Still Causing Trouble

Sermon by: Rev. Mary Alice Mulligan Ph.D.

Scripture: Luke 14:1-14

Week by week we are making our way through Luke. For two weeks we listened to portions of chapter 12; then a week in 13. Today and next Sunday we will listen to parts of chapter 14; then Rev. Greg will preach on Sept 11; and then I’ll be back to preach from a portion of chapter 16. You might want to read along. Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem. Along the way, his teachings get more pointed. The time of preparation is over; the disciples are going to have to stand on their own soon, so Jesus ramps up their education, completely unconcerned whose toes he happens to step on, as the surrounding crowds listen in. The church today is invited to listen in as well, and to walk further into the Way of discipleship with Jesus. We will hear Jesus’ fourth controversy over keeping the Sabbath holy. The lectionary invites us to skip some verses, but I think we do well to hear verses 1 to 14, so take a break now and read Luke 14: 1-14.

There is Jesus, stirring up trouble again. Remember, last week, people watched, hoping he would mess up by healing on the Sabbath. And of course, he did. Today, they watch him closely to see how he will behave, first when someone needs to be healed and then as folks gather to eat a meal among the big wigs, still on the Sabbath. Once again, he doesn’t seem to care that the people watching him are powerbrokers. Jesus notices a man who needs to be healed. And the people jockeying for position who need to be taught. Jesus teaches by words and deeds, more urgently as he gets closer to Jerusalem. To whomever will listen, Jesus offers instructions for living in harmony with the Way of God’s Realm on Earth, no matter how much trouble such lessons create.

Keeping things even-steven makes sense to us. We like when things are in balance, don’t we? If a person does something nice, we want to pay them back with an equal gesture, right? Suppose one of our friends makes reservations at some swanky new restaurant and invites us and several friends out for dinner to celebrate our birthday. There are presents, a nice bottle of wine perhaps, and birthday cake. The friend who organized the party picks up the tab. What a great evening! However, when the friend’s birthday rolls around? Of course, we feel we have to do something equally as nice. Tit-for-tat.

But not just big events. We use “pay-back” language all the time, don’t we? We all have said something like, “I call my brother every week, but he never calls me. He should call me every once in a while.” Right? Our human nature somehow keeps mental track of who owes what, in our various relationships.

One family tradition drew children and grandchildren home from their scattered dwelling places to spend Christmas together every year, but as the number of grandchildren increased, Grandma decided that each extended family member would draw one name out of a hat and buy just that one present for Christmas. They agreed that they would not spend more than $50 on the gift. And then someone pointed out the importance of agreeing that people would spend at least $35. Why would a family be so meticulous? We know why. So everyone receives roughly the same level of present. It may sound silly, but we have a little meter in our brains that wants things to be even. “What I give, I should receive.” Pay back makes sense.

But, Jesus calls us to generosity. Just when we start feeling good about being fair, that trouble-maker Jesus says, “Forget ‘fairness.’ Be outrageously generous!” Jesus uses the banquet scene, where people sit according to a strict pecking order of importance. Sounds like a modern sit-down wedding dinner. The most important people are at the head table. The wedding party’s family members sit at close tables; and the odd ball relatives and weird friends are in the back at the reject table (with the minister). We know the scene. But here, Jesus seems to be telling us first to know our own value. He is not telling us to disregard our own worth. Each person is precious to God, so that means each of us has infinite worth. So, none of us should be treated as a door mat. But then he paints a picture in even more detail. Beyond fairness in life’s pecking order, Jesus calls us to burst out of protocol. Time and again, Luke shows Jesus advocating a Holy Upset of the pecking order of the world. And then he delivers a solar plexus punch. When he talks about his own ministry, Jesus indicates he is not merely allowing the rejects to join him. Instead, he claims poor people, those with disabilities, the ones who smell, and the worst sinners are the very purpose for the Incarnation. Those people are the head table. In other words, Jesus is teaching us that Holy Upsetting is God’s Realm. The ones we consider rejects are first at God’s Table. In addition, Jesus often adds a word of caution: those who want to cast out the rejects could themselves be rejected – unless they get with the generous welcome of God’s reversal.

So, let’s think about Jesus’ teaching. If we were to follow his direction and throw a banquet for those who are not used to being banquet guests, how could we possibly set up a seating arrangement which shows the pecking order? Is the person with mental illness who lives in an institutional household to be seated in a higher place of honor than the smelly woman we see downtown panhandling? And where should the custodians and persons who served time in prison fit in the order? It actually seems like Jesus is trying to blow up our habit of mentally keeping track.

Exactly! “Don’t invite those who will even the score by inviting you to an equivalent event. Invite those who will never have the opportunity to throw such a party.” Our bounty is to be extended to those who cannot return the favor. Jesus says, “Let the generosity flow.”

He says it, because God’s Table is for the world. The Table is a powerful symbol of God’s sustenance for the entire world, at least in Luke. Perhaps some of us noticed. The Gospel of Luke reports Jesus at meals or talking about meals more than any of the other Gospels. The gathering of people at the Banquet Table is an important symbol of the Realm (the Kingdom) of God, which is open for the world. Of course this is glorious news, because it means there is even room for us. None of us is perfectly worthy, yet there is room at God’s Banquet for us.

A great thing about the Table of Holy Upset is that each person who pulls up a chair is also invited to bring whatever gifts they have, to be served up for the world. Sounds a little like that children’s book, Stone Soup, where a whole town of stingy folk is invited to share a meal which someone promises to make with just a clean stone in a huge pot of water. As the water heats, one by one, people come to sneak “a little something” into the pot, for flavor – a few cloves of garlic, a bunch of carrots, an onion, some potatoes, a ham hock. We know the story. Not merely a hearty stew results, but people are opened to learn the lesson of sharing what they have to enrich the table for everyone.

So, we each have our “little somethings;” the gifts God entrusts to us, to share with the world. Jesus teaches us not to focus on who is worthy to receive our efforts; but rather to bring whatever we have and put it in the pot – or symbolically put it on the Table, where we know Jesus is head. Every person has gifts. We want to be careful not to step on what someone else is offering (although we might have a conversation with the person who wants to drop a gallon of mint chocolate chip into the stone soup, because some offerings are better after the soup is eaten. But everyone has something to share). Think of gifts among us here. We have wonderful musicians adding to worship every Sunday, and a couple people who make sure there are activities on the Gathering Area table for children to pick up. Others make sure our donations get to Family Promise, while others use the Midweek Update to pray for every person on the prayer list every day. See, every gift matters, because each nourishes the world. God calls the whole world to share at the Table. And we get to join the party.