Loving God, you invite us into your vision for us today and teach us about life in your kingdom.  Continue to teach and renew us by the power of your Holy Spirit, granting us the eyes to see and the ears to hear; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Imagine that you are on a hockey team, and you jump over the boards onto the ice at the beginning of the game because you assume that the coach is going to want to start you.  And then the coach says, “Hey - get back here!  You’re not starting today.  You’ll be on the fourth line.”  Wouldn’t it be better to sit just below where you think you should be and then be asked to move up and get out there on the ice?  “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk. 14:11).

    In the case of today’s gospel, these words are directed at dinner guests who are all choosing the best places for themselves.  Essentially, these people are making an assumption.  They are assuming that nobody else who has been invited is more important or more worthy of honour than they are.  And so they choose the best places for themselves.

    An interesting question for us to toss around is where the best seats in the church are.  Are some seats better than others, and do people rush in to get them?  Where is the lowest place – the seat that nobody wants?  Or are all the seats about the same, because all are equal at the foot of the cross?

    Not all of the modern day equivalents that we can think of match the wedding banquet that Jesus describes.  However, the call to humble ourselves in relation to God and to others certainly has not changed.  And so, we are led into the question today as to what it means for us to humble ourselves.  And how do we know if we are exalting ourselves?

    One way to think of exalting ourselves is simply that we are choosing our own vision rather than God’s.  The people in today’s gospel think of themselves as righteous and God-fearing.  They believe that they are acceptable to God, while there are other people who are not.  They believe that they will be first at the table in the kingdom of God.  They are shocked to discover that God’s vision might be different from their own – at least, according to Jesus.  For Jesus teaches time after time that in the kingdom of God, the poor and the downtrodden and the lame and the blind and the tax collectors and the sinners will all be there, and will even be given places of honour at the table.

    We exalt ourselves when we set ourselves up as judge of who will or will not be welcome in the kingdom of God.  We exalt ourselves when we believe that we are more righteous than others.  We exalt ourselves when we believe that we are deserving of God’s favour and blessings for all of the good things that we have done.  We exalt ourselves when we focus on ourselves rather than on God’s vision for us and for all of humanity.

    Not long ago I read a book called Feed the Fire (Epperly & Epperly) that talks about ways in which we can stay tuned in to God’s vision for us.  One of the ideas from that book that really hit home for me is that when we respond to things in the church or in the congregation with fear or defensiveness, our focus is usually on ourselves and on what we want.  On the other hand, when we are consciously focussed on God’s vision for us and on the light and life of the Holy Spirit, any need for fear or defensiveness disappears.  When we are centred and tuned in to the healing light of Christ, we are aware that God is in charge and will guide our path if we will only stop and listen.

    While we do not always know exactly what God wants in every situation, we are certainly given the broad strokes of God’s vision in the Scriptures, and especially in the life and teaching of Jesus.  And so, back to today’s part of that vision from the gospel: We still have the question as to what it really means for us to humble ourselves.

    In a way, we could also answer this question by looking at things from God’s perspective rather than our own.  Essentially, Jesus is teaching us to make some different assumptions about how we compare to the people around us.  And so, rather than assuming that we are more righteous and more acceptable than certain other people, we are asked to assume instead that there are other people who are far more holy and God-pleasing and righteous than we are.  It is a perspective that calls us to treat one another with respect, for we do not know how honoured that person might be in the sight of God.  It is a perspective that also reminds us that God is the judge.

    However, we also need to keep in mind that there is such a thing as false humility.  The apostle Paul counselled people not to think more highly of themselves than they ought (Rom. 12:3).  Yet, in different circumstances, he might have said not to think less of yourselves than you ought.  The person who had the one talent and went and hid it in the ground certainly wasn’t commended for failing to make use of it (Mt. 25).  In the same way, letting your light shine does not mean hiding it under a bushel basket (Mt. 5:14).

    False humility says, “I don’t have anything to offer.  Others are so much more talented than I am.”  However, true humility uses all that we have been given, however much or little it may be, in the service of God and of one another.  True humility acknowledges that there may well be others who are more talented or more righteous or more faithful, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t offer what we have to God and just watch as God turns it into something beautiful.  All that we have comes from God in the first place.  Why wouldn’t we offer it back to God in the spirit of service?

    However, first I suppose we need to ask ourselves if we really want to be part of God’s kingdom.  This may seem like a strange question, but today’s gospel asks us to think quite seriously about who will be at the table with us in the kingdom of God.  Are we okay with being at the same table as the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame?  Will we still want to be there if we discover that there are homosexuals, or homeless people, or Aboriginal people there?  In fact, think about any type of people that you don’t like being around.  What if they are there at the table in the kingdom of God?  Will you still want to be there?

    These are not idle questions, for in Jesus’ day, the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame were the ones who were not wanted in the Temple.  In fact, the lame and the blind were not even allowed in, for they were considered to be defective and not worthy of entering God’s house.  People in Jesus’ day would have believed that the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame were outside of God’s favour, and had sinned in some way in order to end up in their predicament.

    And so, when Jesus talks about inviting these people to dinner, and then follows it up with a parable about the great banquet where the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind are invited to come in, this is no small thing.  In fact, it goes against everything that Jesus’ hearers would have believed about who will be there in the kingdom of God.

    And so, make sure that you want to be there.  Make sure that you want to live in the presence of the God who loves every person more deeply than we can ever understand.  Make sure that you are okay with the fact that Jesus did not give himself only for you, but for every other person – even the ones you don’t like.  Make sure that you are okay with God’s judgment, which might even be more merciful than you would choose.  Make sure that you want to live surrounded by love, open to the gifts of God and the gifts of those who are around you.  Make sure that you are ready to be forgiven and loved and redeemed and made holy, for that is what Jesus came to do.

    Then come, and eat, and be blessed.  Come, and worship the Saviour.  Amen.

Lectionary 22(C)                                Luke 14:1, 7-14
September 1, 2013
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2013 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved