Proper 17 C September 1, 2013 Luke 14: 1, 7-14 In today’s Gospel our Lord makes a couple of semi-humorous observations about social climbing and its religious parallels. He is at dinner in the home of a Pharisee. It is a Sabbath dinner (Friday night), which generally meant a lavish spread. This Pharisee appears to have been a man of some importance. Luke calls him a “ruler.” He may have been a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of seventy elders at Jerusalem. At any rate, he was a person of some standing and, presumably, most of his guests were from the same social set. So, there was much protocol involved in determining who should sit where. At last they got it all sorted out, and suddenly an uninvited man appeared, a man all swollen with fluid, and Christ healed him, even though it was the Sabbath Day. Finally, they all reclined at the table and, as the meal progressed, Luke records a series of sayings that we now call “Luke’s Banquet Discourse.” First came the two parables in today’s Gospel. Then someone piously exclaimed, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” and Christ answered with a parable where all the invited guests excused themselves. The point was that Israel had declined God’s invitation in Christ, and so now God would give his kingdom to others, who would accept. That’s the context in which we must read these remarks on social climbing. From the context it’s clear that he’s not just talking about social behavior. He’s also talking about spiritual pride. Our Lord makes that clear when he says, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” The saying has the form of sacred law. It’s a principle of the End-Time, a saying that tells us that our present attitudes have eternal consequences. People who in pride figure they’re OK in the God department are in for a rude shock on Judgment Day – while people who humbly trust in Christ will be exalted to eternal glory. The two parables in today’s Gospel are a good commentary on human nature, and on why our usual way of thinking and acting makes it hard for us to understand God’s ways. There’s a verse from Gilbert and Sullivan that says: If you wish in this world to advance, Your merits you’re bound to enhance. You must stir it and stump it And blow your own trumpet, Or, trust me, you haven’t a chance! That’s how it is in this world. It’s a hierarchical world, with pecking orders of all sorts. And we are all constantly measuring where we fit in: by our position in the company, the size and location of our office and how many windows it has; what social set we move in, whether we play golf or tennis and at which clubs, how big our house is and in which neighborhood, where we buy our clothes, whether and where our kids go to college, what kind of car we drive – etc. We look at those measurements of worth to determine how we’re doing. And we cultivate the “right” people, people who can be of some benefit to us and can enhance our status. These accepted social routines have a way of rubbing off on our religious thinking, so that we find ourselves measuring ourselves: “How am I doing? Well, maybe not a saint, but certainly better than a lot of folks I could mention!” It is because warped thinking in the social sphere parallels warped thinking with respect to God, that our Lord told the two parables in today’s Gospel. The first is an appeal to common sense: If you go to a party or banquet and plop yourself down in the place of honor, you’re probably in for some embarrassment when the guest of honor arrives and you are asked to move. At a party your status is given to you by the host. I don’t care what you learned in assertiveness training. God isn’t interested in your expectations. It’s his party, and he will assign the seats as he jolly well pleases. If you don’t like it, you’re free to go outside and gnash your teeth with the other Pharisees. Bob Zuppke was football coach at the University of Illinois, a contemporary of Knute Rockne and, like Rockne, a master of the half-time pep talk. In this particular game Illinois was woefully behind at half-time. Bob Zuppke got up in front of his team and gave one of his stirring dramatic speeches, trying to enliven this dispirited and lackluster team. As he neared his conclusion, his voice became louder, his pleas more dramatic, and finally he pointed to the door at the other end of the room and said, “And now, let’s go through that door and on to victory!” The team rose as one man, tears welling in their eyes, their throats choked with emotion, and they ran through that door – right into the swimming pool. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled.” No matter how impressed we may be with ourselves and with all we have done in the church, to God we’re just one more sinner in need of the cleansing blood of Christ. “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” And how about the second parable? Whom do you invite to a party at your house? Friends and relatives, of course. But whom else? People you want to cultivate, people who can “do you some good.” How many of us cultivate friendships with people less fortunate or less influential than ourselves? And what does that tell us about our real attitude? That people are to be used for whatever advantage they can bring us? When you depend on the “right people” for your status, you can lose it like that. But, as the Epistle reminds us, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” People are fickle, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” When your status is given to you by Christ, you are free from using people, free to serve them instead, knowing that you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Our Lord himself is proof of that. Servant of all, even to the cross, he is now exalted as Lord of all. Would you like to be like him there? Then don’t be ashamed to be like him here! + Arthur D. Yunker, pastor
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 23:25:41 +0000
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