Can I Sit a Bit Closer to the Front?

Luke 14:1, 7–14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

I’m not sure I’ve let this text work on me as I should. I read it, and immediately seek to “do something with it.” What’s it doing to me?
Well, here’s a few lines I’ve run across that are interesting:
Loader concludes his excellent remarks with this line:
“These are potentially very dangerous texts - but full of blessing.”
Earlier, Loader really works with the striking fact that Jesus sits at table with the Pharisees. He says:

So Jesus eats with leading Pharisees?! Not just with toll collectors and sinners. To imagine this we must assume that Jesus must have given the impression that he was an acceptable guest, ie. that he observed Torah strictly. Either Luke is making something up here or he is reflecting what was likely to have been the case: Jesus’ greatest conflicts were with those closest to him: the Pharisees.

hmmmm
I suspect we are, at times, too comfortable with “the last shall be first” talk...
More Loader:

Try losing and see how much you win! If we hear these words like this and not as a serious strategy, which would reduce them to just a more creative way of exploiting others for your own good, then Jesus is subverting the whole enterprise which was driving his culture and its values. It has huge application for today.

Willimon has a nice turn of phrase. . .

And even if you are now large, and on your way up, and mobile, insightful, life has its means of making you crippled, lame, and blind. Everybody, even the congenitally exalted, get to be humble someday. And what then in a world that worships power, success?

In a nice sermon, Martha Sterne opens with: “The most precisely regulated social order that I’ve experienced was junior high school.” The question of which rules deserved to be followed is interesting...
One more Willimon comment:

With all the really big problems in the world – sexism, racism, militarism - fussiness over behavior at table may seem trivial. But not to Jesus.

One more sermon from Christian Century: Christine Pohl:

The freedom that comes with knowing we are loved and sustained by God is a freedom to give generously of ourselves and our resources, to give the best place to others without concern. Because of our confidence in God’s larger purposes, followers of Jesus can take risks and remain secure, welcome status reversals and live without fear.

My brother emailed some funny bumper stickers. One, not as funny as some people think, says “who would Jesus torture?” I have been saddened, as I’ve thought about that one. . . It crosses my mind to say that “fear is the root of all sorts of evil”. . .
How does Jesus call us to set aside fear, and to live into God’s grace and love? To quit striving, and to start caring?

Sabbath Observance - or not

Luke 13:10-17
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a women with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your aliment." 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?" 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

I'd hate for there to be no post for two weeks - we might want to look back on some of this in sermon prep in the future...
Here's a little bit for yesterday...

Mary Hinkle Shore, in her blog, quotes from Sharon Ringe -(whoever she might be) that the core question of this story “is not whether to keep the sabbath, but how to keep it.”
That is an interesting way to go, but I like Loader’s suggestion that the synagogue leader and Jesus have two quite different ways of viewing God. Perhaps the deeper question is “what sort of God do we serve?”
Loader:

The theology which informs Jesus’ attitude appears to be diametrically opposed to the theology reflected in the leader of the synagogue. Both would affirm that we must love God with the whole heart and soul and strength and that this needs to show itself in action. For the leader this meant: keeping the commandments...

. . . What is God really like? What if God’s chief concern is not to be obeyed, but something else? What if God’s chief focus is love and care for people and for the creation? Then the focus moves from God’s commands to God’s people and world. It is as though God is telling us to get our priorities right. Commandments, rules, guidelines, traditions, laws, scriptures are also subordinate to that purpose: love. God’s focus is not self-aggrandisement as it is with so many who have power and wealth and want to keep it, but generosity and giving, restoration and healing, encouraging and renewing. When any of these means (commandments, laws, scriptures) cease to be seen in that light, they become ends and we find people in absurd conflicts about whether they help someone in need or obey God. When those become alternatives, something has gone terribly wrong, IF you believe God’s chief concern is caring concern for people.

Fear the Thief

Luke 12:32-40

12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

12:33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

12:35 "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;

12:36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.

12:37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.

12:38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

12:39 "But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.

