well, along with a number of other prominent folk, no doubt.
And we are told that the folks at the table were "watching [Jesus] closely."
Now remember that the Pharisees and the Scribes represented the religious establishment, or the elite of Jesus' time.
The Pharisees were the ones who criticized Jesus for blasphemy because Jesus forgave sins.
The Pharisees were the ones who criticized Jesus for being unclean because he ate with "tax collectors and sinners."
They also criticized Jesus for working on the Sabbath, because He did much healing on the Sabbath and His disciples picked grain from a field.
The Scribes, Pharisees and the rest of the religious establishment were the ones who conspired to have Jesus brought up on charges and put to death.
So, Jesus is having dinner in a, kind of, hostile environment.
I don't know about you, but I'd feel pretty uncomfortable.
I'd be trying to mind all my P's and Q's.
Cause these people had invited Jesus, not because Jesus was part of the "in" crowd, they had invited Jesus to dinner in order to judge Him, find out more about His radical, rabble-rousing teachings and perhaps catch Him slipping up on one of the finer points of the law.
While sitting at the table, Jesus has noticed how the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the other socialites on the scene are looking for ways to "move up the social ladder" by kind of battling for the best seats at the table.
Again, in Jesus' day, at dinners, the guests reclined on couches, with the center couch being the place of highest honor.
This battling for the best seats in the house causes Jesus to tell the folks a parable with lessons on humility and generosity.
And He says, "All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up."
It's hard not to see Jesus as the Perfect Model for this parable.
It should remind us of what Paul says about Jesus in Philippians 2: "Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him the name that is above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
When Jesus finishes His parable about seating arraignments He begins to talk to the dinner host about all the folks who haven't been invited to this particular party.
"The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends, family, and those you are trying to impress...
...invite people who don't have similar interests, who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks, the least, the lost, the sick, the crippled, the blind, the poorest of the poor."
Why does Jesus say these things?
Why doesn't Jesus just put on an act and just focus on trying to keep His elbows off the table?
Why doesn't Jesus just keep His mouth shut?
The reason is that this is not why Jesus has come to earth.
Jesus has come to teach us how to live and love one another.
Jesus has come to show us what it means to be truly human.
And beyond that, Jesus has come to teach us about God and God's priorities...
...God's Kingdom...
...God's table.
And if we are going to be followers of Jesus, we have to learn that at God's table there is no need to jockey for position, because all people are equal and equally welcome.
There are no throwaways when it comes to human beings.
We are to honor the least among us--the poor and marginalized...as well as the rich and famous.
For we are all sinners, we are all broken, we are all in the same boat!!!
No person is better than another.
God loves all of us more than we can imagine!!!
While the Pharisees were sitting at a rectangular table, Jesus' table is round...
...it's a table where no one person is better than another.
In Jesus' day and in our day it is too easy for the well-educated, the physically fit, the legally trained the wealthy to imagine that they are better than others.
But in all reality, aren't every single one of us poor, crippled, lame and blind?
The second parable in our Gospel Lesson for this morning speaks to us about Evangelism and how the Church of Jesus Christ is to be the Kingdom of God on this earth.
Jesus has been going around Galilee inviting people to God's Great Dinner Party.
But one by one, people have made excuses as to why they would not or could not come.
But some people have been delighted to be included: the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled.
They have come in and are celebrating with Jesus!!!
Now, to be sure, some of the rich folks and some of the folks of high social rank have come into Jesus' Kingdom movement...
...but most have not.
This lack of interest in God's Kingdom by those who seem to have too much to preoccupy them in this world, is not going to stop God's Party from being full of people.
And so, we are called to be the servants of Christ in this parable and follow Christ's command to "Go quickly to the city's streets, the busy ones and the side streets, and bring the poor, crippled, blind, and lame..."
We are to "Go to the highways and back alleys and urge people to come in so that [God's] house will be filled."
Are we doing this?
We are extremely privileged to be a part of a community of faith with an outward focus!!!
There are so many ways to "plug-in" to God's Kingdom Movement here at East Ridge United Methodist Church.
We are situated in an area where many of our neighbors do not have a church home.
We also live in an area that is being devastated by drug and poverty.
Beginning on Wednesday, September 18th we will start having monthly spaghetti dinners which will be "free" for members of the church and members of our community.
We are going to go out and put up fliers, Butch is working on a sign to go out front and we will also drive the vans to the Superior Creek Lodge urging people to "come."
After the dinner we will have a time for children's ministry and adult ministry.
If you have not already talked with Pat and Nikki Murdock about helping with the meal--please do!!!
If you can volunteer to help with the children's program, please speak to Kary Hawkins or Holly Howell!!!
And please, please come to the Church-Wide planning meeting we are having for this ministry this Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. here at the church!!!
Our Tuesday afternoon tutoring, mentoring and feeding program for children living at the Superior Creek Lodge--Called East Ridge Cares 4 Kids--will begin its 3rd year on Tuesday, September 10th!!!
This is an amazing ministry.
If you can help, please speak with Marcy Hall.
Sunday, September 15th to Saturday September 21 we will be housing and hosting some homeless families with children in our facilities through IHN or Family Promise.
We are in need of people to sign up and volunteer to be evening hosts, overnight hosts...
...or you can sign up to bring food, or to help set up or re-set when the week is over.
There is a sign-up sheet in the hall.
Let's fill it up.
Please see Barbara Jackson if you have any questions.
Jim Wallace of Washington D.C.'s Sojourners Community tells of Mary Glover, who helps them run a soup kitchen for the needy.
Each day, before the doors open, the workers gather round for a prayer led by Mary.
"She prays as if she knows the person with whom she's talking," says Wallis, and this is what she prays: "Lord, we know you'll be coming through this line today. So help us treat you well."
As the Church of Jesus Christ, we are called to live as party hosts at God's Great Dinner Party.
These teachings of Jesus in Luke Chapter 14 are about Jesus' ministry becoming our ministry.
Jesus turns Himself toward the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind--people like me, people like you.
And the party guests are then expected to become party hosts in their turn.
We who "have been baptized into Christ Jesus" are called to conform to Him and His ways.
And this means we are to be ever mindful of those who are typically left out.
It's been said that Jesus and His disciples literally eat their way through the Gospels.
They go from place to place, house to house, one meal after another, always looking for the next invitation.
In Revelation Chapter 3, Jesus speaks to one of the churches in Asia Minor.
He says, "Look! I'm standing at the door knocking.
If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me."
Let us pray: Lord, we know You will be coming to this church.
So help us treat you well.
In Jesus' name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
