Preparing the Way
Preparing the Way
August 28, 2022
Luke 14: 1, 7 - 14
Four separate pieces comprise this morning’s gospel lesson from the fourteenth chapter of Luke.
The first is verse one which is simply giving context for the three following segments or stories. We read it today to suggest why Jesus is commenting on people’s behavior at a banquet. But it works much better for the first of the three segments -- about Jesus’ healing on the sabbath at a pharisee’s dinner -- than it does for our lesson – about people choosing seats of honor at a wedding banquet. But that was just Luke’s writing to connect the written or oral stories about Jesus that he is sharing.
The second piece of our lesson is a parable about choosing seats at a wedding banquet – no longer the Pharisee’s dinner. Luke reports that Jesus was at a wedding banquet where he saw people trying to get themselves seats in places of honor.
8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
Many scholars suspect that this parable was likely presenting something from the common culture, reflecting especially Proverbs 25: 6-7 which reads, Prov 25:6“Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; 7for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”
Perhaps Jesus was remembered referencing this piece of the Jewish wisdom literature or over the forty of fifty years before Luke was writing, this parable got connected with Jesus in the oral traditions. At least, it is not typical of Jesus’ teachings, and it is only included in the Gospel of Luke; it is in none of the other gospels.
The third piece is a proverb: “11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke places it here between two traditions that are only in his gospel. But this proverb, from the hypothetical Quotations Gospel Q, is also in the eighteenth chapter of Luke. Lk18:9-14aThere a Pharisee goes into the temple and thanks God that he is not like other people – thieving, unjust, adulterous, and especially not like that tax collector over there. But the tax collector, who was justified or acquitted by God, didn’t even look up as he muttered, “God, have mercy on me, sinner that I am.” Lk18:14b “For those who promote themselves will be demoted, but those who demote themselves will be promoted.”
Matthew places it among a series of brief teachings: Matt23:12“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” This is another indication that the Q gospel must have been in written form; Matthew and Luke in the first usage use exactly the same words; oral traditions usually have minor adjustments in their wordings.
The fourth piece of our lesson is another teaching that is only in Luke: Lk14:12-14. It was probably an independent written or oral tradition that Luke connected here with the preceding material. It reads, “12Jesus said to the one who had invited him, -- apparently neither the Pharisee’s dinner or the marriage banquet -- “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The first piece is only a literary connection. The second is probably from the common culture maybe referenced by Jesus or attributed to him over the years. The third sounds like Jesus and essentially is a resetting of “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” that we hear a number of times. But the form of this proverb may offer a significant clarification: the person who tries to put himself or herself in a place of honor or even first is the one who will be demoted or put to last.
Some people feel pretty sure that God decides who will be elected our President or our Bishop or even appointed to be our Pastor – that is who is “first” in whatever system we are referencing. I am not so sure of that; I think that God lets us make our own decisions – good or not-so-good -- and then works with us to make the best of it. But maybe some people who are really what we would call the “first” – at least more or less – are placed into first positions. So, the proverb in this form – those who seek to sit in the seats of honor – is a good corrective.
The lesson for us remains: ours is not to strive for glory and honor and prestige. Rather, our jobs are to settle down and do the ministries and to accomplish the tasks necessary for the effective functioning of our congregation.
The fourth piece probably has the most relevance for us right now. I have not detailed all of my plans yet, but I am trying to prepare us to change our thinking, our patterns, our programs, and our processes so that we can begin to grow again in effective witness to our community -- hopefully both in this our traditional congregation and in some new “alternative” programming that we are yet to develop that will -- in ways that we may or may not recognize -- nurture Christian lifestyles among participants and will spread Christian values and behavior in our community.
As we start down these new roads, these new ways of thinking about our Church’s life and mission, I feel sure that we will feel like the fellow in Jesus’ parable who is doing what Jesus recommended: 12“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Well, that is not exactly the way that it will likely go, but it may well feel much like that. We will probably work long and hard developing programs of several kinds and offering them to people who may simply take them for granted for a while until they begin to feel and understand the Christian lessons and invitations that we are presenting.
That is, we will often feel like we are giving banquets to “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” who cannot repay us in kind. It will probably take us several years before we realize how much these people will have helped us grow in our Christian faith and how they will have taught us about God’s way for our congregation and for each of us to grow in faith and practice.
Over the last two years we have been proving again that continuing to do things the same way produces the same results. We have been continuing the maintenance of an attitude and style of church for many years without showing enough positive results of effective witness in the community or of new members. It is time for us to risk following God into our neighborhood sharing God’s love and forgiveness and peace and blessing in words and ways that we have not inherited and in language and practices that are free of the traditional church patterns that many people have come to ignore or reject.
I urge you to participate in the “Preparing the Way” class on Tuesdays beginning in nine days. Some of the things we do and the way we do them get in the way of God’s love. This study will help us understand what some churches like ours have already learned enabling them to become thriving congregations, living and sharing spiritual blessings. That is the beginning of our new life in Christ. But it only works for you when you participate in the changes that are coming for us.
We will soon begin to offer some “banquets” of God’s grace and love. Don’t get left out; join the “Prepare the Way” class to explore what God has in store for you and for us.
Amen.
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