Sermon Title: "Banquet Hospitality"
Date: August 29, 2010
Minister:  The Rev. Susan Bjork

Lesson:  Luke 14:1, 7-14

Many biblical scholars have noted that in Luke’s gospel, many scenes take place as Jesus is either on his way to a meal, or leaving a meal, or actually eating a meal.  This makes sense culturally.  Eating together was a common experience then, just as it is today.  And sharing meals was a central act of hospitality then, just as now.  And for the people in Jesus’ agrarian society, crop production from seed to harvest, the raising of livestock, the preparation of their daily sustenance, as well as preservation of food stuffs consumed much of their time, energy, and therefore, their daily life.

So in today’s lesson we find Jesus once again sitting down to eat with a group of people.  This time, Jesus has been invited to the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to share a Sabbath meal.  And we are told that they were watching him closely.  After all, Jesus had already gained a bit of a reputation as a pot stirrer by doing things like healing people on the Sabbath (which Charlie spoke about last week).  And actually the part of the story we skipped this morning is another Sabbath healing encounter.

So, of course, Jesus is never one to pass up on a good teaching moment, especially when he had the captive attention of some of the people he was trying to reach.  So Jesus uses this mealtime opportunity to offer a hands-on lesson about both humility and hospitality.

Now, we might think that Jesus was acting a little too much like Miss Manners in focusing on mealtime behavior and be tempted to smile, nod, and possibly write off this lesson on banquet etiquette a little too quickly.  However, I think we would be missing something important if we did because Jesus is a little like Miss Manners in this exchange, but much more radical in his understanding of true humility and hospitality and how that might shape our relationships with one another.

And actually, Jesus’ actions are not so well-mannered.  Instead of being the model guest who quietly awaits the guidance of his host, Jesus immediately stirs the waters of controversy again by offering two lessons, first to the guests and then to his host.

Being the consummate observer of human behavior that he was, Jesus watched as the guests vied for the best seats in the house, nearest to the host, where the most honored guests should sit.  And I can imagine him grinning to himself before he recalled for them in his own words the well-known passage from Proverbs 25:7 which states, “for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”  In other words, Jesus asked them: why are you all so preoccupied with attaining the position of highest honor instead of just sitting down and waiting for the meal to begin?  Would you rather be embarrassed when asked to move later? 

Clearly, Jesus calls attention to the lack of humility in the guests’ behavior.  But there is also another level to Jesus’ lesson on humility as well.  In that culture, which valued honor and social status, meals (especially large banquets and feasts) were not often socially equitable affairs.  Instead, the elites and nobles who were seated in the places of honor would be served first, receiving the best foods and wines.  The less elite guests would be served second, perhaps receiving the second round of less desirable cuts of meat and “Two-Buck Chuck” instead of that now depleted good bottle of Pinot the host had saved for the occasion.  Not too bad, but clearly not the best the host had to offer.  And, of course, servants and slaves ate last and received whatever was leftover.

When we put this story in the context of this social stratification, the guests’ behavior makes a lot more sense.  But we can also see that Jesus is not only critiquing the behavior of the guests but also the cultural tendency to put everyone in their place in the proper pecking order.  Perhaps the guests’ lack of humility could be a byproduct of this social stratification.

And this leads right on in to Jesus’ second lesson of the meal, a lesson on hospitality.  And so Jesus turns to his host (and everyone else) and challenges them to take their hospitality beyond the common, comfortable, and socially-acceptable level.  Don’t just invite your friends and family, your rich neighbors, and other elite people who are bound to thank you by inviting you over to their house, he says. 

Instead, go out and invite the poor and the outcasts of society, those who aren’t able to repay you and aren’t expecting an invitation.  Seat them at the places of honor and serve them your finest food and drink.  Do that…and you will have learned something about true hospitality…God’s kind of radical hospitality. 

This is a very poignant statement, I think.  I mean, how many times do we humans truly humbly serve others with no strings attached?  Or do we secretly hope that our volunteer service will be repaid with accolades, or status, or at least appreciation?

And this is where the lesson on humility meets the lesson on hospitality because through this encounter Jesus once again turns social convention on its head and offers these theological points: those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who are humble will be truly blessed and true reward is not found in repayment for one’s actions but in “the resurrection of the righteous” or in other words, in the everlasting, life-giving grace of God which has already been given to us long before we even had the chance to act.

And just as this lesson was applicable to the lives of the Pharisees Jesus ate with that day, it is applicable to our lives as well.  It may be easy for us to see the faults of the Pharisees, but we actually have a lot in common with them since they were the established religious folk of their day, as are we.  And just like them, human as we are, we get comfortable with doing things in certain ways and adhering to our own unspoken social parameters. 

