Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up! What
would that do to your party? He wasn’t on the invitation list,
He didn’t RSVP, but here He comes, making a beeline
straight at you, with arms outstretched in greeting, and about
twelve of his best buds looking eagerly at the buffet table.
Jesus at your party! What do you do? You can’t very well
tell Jesus to leave. That’s not cool. But Jesus at your party?
What’s that all about?
Let’s see. The DJ is already setting up his equipment, and
we were going to dance. Too late to hide the boom box now.
What will Jesus do about that? Can you imagine Jesus
dancing? Jesus with moves? All we ever saw, from
watching those old Bible bathrobe movies, is Jesus trudging
slowly along stony Galilean roads. We never thought of
Jesus dancing. Got to hide the DJ somehow. Oh, I know:
Hey, DJ; you got an arrangement of “Amazing Grace” in your
CD’s?
And let’s see, what else? Ladies, could you cover up a bit?
You don’t have to wear church clothes, but maybe you could
find a shawl or a sweater and find a strategic location? Just
for a few minutes; Jesus won’t stay long. Just sort of fade
into the background until He gets the idea and leaves?
What else? The music, the clothes. Oh, the drinks. We’ve
got some pretty strong stuff out here. It’s not Welch’s grape
juice or Canada Dry ginger ale, if you get my drift. Well,
Jesus will just have to deal with that. I am certainly not going
to ask my guests to put aside their refreshments for one
instant. After all, you can’t have a party without alcohol, now
can you?
Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up. What
would that do to your party? What would you need to
change?
The trouble with us is that we do not know how to party. We
do not know how to have a good time. We think we do. We
suppose we know the ingredients for partying are food and
drink, guys and girls, loud music and even louder chatter.
But we’ve taken our cues from all the wrong places. We’ve
listened to the world about how to have a good time. We’ve
never really thought through what it is to be cool. You know
who we’ve listened to. We’ve listened to the alcohol industry
and the music industry and the clothing industry. We’ve
listened to the consumer society. We’ve taken all our cues
about how to enjoy life from the folks who have something to
sell us. But we haven’t watched Jesus partying. We haven’t
seen how this man, who got hungry and thirsty, who thrived
on the company of others, who wanted the human touch --
we haven’t seen how this man Jesus parties. Because when
Jesus shows up at your party, everything changes. The
mood is different, the purpose is different, the outcome is
different.
Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up. Well,
Jesus did show up for Levi one day, and asked him, “Are you
ready to have some fun? Levi, are you ready to rumble?”
I
When Jesus parties, He reaches out to include rather than to
exclude. Jesus, when He comes to the party, is there to
reach out and embrace, especially the undesirable and the
marginal. Jesus partying includes rather than excludes.
Jesus went out one day and saw a tax collector named Levi,
sitting at his tax booth. Levi, counting his money. Levi,
running his fingers down his accounts, trying to see where he
could gouge a few more shekels. If ever there was anybody
who was uncool, it was Levi. Levi, all alone, hated and
feared, because he worked for the Romans, he took as
much of your money as he could get, and he was dishonest
as well. I’ll wager nobody had ever invited Levi to a party.
Levi had lived a sad and lonely existence, comforted only by
his little bit of power and touched only by his little pile of gold.
So Jesus walked right up to this misfit and invited Himself
straight into the guy’s life! “Levi, follow me.” Invited
Himself right into Levi’s life and home and everything! Isn’t
that amazing? Doesn’t that jar you loose? It does me. I am
not likely to do anything like that. I’ve taken too many of my
clues about fellowship from the world, and the world says,
“Love only those who love you.” The world says, “Extend
yourself only to those who have reached out to you. Don’t
get outside of your box. Stay calm, stay wary. Watch out,
because you never know what strangers are up to.” The
world says hold back your friendship, keep it for those who
make you feel good and comfortable.
But Jesus, when He parties, includes rather than excludes.
Jesus partying reaches beyond those who don’t threaten,
those who are comfortable. Jesus partying reaches out to
include the undesirable, the marginal. You know how I like
to say it: the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. The
ones nobody else wants at their party.
Thursday night I saw this at work. Here we were, our social
hall full of people from various walks of life, enjoying dinner
together. There were Central Union Mission residents and
After-School children and their parents. There were Boy
Scouts, community organization representatives, church
members. So what is my role? I got to be pastor, right?
Sitting up at the front table, receiving the special guests.
You know, the special special guests. The police
commander, two city council members, the guest speakers. I
did that just fine. I welcomed the special guests to their
special seats, I waved servers over to make sure they got
food, I made chit-chat with the special special guests.
But I noticed what makes special special guests really
special. When Pastor Walter Fauntroy entered the room, he
took it over! He shook hands, he hugged, he greeted, he
exuded energy. I doubt whether he actually ate more than a
half dozen mouthfuls of food in the time he was with us. He
took over the place. What’s that about?
And Councilman Adrian Fenty. He even refused the food we
offered, and went up and down the tables talking with
people, pressing the flesh. Oh, you say, he was just grazing
for votes. Well, maybe; except that the guys from Central
Union Mission do not vote in Ward 4, and some didn’t even
understand who he was. But he spent lots of time; he
embraced marginalized men, people on the edges of polite
society.
And what did I do? Here I sat, in my small corner, trying to
honey up to the police commander! Oh, you see, I need to
party like Jesus partied – reaching out to the Levi’s of this
world. I need to party like Jesus did, celebrating every life,
not just those who have something to give me. I need to
reach out, so that my celebrations are not just for me and for
the folks I am comfortable with. I need to party like Jesus –
including rather than excluding.
II
Well, when Jesus summoned Levi to come and follow Him,
Levi threw the biggest party of the year. A great banquet, a
large crowd. Who were they? Who could Levi invite?
Mostly other tax collectors. Who else are you going to party
with, after al, if you are an outcast? Levi’s neighbors
avoided him; Levi’s Roman employers held him in contempt;
even Levi’s own family tried not to admit who they were.
“Levi? Levi the tax collector? My father? No, I think you
have me confused with some other Levi’s son. Never heard
of the man.” So it was a big party of messy, mucky people!
So then comes the chatter and the gossip. It must have
been a little like Oscars night. Have you ever seen those TV
specials at the Oscars awards? There is a crowd standing
outside the auditorium as the celebrities arrive. Some TV
commentator describes what everybody is wearing,
comments on how tacky it is, and then tries to stick the
microphone in somebody’s face and ask questions like, “How
are you going to feel if you lose, and what are you doing in
that hideous rag?!”
Well, here come Jesus and His disciples, waltzing into Levi’s
house into all that mess. Who is there with them? Six tax
collectors, five prostitutes, four Roman collaborators, three
suspected zealots, two poor widows, and a partridge in a
pear tree! The Pharisees have a field day, getting their
jollies out of seeing who shows up, so they can complain.
“Jesus, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors?
They are the wrong kind. Jesus, why do you rub elbows with
all these sinners? It isn’t doing anything for your reputation!”
But Jesus partying is not about reputation. It’s not about
self-promotion. Jesus partying is about bringing people to a
new place in life. “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call
not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
When Jesus parties, He is not there for the successful or the
well-connected. Jesus is there for those who need
something more. Our trouble is that we have taken our cues
from the typical Washington party. What do we do? We
collect business cards and pass out our own impressive
business cards, embossed with our credentials, hoping to get
somebody to notice us. Oh, I think I’ll get some printed for
myself: “The Reverend Doctor Joseph Miles Smith, Bachelor
of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity, Doctor of Ministry, Senior Pastor
of the prestigious and historic Takoma Park Baptist Church,
chief of staff and chairman of the church council.” Are you
impressed? What garbage! Or what else do we do in this
town? We write impressive resumes, full of high-sounding
compliments to ourselves. I’ve always been amused when
people stand up to introduce some guest speaker, and read
from the resume he himself wrote. It says things like
“distinguished career” and “outstanding leadership”. What
rubbish! No. If Jesus had had a business card, it would
have said nothing more than, “Jesus of Nazareth, redeemer.”
Period. And His resume would have read, “Born in a stable,
did one theology lesson in the Temple, banged up fingers in
the carpenter shop, resisted the devil three times.” What
Jesus was about, even at the party, was being redemptive.
He did not go to see what they could do for Him. He went
there knowing what He could do for them.
Brothers and sisters, people party the world’s way because
they are hungry and thirsty for real fellowship and
companionship. Who knows but what you might be able, if
you go to the party like Jesus did, to be redemptive – you
might be able to feed a hungry soul who is grazing among
the hors d’oeuvres! You might be able to see in the one who
is drinking too much a soul that is thirsty for the water of life!
You could be redemptive!
When I was the Baptist campus minister at Berea College,
years ago, I found out that a lot of our students were running
off to Richmond, about twelve miles away, on Friday and
Saturday nights. You couldn’t buy alcohol in Berea, but you
could in Richmond. So, even though they were not
supposed to have cars, they found ways to get down that
road and soak up the spirits every weekend. One of our
deacons was upset about this and wondered what I was
going to do to stop it. I said it might be good if he and I
would get ourselves down that road one Saturday night, go
to the bars and see who was there and just find out what
needs they were feeding. The dear brother drew himself up
in full deaconly array, in absolute horror, and almost
screamed at me, “No Christian should ever be in a place like
that. I would never go in the door of a bar.” No way was he
going to take off his protective wraps and expose himself to
the hurly-burly atmosphere.
