Pentecost XIV - C                                                                                                                                    Meadowvale Lutheran Church,     

September 2nd, AD 2007                                                                                                               Mississauga Pastor Peter Lisinski      

“A PLACE AT GOD’S TABLE”

Let's begin with a riddle.  How would a visitor among us today know that this is a Lutheran church? ….. Because most of us pre­fer to sit at the back! ….. Wrong!  The correct answer is the visitor wouldn't know because regardless of whether a person is Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, or anything else, Christians generally seem to prefer to be at the back of the church.

 Now I don't have any hard evidence for why that seems to be the case, but I suspect it may have something to do with today's Gospel:

 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited…..”

 Of course, Jesus is not just talking about the proper etiquette of a wedding reception.  He is talking about the ultimate destiny of all human beings -- and the image of the wedding banquet is one of his favourite images for the salvation God has prepared for his children.  The book of Revelation describes it as the "marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9).

 In Jesus Christ, God has invited and destined the whole world to a place at God's family table.  And today, in our Holy Communion liturgy, God gives us a foretaste of the feast to come"; and we have taken Jesus' words to heart:  "When you are invited to a wedding banquet...go and sit at the lowest place..."

In Greek, the word Jesus uses for lowest is 'eschaton'.  It literally means 'last'.  In Christian theology the fancy word 'eschatology' refers to the "last things" -- the final events of human history, the end of the world that will usher in the com­munion of God!  Some Christians today expect to still be alive when that day dawns; but, for most Christians in history -- and probably for us, too -- the last thing we will suffer is the end of our life; and there is no lower place for us than death!

 The story Luke tells in today's Gospel takes place at about the halfway point in Jesus' long and winding journey toward Jeru­salem, where he expects to fulfill his God-given mission to save the world by his death on the cross!  Note the irony.  As Jesus is making his way down to the ultimate dishonour of crucifixion, the upwardly mobile guests at a fancy Sunday dinner are trying to work their way up the ladder of social status.  In that gathering of fine, upstanding citizens -- people who believe that success in life depends on making a good impression and establishing good connections -- Jesus turns their moral virtues and social values upside down  "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Jesus' words are the prophetic foundation for one of the first century church's favourite hymns -- a hymn quoted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians, and still sung during Lent in the Lutheran liturgy of my childhood:  "Christ has humbled himself and become obedient unto death -- even the death of the cross”.  Therefore God has highly exalted him..." (Phil 2:S-9a)

 In today's Gospel, Jesus invites us to let the reality of our own death -- our last moment and lowest place -- shape the way we live our lives, just as it shaped his.  It's more than simply living each day as if it were your last.  So often that popular piece of advice only becomes an excuse for more self-indulgence. Jesus calls us out of a life of striving to be first -- to be successful, popular, important, which so often creates conflict, division and misery, for ourselves as well as others.  And Jesus calls us into a life of striving to be last -- of dying to self and living for others as the servant of all!

 And so Jesus tells those gathered at the table around him to reach out to people who may not have either the resources or the incentive to offer us anything in return!  "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."  And Jesus promises that when our last day dawns, he will not disgrace us sending us to the lowest place; but that he will exalt us to the highest place reserved for us at God's holy communion table.