By now Jesus has made a name for himself. He has fed 5000 people, he has cast out demons, healed lepers, raised people from the dead, and debated Pharisees. His popularity is such that even Pharisees who oppose him invite him to their house for a meal. And this is where we find Jesus today, invited to the home of a Pharisee for a meal.
As the people gather, Jesus sits back and watches how the guests seat themselves. In reading through the gospels we learn that Jesus is nothing if not observant. He picks up on a variety of traits, actions, and outcomes and then uses those to teach the people around him. And in the first part of today’s gospel he tells this parable about the importance of not seeing yourself as more important than you actually are.
I’m reminded of a story I heard (which may be apocryphal) about a convention for people who had done extraordinary things. One attendee saw another person whose nametag had the same name as himself. This other person was standing off alone looking as much out of place as the first guy felt. The first person goes up to the man with the same name and strikes up a conversation, asking why he was here. The man responded, “I don’t know why I’m here. I was given a job by the higher ups and went where they sent me.” The first man learned that the second man with the same first name was Neil Armstrong. Humility.
And while I could talk about the need for humility, it’s the second part of today’s gospel I think we need to really pay attention to.
“When you give a banquet, don’t invite friends, or family, or rich neighbors. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”
On the surface this seems to be about being nice to the less fortunate. But, as with most things involving Jesus, it goes deeper than that. It’s more than being nice. This has to do with justice, equity, and loving your neighbor.
A few chapters earlier Jesus answered a lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” with the story we have come to know as the Good Samaritan. Your neighbor isn’t the one who looks like you, or who is part of the same social class. Your neighbor, according to Jesus, is the one who needs you.
Who are the ones in society who need help? They are the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They are the people on the margins, those arrested without cause, the foreigner living in fear of the majority. They are the people who fall through the cracks, or the people who have the safety net pulled out from under them.
Jesus says when you give a banquet, invite those people. He’s not talking about your average backyard bbq or the Super Bowl party you host, but a banquet. The definition of a banquet is, “A formal large meal traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors.”
Feed those who need to be fed. Welcome the stranger. Walk with those who need assistance. Lead those who might stumble. This all goes back to loving your neighbor. It also goes back to the beginning of Luke’s gospel in the Song of Mary, or the Magnificat.
The Magnificat is all about the reversal of the world’s priorities into the priorities and justice of God.
He looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. He has scattered the proud. He has brought down the powerful. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
Over and over and over again – through prophets, in stories, parables, and actions – we see God caring about the less fortunate, the outsiders, the foreigner and alien, and those on the margins. We are called to care for those people, not grudgingly or only from our excess, but cheerfully and from our first fruits.
The Magnificat points out that the rich don’t need to be given food because they can provide for themselves. The Good Samaritan shows us that compassion doesn’t come from weighing the risks of getting involved but from stepping up and caring for someone in need without counting the personal cost. The feeding of the 5000 shows us that living with a scarcity mindset leads us to send people away to fend for themselves, while living with a mindset of abundance allows us to feed the hungry.
All of this is summed up in today’s gospel and Jesus’ banquet guidelines. We are not called to enhance our prestige or reinforce our social bonds. But we are called to be generous. We are called to care for those on the margins. We are called to welcome the outsiders. We are called to treat those not like us as like us – that is with justice, with equity, and with inclusion.
As we think about this, and as we think about how we can welcome, include, and defend those who need it, we might think we don’t have to worry about it here in insulated and pristine Buffalo. We are not big city with big city issues. But there are people on the margins here.
Let me put it this way: Who’s missing from our table, and what would it take to make room for them? Not just our banquet table, but the table of God, the table of our parish hall, the table of friends and community we have here. What are our barriers keeping people from joining us at this banquet table of Saint Luke’s?
There are plenty of places who define themselves by who they ban. Can we define ourselves by who we allow to join us at the table?
Amen.
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