"pushing Up The Shades"

Luke 14:1, 7-14

“Pushing up the Shades”

Retired author and pastor Tony Campolo tells of an experience he had at dinner in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, some years ago.

He was checking on mission programs that his organization carried out day in and day out in Haiti.

He wanted to see how the workers were surviving emotionally and spiritually.

And at the end of a long day, he was tired and “peopled out,” so it was with great relief that he sat down to eat a good dinner at a French restaurant in the heart of Porta-au-Prince.

He was seated next to the window so he could enjoy watching what was going on outside.

The waiter brought a delicious looking meal and set it in front of him.

Tony picked up his knife and fork and was about to dive in when he happened to look to his right.

There, with their noses pressed flat against the window, staring at his food, were four children from the streets.

They pressed their faces right up against the glass; they were staring at his plate of food.

The waiter, seeing his discomfort, quickly moved in and pulled down the window shade, shutting out the disturbing sight of the hungry children.

Then the waiter said to Tony, “Don’t let them bother you. Enjoy your meal.”

In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus is challenging us to think about who we pull down the shades on.

Jesus knows it’s easy for us to want to pull down the shades on people because Jesus knows that is what many of us do.

We pull down the shades and shut out the people we would rather not think about.

We certainly pull down the shades on some of the world’s problems, its heartbreak and pain, and we keep that heartbreak and pain at a distance if only because it feels so overwhelming to open our hearts to all of it.

In Luke 14 Jesus is teaching us about the Kingdom of God through a story of a wedding banquet—one of life’s biggest celebrations.

Weddings are events that reveal who we are because they gather all of the people who are most important to us in one place.

All of those who are present and guests at our wedding are those who we have been known by, those who have influenced us, and those people that we claim.

The people who gather at our weddings are the same people we sit at tables with—family members, close friends and colleagues.

They are the people with whom we have shared countless meals and conversations.

I think Jesus is pushing us today to consider who is missing from our tables, to examine who we’ve pulled the shades down on, who we’ve written off, who we value less.

(pause)

Jesus lived in an honor and shame culture where counting was everything.

Status, favors, debts, honor—it was all about counting and reckoning and one’s standing and all the rest.

Inviting people to a banquet—whether they were family, friends, or business associates—put them in your debt and made a claim on them to return this favor to you.

It’s was an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” kind of world and meals were a great way to scratch someone’s back.

Which is why Jesus’ “advice” sounded so ludicrous!

Why on earth would you waste such an opportunity to up your status and up what people owe you by inviting people who have nothing to give you?...

…who can do nothing for you?...

…and who typically mean nothing to you?...

It would be crazy!

But it’s also the Kingdom of God that Jesus is talking about.

There is no other way to put it other than this is the way God wants us to treat each other.

Indeed, it’s the way God treats us—creating us, giving us what we need to flourish, caring for us, forgiving us, redeeming us—even though we can do nothing meaningful for God in return.

In my brother-in-law’s family growing up, on Christmas morning they named one of the eight kids “Santa’s helper” and that child got to distribute all of the presents to the rest of the family.

While this never seemed like an enviable role to play when they were young—after-all, it meant delaying opening those presents with your name on it!—as they grew older it became perhaps one of the most enjoyable part of their Christmas celebration.

And that’s because there is something simply joyful—and frankly unbeatably fun—about giving to others out of a sense of abundance.

And that is what Jesus is inviting here.

To stop counting and start giving and blessing.

Let’s keep in mind, this morning, Jesus’s particular focus on social relationships.

What would it be like to live into the freedom to stop calculating our social pecking order and stop worrying about what others think and simply be kind to everyone around us—particularly looking out for those people who don’t usually receive a lot of kindness?