Who’s Coming to the Party? – March 7, 2021

Psalm 136:1-9, Luke 14:1-24
March 7, 2021

I love this story for several reasons.  One, is that Jesus is invited to this dinner with the Pharisees!  We sometimes get the impression that the Pharisees are the “bad guys.”  We think of them as the antagonists of the Gospel story.  And yes, things went bad with them.  But the truth of it is that Jesus didn’t just hang out with “sinners and tax collectors” and not them!  (And again, don’t you love how tax collectors had their own level of sinfulness!?)

Well, we know from the Gospels that Jesus did hang out with the Pharisees!  And I believe they knew something important, something very special, was happening.  And they wanted to associate with this Jesus.  Because they were watching the kind of a phenomenon he was becoming.  And there were some, I’m sure, who saw their own status growing by associating with him.

I think there was some of that going on here.  I think at least some of the Pharisees were trying to ingratiate themselves to this “celebrity!”  Imagine if this were you, and you could have some celebrity like this come to your house for dinner!  Has anyone ever had anything like that happen?  And if you could, who would that be?

I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I have skied with Jean Claude Killy!  Do you remember him?  Gold medalist.  1968 Olympics.  Grenoble France.  Yeah!  I’ve skied with him!  Oh he didn’t know it at the time.  But I met him at Shawnee Mountain near Stroudsburg, and I approached him and spoke with him and shook his hand.  (It’s a shame there were no cell phone cameras back then, or I would have gotten a picture with him!)  And then a little while later, I saw him heading for the lift.  So I followed him over and took the next chair up, and I followed him as he skied down!  So technically, I have skied with Jean Claude Killy!  How’s that for celebrity association!

When the Pope was coming to Philly a couple of years ago, Chip came to me and said he wanted to contact the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to see if it could be arranged for the Pope to visit our church. I said, “Yeah!  Go for it!”  Just imagine our status if that were to happen!  (It wouldn’t be the same as skiing with Jean Claude Killy, but…you know…)

Another thing I love about this story is how bold Jesus was in challenging the very people who invited him to this dinner.  And in a way, I’m not sure it was actually a challenge, as much as it was a sincere attempt to teach them something – something about the nature of his kingdom.  And in doing that, he challenged their idea of their own importance, so that maybe they could be the kind of people God wanted them to be.

Well, they didn’t all take the lesson.  Some were indignant.  But not all.  And at the end of his ministry, we know that the religious council was divided over him.  Some were followers, and some were not! Some took his teaching to heart.  They were taken with his ideas of unconditional love, the breaking of social “standards,” and the importance of all people.  They were impressed, or at least intrigued, by his philosophy of “The last shall be first.”  But others were not.  And they were the ones who won out in the end.

So, there he was, hanging out with the Pharisees.  And of course, he started to do things at that dinner.  First, he healed this man who had “dropsy.”  Now, I went years without knowing, or I guess even caring to know, what that was.  I just kind of read over it in this story.  But later I learned that “dropsy” was a condition where fluid would build up in the legs.  In our modern world, we would call it “edema,” and it’s often due to congestive heart failure.  That was probably what this man had!

So Jesus’ first challenge at this Pharisee banquet was to heal this man – and it was on the Sabbath.  This wasn’t the first time he did that, but it was I think the most immediate example.  He wasn’t in public with the Pharisees watching on the periphery.  He was right there in their gathering!  And there were other people around – watching them!  (Again, in our more “private” society, that wouldn’t be happening.)

So he healed this man and then he challenged them on what they were thinking. “Which of you,” he asked, “having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, would not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”  And isn’t it interesting that he equates a son with an ox!  I’m not sure I get that.  I’m not sure I want to get that!

Then, it says “He told a parable, when he saw how they chose places of honor at the dinner.”  I think that was related to this infirmed man, a man who probably wasn’t invited to this feast.  The heading on this paragraph in my Bible says, “Humility and Hospitality.”  That’s what he was teaching them about.  And he said to them, “When you are invited to a feast, don’t take the place of honor, lest the master say to you, ‘give your place to this other person.’  Then with shame you move to take the lowest seat.”  Because the other guests are already seated by then – and they’re all watching you!

Instead he said, “Take that lower seat.  Then you will be honored by all when you are asked to come up higher.”  That makes sense, doesn’t it?  And it’s a great Illustration of his last statement here.  “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Our world doesn’t think that way, does it?  People these days don’t see the value in humility.  They want to grab the places of honor.  They want to show everybody how great they are!  (They want to ski with Jean Claude Killy!)  They should read this passage!

Jesus goes on.  “And when you hold a banquet, don’t invite your friends or your family or your rich neighbors, because they’re the ones who will then invite you in return.  When you hold a feast, invite the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame.”

And then something a bit bizarre happens.  As if in argument against him, or maybe in agreement, I’m not sure which, this man stand up and says, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.”  And for whatever reason he said that, Jesus “goes with it.”  And he tells them this story we’ve come to know as “The Parable of the Wedding Banquet.”  Do you remember this story?  All the invited guests started making excuses.  Does anybody remember the song?  “I cannot come to the banquet, don’t trouble me now, I have married a wife, I have bought me a cow.  I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum.  Pray hold me excused, I cannot come.”  (Was it Avery and Marsh?)

We can only imagine what these Pharisees were thinking about that part of the story.  Was Jesus talking about them?  But then he goes on and says that after the invited guests all made excuses, the master rose in anger, and said to his servants, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, and the maimed, and the blind, and the lame.”  Those are the very people Jesus told them a few minutes earlier that they should invite when they hold a feast!  “Fetch the peasant and the pauper, for this I have willed.  My banquet shall be crowded, and my table shall be filled!”  (That song is going to run through all your heads the rest of the day!)

The other thing I love about this passage is that it reminds me of Tony Campolo.  If you’ve ever heard Tony speak, you know that he always refers to the kingdom of God as a party!  Because that’s what the Bible says about it.  We’re told that there will be a great banquet at the end of time.  And Jesus uses stories like these that depict God’s kingdom as a great feast.  And like my other favorite author, John Eldridge, he says it’s not just a feast!  It’s a wedding feast.  And Eldridge points out how the Bible describes the relationship between Christ and his Church as that of a marriage.  The Church is the bride of Christ!  The relationship between God and his people is seen as one of close intimacy!

So, can we possibly picture this wedding feast at the end of time?  It’s not easy.  But as Jesus tried to tell the Pharisees that day, yes “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.”  But who that will be might be different than they had pictured!  He tried to tell them that that day.  And I wonder who is at that feast in our mental imagery, too.  Who will be there at that great feast – the wedding banquet of the lamb?!  Who’s coming to the Party?!

My feeling is that we’ll be surprised!  Those people in Jesus’ time had become pretty “exclusionary” in their faith.  They were pretty sure they would be at that party.  And they had a long list of people they were pretty sure wouldn’t be!  I wonder how many people have been on that list for God’s people over the years.  When I picture that great reunion at the end of time, I see a lot of people saying to one another, “Boy, I never thought I’d see you here!”

The Jesus we follow did reach out to the poor and the maimed and the blind and the lame.  And he has called his Church to follow his lead, to love the unloved, to have compassion on the downtrodden, and to serve even “the least of these,” and not to be surprised, at the end of time, if they are there with us, too, at the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb!

Prayer

Eternal God, we are amazed by your grace and love for us, and for all people.  Help us to see with your eyes, to love with your heart, and to reach out to all people, as Jesus did.  For we pray in his name, Amen.