Well, we didn’t go. I let myself get talked down from that
one. But I’ll bet I know who did go. I’ll bet I know who was
there. I see Jesus partying there. I suspect Jesus went to
the bars, the honky-tonks, the men’s clubs, the strip joints.
He went not to participate, nor to pontificate. He went to
connect, to touch, to listen, and to redeem.
Jesus partying, never forgot who He was. Jesus was at the
party not for what others could do for Him, but for what He
could do for them.
III
Most of all, Jesus partying is about a joy that cannot be
contained, about a life that cannot be put down. Jesus
partying is about a fresh and exuberant spirit that wants
something more. Jesus partying is about being the life of the
party, bringing life and joy where there was only gloom and
doom; about being hope and confidence where there was
only anxiety and grief. Jesus partying is about an exuberant,
expansive, room-filling, life-filling presence. That is what we
want, isn’t it?
Jesus spoke of Himself as like a bridegroom at a wedding
feast. Full of joy and hope! Jesus spoke of Himself as like
new wine, fresh, bubbling, yeasty, tasty. New wine,
fermenting, challenging. He says that no one puts new
wine into old wineskins, otherwise the new wine will
burst the old skins and be spilled and the old skins will
be destroyed. But you put new wine into fresh
wineskins. You let the wonderful power of this partying
Jesus do something new in your life! You don’t just sit
around and mope because today is the same old same old.
It isn’t! It isn’t the same. If Jesus has come to party with
you, everything is new. Everything is different. Everything is
possible.
Brothers and sisters, hear the good news! When Jesus
comes to party with us, He comes to embrace us, marginal
and difficult, unfashionable and nerdy though we might be.
Nonetheless He comes for us. And when Jesus parties with
us, He comes to help us, to change us, to redeem us. He
comes to bring us new life.
And so today learn to party with Jesus. Learn to accept this
new thing He wants to do in our lives. It’s time to be new
wineskins for the fresh new wine of the Gospel.
Do not leave here today the same as when you came in!
Jesus has been partying with you, and you are different. Do
not leave here today dreading tomorrow, hopeless and
anxious. Jesus has been partying with you, and all things
are possible; only believe. New wine calls for fresh
wineskins.
Do not go back to the old wineskins. Do not go back to the
old way of life. Jesus has showed you a new way to party.
You don’t need pub crawls; you don’t need party girls or
pretty boys; you have the new wine of His presence. Get rid
of that old wineskin, that worn-out way of life. It didn’t make
you happy, anyway, did it? Give Jesus a fresh wineskin to fill
with His new wine.
Don’t go back to that old meaningless job tomorrow and
grumble about another dreary Monday, and how will you ever
get through the week. You have partied with Jesus, you’ve
drunk the new wine that gives you power. That needs a new
wineskin. That new wineskin might be a new job, or it might
just be a new purpose in the old job. But we’ve got folks in
this congregation who left their jobs, turned in their keys and
their paychecks, are now seminary students, and are among
the happiest people I know. New wine calls for fresh
wineskins; you have partied with Jesus!
Kids, don’t go back to that classroom tomorrow and worry
about the class bully or the teacher’s pet or why do I have to
study this stuff. You have partied this weekend with Jesus,
and Jesus has showed you how to sing. When you study
and when you have lunch with the other kids and when you
get out on that playground, there’s something different about
you. You’ve been with Him. You’ve partied with Jesus.
You’re not the same.
Come on, kids, if you’ve been with Jesus and you know it,
clap your hands. If you’ve partied with Jesus and you know
it, stomp your feet. If you’ve heard good news and it’s about
His love for you, shout it out, “Jesus loves me!”
Don’t go back to that lonely apartment where you live alone
without finding somebody else whose life you can brighten.
You have been partying with Jesus! Don’t go back to that
old set of problems without taking a whole new look at how
to turn those lemons into lemonade! You have bent elbows
with Jesus!
New wine! Be a fresh wineskin! Never mind that the world
says Christians are dull and dreary, weak and weary. It is
not true. Never mind that the world says you have to drive a
certain car, wear certain clothes, or sip a certain potion to be
somebody. It is not true. We are the happiest, the most joy-
filled people in all the world, for, we have heard the good
news that Jesus parties with us, just as we are. New wine!
And nothing in all the world can hold it back. Celebrate!
Sing! Shout! Rejoice! Give thanks. Give thanks today.
For life with Jesus is a party. I tell you, Jesus is the very life
of my party. Jesus can be your very life too. He’s here.
Maybe you didn’t even invite Him, but He’s here. Will you let
Him in? Will you join with this partying Jesus?
“Levi, follow me.” And he got up, left everything, and
followed him. Come on, let’s par-tay!