After all, I imagine many of us established church people have experienced an awkward moment or two when an unfamiliar “outsider” has shown up unexpected.  For me one of those moments was at a Thanksgiving potluck at church in Colorado when a homeless man walked in uninvited and sat down next to me and then proceeded to drink nearly an entire bottle of Chardonnay while refusing to eat any turkey or other food we offered.  I didn’t really know how to be hospitable in that moment with my mind full of concerns about his probable alcohol addiction and frustration at his refusal to eat something or at least take a plate of food with him when he left.  And I will admit I was not very graciously understanding about his grumpy mood and lack of gratitude.

The kind of humble hospitality Jesus envisions is not always easily enacted whether due to awkward human circumstances or our own imperfect tendencies.  The kind of hospitality Jesus envisions is pretty radical and though we may never practice it perfectly, I think he wants us to try our best, diligently and as a spiritual practice. 

The spiritual practices of humble service and hospitality are neither false humility which secretly hopes for esteem or power nor self-denigration that leads to burnout, bitterness, and resentment.  Instead, the spiritual practices of humble service and hospitality are grounded in a deeper reality... and that deeper reality is a recognition that we, ourselves are not the ultimate hosts of the banquet of grace.  God is the true host of the Great Banquet.

We, in the church, are given the liberating opportunity to practice hospitality toward our neighbor and share in the feast of grace offered to us by our loving, welcoming host.  We have the opportunity to share in the building up of the beloved community and sharing of the life and nourishment we have received at God’s table. 

So perhaps then the appropriate dose of humility we are in need of is to remember this fact: we are all guests at God’s banquet and the feast is not ours to limit or manipulate to our advantage.  God is the gracious host who invites all of us to the table: Pharisees and outcasts, privileged and poor, mainstream and marginalized.  And at God’s table, all seats are places of honor where the finest nourishment of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, new life, and new possibilities are offered with plenty to go around.

If we remember this, then maybe it will help us to continue to grow in our own relationships with one another as we share in our own little earthly banquets in churches, schools, neighborhoods, families, and societies as we practice the discipline of hospitality.

In her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith, author and scholar, Diana Butler Bass writes about the discipline of hospitality as being one of the marks of a vital congregation.  Here is one story she shares about how a congregation came to understand their own unique form of hospitality ministry:

At Church of the Epiphany, an Episcopal congregation in Washington, D.C., they host “The Welcome Table,” an 8:00 a.m. worship service, breakfast, and small group Bible study for about two hundred homeless people every Sunday morning.  There, guests are called by name (instead of number as is the case at most social service agencies in the city) and dine on china with real silverware as waiters (other members of the church) pour their coffee.  When guests leave after the meal, a congregational host says, “Thank you for coming.”  “But we should thank you,” a homeless man said one time to one of the hosts.  The host quickly responded, “No, we thank you.  You have given to us.”

At first, those who attended Epiphany’s traditional 11:00 a.m. service simply referred to the 8:00 a.m. people as “the homeless.”  Gradually, however, “the homeless” have become “guests” and now, in many cases, “homeless members,” or “members who live on the streets.”  Or simply Joe, Wanda, or Ted.  When the service was initiated, the liturgy included no collection because the regular churchgoers thought it inappropriate to ask guests to contribute.  However, homeless members insisted that their service should include a traditional offering.  They wanted to give back to the church… 

Daniel, a member of the traditional congregation, recalled how moved he was the first time he acted as an usher at the homeless service: “As the plate passed down the rows, I watched poor people turn their pockets inside out and throw loose change and crumpled dollars in the offering.  I almost cried.  I learned more about giving that morning than in a thousand sermons.”

Sometimes when we open ourselves up to the invitation of the true host of the great banquet of grace, the roles of hosts and guests in our little banquets get beautifully blurred and joyously confused.

At God’s Great Banquet outcasts will be accepted as equals.  By striving towards humble service and hospitality right now, we bear witness to our hope in the possibility of God’s just and peaceful Reign.

While sharing a Sabbath meal, Jesus turned discriminatory meal practices upside down and offered a feast of grace, open to all, no holds barred… Jesus Christ is our banquet host who ate with sinners and tax collectors (as well as Pharisees)… Jesus Christ who took a young boy’s small lunch of barley loaves and fish and multiplied them, offering a feast for five thousand… Jesus Christ who took ordinary bread and wine from the Passover table and infused them with new meaning, new hope, and a promise of new life and his unending presence. 

If the grace, mercy, love, and compassion he offered over and over again isn’t inspiration enough for our practices of service and hospitality, then I don’t know what is.  Amen.