30^th August 2010

 

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley

Lessons -- Psalm 15; Hebrews 13:1-8,15,16; Luke 14:1,7-14

Jesus said: 'For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those
who humble themselves will be exalted.' (Luke 14:11 NRSV)

Jesus often exposed bad behaviour that was disguised as respectability. He mixed with irreligious folk to show that, contrary to popular religious opinion, they were welcome at the 'table of grace'. But he didn't shun the company of wealthy or religious folk. He regularly eats and drinks with them. His acceptance of the excluded wasn't driven by envy of the rich or
(inverted) superiority over the religious, but by all-embracing love. He freely mingled with righteous and unrighteous alike!

Elsewhere he criticised the rich who misused their wealth and ignored the poor. But he also enjoyed their hospitality and often referred to the Kingdom of God as a banquet or feast. Jesus loved a party. He was no kill- joy. At the same time, he wasn't taken in by the 'hail fellow well met'
attitude which tried to hide a person's desire for status. He challenged the arrogance of those who shared meals with him, hosts and guests alike.
It was very unnerving to dine with Jesus!

In this episode Jesus is a dinner guest at the home of a leading and well- to-do Pharisee. This doesn't stop him giving advice on how to be a good guest (vv 7-11) or a good host (vv 12-14). He isn't afraid of upsetting fellow diners. After again upsetting the religious leaders by healing another person on the Sabbath in clear defiance of the law (vv 2-6), he speaks plainly about their appalling 'table manners'.

Our text (v 11) comes in the middle of the dinner party. It summarises Jesus' advice first given to the guests (vv 7-10) and then to the host (vv 12-14). As usual with Jesus, nobody is spared! Social climbers who desperately want to 'make it' and those who have 'made it' are both exposed.

Along the way we are made aware that much more is at stake than mere etiquette. The incident is part of a long-running dispute between Jesus and the religious authorities about the 'right interpretation' of God's will. That is why they are 'watching him' with suspicion (v 1).

* In the first part, he unmasks the arrogance of people who fall over themselves to make an impression. They attach themselves to celebrities, desperately wanting to be acknowledged. What they are doing may be natural but Jesus counsels humility. Instead of taking a place of honour and risk being shamed into moving when a more important guest arrives, they are to 'take the lowest place'. Then if the host ask them to 'come up higher'
they will be honoured (v 10).

This seems a bit dodgy! Very manipulative! Jesus seems to be encouraging the unattractive practice of pretending to be humble in order to get recognition. It sounds like Uriah Heep, a sinister, self-righteous character in Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield, who lived by his father's advice: 'Be 'umble, Uriah, and you'll get on! And really it ain't done bad! I've got a little power!'

Jesus is not supporting the false humility which says 'I am nothing' while really meaning 'I am worthy of respect'. The point is that true recognition comes to genuinely humble folk -- not to those who think highly of their own religious and social worth, including their humility!
Their humility, like that described in Psalm 15, is genuine because they do not set out to be humble.

* In the second part Jesus unmasks the self-serving attitude of those who offer hospitality to 'family, friends or rich neighbours' only so that their guests may some day do a good turn for them. 'You owe me!'

When Jesus urges them to invite outsiders to meals, he is not saying that we should stop inviting our friends to festive occasions or that we should
self- consciously target the vulnerable. He is exposing the hypocrisy of people who pride themselves on being religious, moral, upright pillars of society but who, in fact, only act so that the people who benefit from their hospitality will return a favour (v 13).

Certainly Jesus does challenge all of us to be generous hosts who include at our tables and share our largesse with people who are in desperate need of food, shelter and acceptance, like the poor, maimed, lame and blind (v
13) and flood victims in Pakistan among many others -- people who can't possibly return the favour.

Like the advice to social-climbing guests, Jesus' advice to manipulative hosts can be misused. * Cults may target vulnerable people. * The wealthy may have a 'charity mentality' towards folk in desperate situations. * Social justice activists who take up the causes of the 'excluded' may have a vested interest in keeping them 'in their place'.

Merely changing the people at our tables doesn't guarantee a change in the attitude. We may still pride ourselves on being morally superior to others and to treat them as 'being in our debt'. We may still do everything from the desire to be recognised or because we want to use other people for our own advantage. We may still desire to 'have a little power'.

Jesus summons us to be humble and hospitable in a free, straightforward way. He unmasks religious and social pretensions so as to encourage us to relate to others in response to the unmerited grace of God. He calls us to live before God in open-hearted freedom.

This means that we don't have to calculate our 'worth' according to any social, religious, economic or political indicator. Our status is conferred on us by the grace of God displayed in Christ who humbled himself and became obedient unto death on a cross (Philippians 2:6). In comparison with him we have nothing about which to boast -- neither our humility nor our largesse! If we look to what God has done in him, we are freed from the awful need of having to impress others and boast about ourselves. We are free (in the words of Isaac Watt's fine hymn) to 'boast only in the death of Christ our God' and so to 'pour contempt on all our pride'.

This way of life takes shape when we stop thinking of our own importance and look to Christ whom the world regarded as being of no reputation. In his life, death and resurrection we see the humility and hospitality of God. In him we see that God is not too proud to take up residence among us. In him we see that God welcomes fallible men and women into his circle. In him we are given our identity, worth and status as children of grace!

The astonishing thing is that, despite our failure to live as children of grace, we are invited to gather around the Lord's Table beneath the cross.
In worship we humbly acknowledge the boundless grace of God who has invited us to share his hospitality. At the same time, we confess with shame that we have ignored outsiders and tried to impress others or use them for our own advantage. In other words, we are free to come as we are:
self-important people who, nevertheless, are the beneficiaries of God's undeserved and bountiful love.

In this freedom we are called to live with a festive spirit marked by humility, gratitude and open-hearted hospitality. We are called to be members of the Christian community where goodness, justice and mercy are to be practised in response to God's grace. We are called to be a sign of the 'resurrection of the righteous' (v 14) that awaits those who have 'walked humbly with God' -- those who truly have heard the word of grace!

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.