A Seat at the Table

 Luke 14:1, 7-14    August 28, 2022

 

If you happen to meet Queen Elizabeth

-you should rise as she enters the room

-Americans are not expected to give a full bow,

but men can bow their heads and women are expected to curtsey.

- If she comes up to you, do not take the queen's hand,

but you wait for her to offer it to you,

- and don't shake to hard, just a touch will do.

- You may refer to her as “Your Majesty.”

 

If you find yourself next to her at dinner,

- You may speak to the Queen, but let her steer the conversation.

- By no means should you try to imitate her accent.

- And when the Queen finishes her meal,

then everyone's meal is finished.

We might look at these and chalk it up to some old world customs

we might think that we are beyond this kind of thing in our America.

But face it, everyone treats people who are rich or powerful

a little differently than we do other people.

We treat wealthy or famous people with a little more respect,

a little more honor, a little more attention.

 

Maybe we think that their fame will rub off on us,

Or that they will remember us some day.

Or that they will drop little packs of money where ever they go?

 

I worked for a wine shop in San Francisco

(It was a wine shop when important people called,

but it was really a liquor store.)

The owner was named Tony –

One day, the owner of the pro-football team called Tony

and asked him which winery he and his wife might go to

for a tasting and some lunch.  He was rich obviously.

 

Tony gave him the name of one and right after they hung up,

Tony immediately called up the winery and told the manager –

“when he comes to the winery,

give him the best of anything,

anything he wants and don't charge him.”

And the manager agreed and thanked Tony for letting him know.

The wineries did whatever Tony asked because

they know he would buy their wines if they did.

 

I shared an office with Tony and heard the whole conversation. 

I turned around to Tony, kind of incredulous and said,

“Tony, this guy can afford lunch, he can afford anything,

he could even afford to buy the winery,

why should they give him their stuff for free?”

He said, June, that’s how the world works.

The rich and famous eat for free.

The Banquet
Hyatt Moore

 

That is how the world works.

We treat the rich and famous with honor

and we expect some attention in return.

I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine.

Upward mobility. Favors and deference for the rich.

Everyone else has to pay their own way.

 

In our Gospel today,

Jesus is having dinner at the house

of some upwardly mobile clergy -

one of the leaders of the Pharisees.

These are big and important people

who are have been very adept at upward mobility.

getting to know and impress the right people.

And they would love to move up some more.

So they've invited Jesus over.

Who is not rich, but who is a little famous now.

 

They aren't necessarily enemies of Jesus,

they are probably more fascinated with him

Jesus is a kind of celebrity of the day

he's popular with the people,

and they want to see what he’s all about.

 

They were probably hoping for a pleasant meal,

something they could tell their friends about the next day.

Maybe cull some favor with Jesus, just in case

anything good comes out of him

 

But as we know, meals with Jesus and the Pharisees

are not often pleasant. Jesus is very good at making

those dinner parties pretty awkward.

 

First Jesus starts off with something

that could pass off as etiquette:

“Don’t try and get the most important seat.

Sit in the least important seat.”

 

And then, instead of telling them how honored he is

to be invited to join them that evening, Jesus tells them.

“Important church people,

Next time you give an expensive dinner, why don't you do it right?

Don't invite your friends, or your rich neighbors,

or the queen or the owner of the football team,

don't even invite me to the party.

 

To do the party right: Invite the poor, the disabled,

the ex-cons, the guys who have signs on the highway exits.

You should invite people who can't repay you.

Who have nothing to give.

That would be a party that God would enjoy.”

 

The story doesn’t say if they all got around to the meal this time.

 
Jesus gives them this helpful party hints for two reasons:

 

One: to prove to us, and remind us over and over again

that the status that the world puts on us is irrelevant.

The money, the fame the power, the poverty, the shortcomings,

the addictions, those don’t count.

 

Our self-worth doesn’t come from how much we have

or who people perceive us to be, or where we sit at a dinner

or if we’re invited to the party in the first place.

Our worth comes from God. And we’re all beloved children,

no matter what our status in this world

 

And Two:  This is God’s vision for his church in this world.

Jesus wants his church to be a place

where the poor and the lame

and the outcast are not just given charity and patronized and pitied.

But where they are invited into the banquet,

Where they are given a seat at the table.

 

Not just in terms of eating and hospitality,

but where they are given power and a say

in their destiny and how they live.

Where they are not just nameless statistics,

but where they are given a voice and

treated with respect, and welcomed.

 

As followers of Jesus we are called to

love for love’s sake, and not for what we can get back.

To share God’s love, and our power, with those who have

the least of what the world has to give.

 

We live in an upwardly mobile world,

but for our own sake and the sake of the world,

Jesus calls us to be part of a downwardly mobile gospel.

Be a friend of the poor and the outcast.

 

Even after two thousand years of living with Jesus,

Christians almost always neglect Jesus’s call to this.

We play the world’s game of status and power.

we have our own church celebrities,

members with money and power are still treated with

more deference than others.

We still give honor to those with the most

hoping to get something back.

We still try to get to the head of the table and

we try to invite the right people to our parties.

But that is contrary to Jesus call.

 

I tell you, I don’t pick these readings, but sometimes the

committee that was formed in the 1980’s seem to know

just what’s going on in our lives.

 

This has been a week for us, and for me,

and an even longer one for the people living

next door to us presently.

 

If you haven’t heard, the people in the apartments next door

are being thrown out to make way for expensive condos.

Over 300 people could become homeless

because there’s no where else to go on Hilton Head.

But this church and Deep Well – the service organization

that was born out of this congregation – has risen to the occasion.

 

Our Press Secretary, Ann Matter put the article I wrote

for the newsletter on a social media app,

and the news stations in Savannah saw it and did stories.

You’ve all spread the word around

and contacted people and talked about it.

Just in one week, we’ve raised awareness of the situation

and changed the story from “Oh well, what are we gonna do?”

to “We all have to do something”.

The mayor even had to make a statement in response.

I imagine they’re rolling their eyes in the Town Council

when they hear our name, but good.

 

Our member Jimmy Rowe has used his

expertise, and his clout, and trust in this community

to go to the owners and to negotiate a better,

more merciful solution, which we’ll tell you more about soon.

 

People of our church are offering hospitality tonight

to the residents as they hear about options and developments.

 

We’ve raised almost 6 thousand dollars from our people

and from people in the community using our giving page,

and Deep Well has raised much more.

 

Deep Well is finding temporary housing for people.

And there’s much more we can do.

The Island has come together in compassion in response.

 

And we weren’t even organized.

We weren’t even ready for this.

And I was on away in a cabin in Georgia for most of it!

But we were ready for the Spirit’s call when it came.

 

This is a great example of how Christians

are called to use our power.

It is our job not to just give mercy to people in need, 
but to give them justice. 

To remind those in power to invite them to the table, like Jesus did here.

And to actually bring them to the table.

And to make sure they’re given a regular seat at the table.

We are asked to be the church that uses our power

for the good of all. We’ve got more work to do,

but we’ve made a good start here.

 

We are asked to make God’s will, on earth like it is in heaven.

To make the tables of the world look more like Christ’s table.

Where everyone is invited, and we all come to it the same.

Where none of us deserves to be here more than another,

but everyone is welcome.