Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on September 2, 2007
(Proper 17, Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Ecclesiasticus 10:(7-11)12-18
Psalm 112
Hebrews 13:1-8
Luke 14:1,7-14

Our deacon, Don Twentyman, tells a tale about a television news correspondent who is doing a story about various religious orders around the country. The reporter is interviewing the Abbot of a particular order, asking him for what his order is best known. For example the monastery of ABC is best known for their delicious wine or the convent of XYZ is best known for their wonderful bread. The Abbot ponders for a moment and then responds, “We take great pride in our humility.”

Today’s Gospel begins as a set up and ends in a lesson on pride and humility. The Pharisees are always accusing Jesus of eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. So a particular leader of the Pharisees decides to invite Jesus to his house for a meal on the Sabbath. And we are told that they are watching him closely. Once again the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus into committing some faux pas, especially on the Sabbath day of rest, in order to gather evidence against him. But as close as they are watching Jesus, they forget that he is observing them as well.

The first thing he notices is how the guests are seating themselves. As they are coming in they try to position themselves onto the couches that reflect the most prestige. Now remember, traditionally, in 1st century Israel, people ate while reclining forward on couches and the places to the right and left of the host were those of highest importance, followed by alternating couches down each side. Generally a couch would hold three people with the middle position being the most honorable place for that particular couch. So Jesus is watching each person placing himself in the most respectable position relative to the host, which would appear to us to be a combination of a game of musical chairs without the music, and an elaborate football exercise with each player hitting the deck and rolling to one side while another player jumps over them. Interestingly enough, we are not told whether Jesus has been seated or if he is still standing around waiting to be told where to sit.

In any case, he immediately begins to tell a parable to those who have been invited about being careful where they recline in case they have overestimated their social position. If they have thought too highly of themselves, the host may have to come over and ask them to forfeit their position for a more distinguished guest, which would shame them greatly. And to make matters worse, if at that same time, everyone else has been placed, they might find themselves reclining at the kiddy table compounding their embarrassment. Jesus tells them that it would be best to take the seat farthest away from the host and let him be the judge of whether or not they deserve better. It would be much better for the host to bring them to a higher seat of honor than to have the host ask them to move lower.

However, there is an implied warning in this parable about false humility: don’t falsely underestimate yourself and purposely sit in a seat of lowly stature in order to draw attention to yourself in hopes that the host will make a huge production of moving you to a more honorable seat. This is as dishonest as taking a place of honor that is not rightfully yours to take.

Now having put the guests in their proper place, so to speak, Jesus turns to the host and gives him a little what for. He tells him that when he throws a party, not to invite his friends, or brothers, or relatives, or just his affluent neighbors. These people are only going to sustain his allusions, and will undoubtedly invite him to their next party in order to repay him for his hospitality. Rather, he should invite poor people, maimed people, crippled people, and blind people because they have no way to repay him for his generosity

Now in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us not to sound the trumpet when we give alms, or to make a production of our prayers in public, or to look dismal and disfigured when we fast, for by drawing attention to ourselves we have received our reward: that of having other people thinking or believing that we are some sort of super religious. With that same logic, Jesus is telling the host that by inviting only those who can repay him in kind, being paid in kind is the extent of the return to which he has to look forward. But by inviting those who cannot repay him he will be blessed with righteousness. In short, the message is why limit himself to mundane earthly rewards when unimaginable heavenly rewards are available?

Now once again, I have to wonder why the lectionary left out verses 2-6 in this chapter because to me, they help explain the rest of the passage. Remember how I said that this was a set up? They had invited Jesus in order to trap him. In verse 2, there was a man brought before Jesus who had dropsy, a disease where fluids are accumulated in certain areas and the skin swells up. This man was a plant because they wanted to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath. Knowing what they were up to, Jesus asks them whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? And they didn’t answer him because to say yes would mean it was ok to do work on the Sabbath, and if they said no, they would be showing that they put more emphasis on the letter of the law than on dispensing mercy to someone in need. So Jesus heals the man and sends him off, and then rubs it in a little more by asking which of them if their donkey or ox fell in a well on the Sabbath wouldn’t immediately pull him out? And again they remained silent because of course everyone of them would save their livestock, and they didn’t want to be put in a position where it appeared that they cared more for an animal than a sick man in need. So once again, Jesus has turned the tables on his adversaries.

Now in spite of their silence, they were amazed because they had just witnessed a healing miracle from Jesus, and even if Jesus wasn’t already the guest of honor, they wanted to sit as close as possible to this miracle worker. So wherever Jesus was positioned, he undoubtedly had an excellent view of the seating frenzy that ensued. This is what gave rise to the parable he told to the guests. But when Jesus turns to the host and instructs him on who he should have invited, he was essentially saying that the man with dropsy was exactly the kind of person that should have been invited to the party instead of being used as a pawn in this elaborate game of building a case against Jesus. And for that, he would certainly be held accountable on Judgment Day.

I have heard on occasion from a certain televangelist that God is not a respecter of persons. God could care less about our particular status in society. What he is concerned about is what is in our hearts. He doesn’t care how we judge ourselves in this world because He will judge us according to His standards, and as scripture tells us, we will reap what we sow.

Earlier in this Gospel we heard Mary the mother of Jesus set this standard by accepting that which God called her to do. God regarded the lowliness, the humility of His handmaiden and blessed her with the supreme position as Theotokos, the Mother of God. His mercy is upon those who recognize His majesty and stand in reverential awe of Him. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, He has put down the mighty from their seats, placing them in the appropriate position according to His judgment, and has exalted the humble and meek.

What Mary recognized in the Incarnation is the same message that Jesus is driving home in today’s Gospel. So let us not be proud in our humility but rather let us humbly serve God in this world by being just and merciful in all that we do. If we do these things in the most Holy Name of Jesus, we will surely be blessed and repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Gloria Patri