12:40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

Jesus is thick into teaching about the role of wealth and material possessions. Last week he dealt with two brothers who were feuding over their dead father's belt buckle collection by telling them the story of the greedy farmer who should have been rich toward God rather than toward his own self. In between that and this Sunday's text are Jesus' teachings urging Christians not to strive for or worry about what they will eat or wear (God takes care of us just like he does the birds of the air and the flowers of the field). Strive for God's kingdom rather than these things which God already is providing.

This Sunday's text is also about material possessions. Willimon is blogging on it at Theolog. I appreciate what he has to say. Especially his attention to the fact that God can be like a thief, breaking into our lives and robbing us. Something to think about these days when God is supposed to be so fricking affirming and nice. Willimon recognizes that in Jesus' words "Have no fear little flock," and connecting that to selling all of our stuff and giving away our money he is getting to the heart of the matter. What a scary thought! Getting rid of all that security! But this sense of detachment is part of getting ready for the Lord.

And what if we don't get ready? The Lord will show up anyway, and it just might be in the form of a thief to take away all that we have. I think of those whose places are threatened by the fires. . .

Anyways, whose up for this Old Testament fear of God thing-- dogs and cats sleeping together-- wrath of God, etc? God is hidden some of the time; some of the time God is hidden. How could we preach on this thieving God in a way that would lead to discussing the role of the cross in our lives? How can we talk about God in a way that takes the Anfechtung experience seriously? How can we preach a God who the 35-W'ers could relate to?

I Need MORE!

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' 18Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

I like the title that Bernard Brandon Scott gives to this parable: “How to Mismanage a Miracle.” He reads it as a stewardship/idolatry issue of the man claiming ownership of that which has been given to him as gift to benefit not just him, but the community.
“The parable cleverly equates the mismanagement of the miraculous harvest with idolatry.” Hear Then the Parable p. 140

In preaching on this text 3 years ago, I quoted this, I think from DJ Hall: “is it Christianity that has taught us to love consumption, over-abundance and waste?”

Loader opens with this line:

“The passage begins with the exchange about inheritance which serves as an introduction to Jesus’ warnings about greed (12:13-15). We might imagine that the reasons for attacking greed are because it deprives others. These are reasons enough. Here, however, the focus is what makes for a meaningful life. What is abundance in life?”

Willimon has a good sermon on this: http://www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/viewsermon.aspx?id=7
One could do a lot worse than take this sermon, and add some Gospel proclamation. . . perhaps focused on the abundance of God’s generosity. . . (That wasn’t a very generous thing to say, was it?)

here are some extensive quotes from Willimon

Christianity [has the goal] not to quench all desire, but rather to kindle your desire for the right thing.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rest in you.” These words begin Augustine’s autobiography of redirected passion, Augustine’s Confessions. Only God can satisfy because we are created by God to love God. Nothing else can ever satisfy the depth of that longing.
Our problem as humans is not that we are full of desire, burning with unfulfillment. Our problem is that we long for that which is unfulfilling. We attempt to be content with that which never satisfies. As C. S. Lewis says we are far too easily pleased.
...Our burning desire testifies that God has created us for himself, and we burn to be fulfilled. Our desire is boundless because it is meant to find its rest — that is, its perfect source and object--in God. Without the God for whom we were created, we are insignificant, nothing, therefore we relentlessly grab for this and for that, hoping to insulate ourselves from our nothingness.
...And the Christian faith reiterates that the problem is not that we desire but that we desire too little. Having no proper object for our desires, we breathlessly run toward everything. In our state of disordered desire, we transmute love into lust, achievement into acquisitiveness, and vocation into drudgery. Having no Creator tempts us to make our lives our creations, Unable to rest easy in God’s good creation, to see our lives as God’s good creation, we have much to do. (“I know what I will do. I will tear down my barns and fill new ones. I will say to my soul, take ease…”)

Might we say that this is a stewardship text?
Stewardship of life.
Stewardship of the Gospel.
A call to live in the abundant grace of God, and for that life to spill over into the lives of others.