Luke 14:1, 7-14 on August 31st, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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When Jesus gets invited over to dinner, he regularly teaches, and often when he teaches, he uses parables. And today is no different except this sure doesn't sound like much of a parable. Instead it sounds like Jesus is giving us advice. It's almost common sense. How much better is it to present yourself as humble and lowly and then be invited to a higher seat rather than run the risk of embarrassment by appearing arrogant because of where you sit? We get it. It makes sense logically. No one likes the hot shot and no at all. That's clear to us. It's a good life lesson. And this advice probably played pretty well with the people that Jesus was eating with. In that day and age, there was a place for everyone and everyone had their place. It's kind of like high school. You remember the pecking order in high school, how important it was to sit at the right tables in the cafeteria, jocks, nerds, band kids, preps, so on. It's kind of like that. The first century world was ordered around honor and shame. This was everything. And the way you gained status was through a system of favors. It was an outscratch your back if you scratched mind kind of world. And a seat of honor at meals was a great way to scratch someone's back. Lower seats were for less important people. And those who weren't invited at all, correspondingly, did not matter at all. So when Jesus starts talking about not overreaching in terms of social status, aim low and get invited up, heads were probably nodding in agreement. It would be humiliating for the host to ask you to move to a lower seat, yet totally great to be invited to a higher one. It made complete sense and would have been followed if not from a sense of humility, at least in recognition of the practicality of Jesus' wisdom. Be humble. And here is yet another reason why I know that we as human beings need redemption. We take this lesson as saying that we should be humble, because that is what is good and that is what is right and that is what is Christian. And if we're humble, then we get seen as being humble. And people will say nice things about how humble we are. And we will get affirmation and acceptance and approval. Look at how humble I am. And even better, God, God will see how humble we are. And we will earn brownie points with the head honcho. Then we get moved to a seat of honor. We take Jesus' lesson of humility and we twist it into self-exaltation. Can you imagine someone at a party fighting over the lowest seats, all waiting to see if the host will notice them and call them to a seat of honor? Oh no, after you, no, I insist after you. We'll do what it says even though we don't particularly like it, because in the end, it serves our egos. It's a good thing, then, that Jesus adds that second part of the parable. And this part probably doesn't sit too well with anyone. To the one who invited him to dinner, in this culture of shame and honor and favors, Jesus advises his host to welcome anyone, especially those who could not repay him, the poor, the lame, the blind. Jesus' audience probably saw this idea as crazy, offensive, fairly ridiculous. Who would squander the opportunity to gain a favor, doing something for someone who could never repay? It is absurd. It's foolish. Which probably lets us know that it is truly from God. Because God's logic never really seems to line up with ours. Jesus proclaims here that the kingdom of God, there is no pecking order, no uninvited, no lower tables, none, zero, zilch. When I first glance, that sounds like good news. However, it throws everything that we know and live by out the window. While the shame and honor dimensions of our culture aren't quite as explicit as in the first century, we're still pretty conscious of our social status. We know who to rub elbows with if we want a promotion or a favor or a nice meal. We know at what table we're sitting, we know at what table we'd like to be sitting, and we know at what table we are, glad we're not sitting. Again, think of high school. But Jesus doesn't weigh with all that. Most status, no order, no hierarchy. And if our social pecking order is gone, if we can't work the room, if the process of knowing how to get what we want is missing, if getting a good seat at the table doesn't depend on us, then there's nothing left for us to do. And that hurts a bit. Because if there's nothing about us that earns our spot at the best table, then the only thing left is God's grace and God's grace alone. Because in every other thing in this life, it is up to us. Jesus takes some getting used to. And Jesus doesn't just tell us this in parables or simply teach us about God's kingdom. Jesus actually embodies this by giving us all that he has, even though we can never repay the favor. That's what the cross is all about. Jesus gives up his claim to power, authority, prestige, by willingly going to the cross. All to show us how far God will go for us and how far how much God loves us. Love that the world cannot repay. And now, Jesus still selflessly gives himself to us. Jesus hosts some meal for us, invites us all to the table, gives us each place of honor, raises us up out of our sin, out of our sorrow, out of our shame. So we can live a new life now. Jesus has already welcomed us without condition and we don't have to scramble for honor or worry about our place. So we gather around that communion table. We come not because we've earned it, but because God invites us. And that takes futility to recognize that we are not here by our own works or deeds, but by grace. Not by reputation, not by popularity, not by achievement. God's welcome is what makes room for us. We are invited to that table of new life and now we get to invite others as well. That is the shift that Jesus calls us to make. Not only are we invited, but we expand the table and we invite others too. What would that look like for us? What would it look like to welcome someone that the world says doesn't belong? What would it look like to speak up when voices try to tear other people down? What would it look like to give up something that we hold dear when it stands in the way of life? What would it look like to make sure every neighbor had enough to eat in a safe place to stay? And if someone asks why are you doing all these crazy things, you just say, because I think this is what God wants. Sharing who we are and what we have for ministry, inviting someone to sit at your table, living like Jesus, not because we get something, but because we have already been given everything. Those are kingdom ways. Those are ways that we listen to Jesus. Those are ways how we make room at the table for everyone. Jesus embodies what he teaches, laying aside everything for those of us who cannot pay him back. He opens up the table for all of us. A place where all of us are invited and all of us are welcomed. Christ treats us with dignity and worth and welcome, even though we didn't do anything to deserve it nor could we ever. And now, he continues to work within each of us, stirring us to live out this new vision in this new way where there is no first or last, no honor or shame, no tables to move up or down. So come to the table, receive grace upon grace, and then go out into the world, not to climb higher but to widen the circle until all of God's children know that they belong. Amen.